Alachua County, FL Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)
Key Facts
- Enforcing agency
- Alachua County Animal Resources
- Core rule
- physical control required off-property
- Max civil penalty
- $500 per count
- Exemptions
- police/SAR, service, trial & licensed hunting dogs
- Feces removal
- immediate, owner must carry bags
- Repeat offense (2+/12 mo)
- county may seek injunction
Summary
Alachua County requires owners to keep physical control of a dog anytime it's off the owner's property, it may not run at large on streets, sidewalks, schools or parks, with narrow exemptions for service, police/SAR and licensed hunting or trial dogs, backed by up to $500-per-count fines.
Sec. 72.12. Physical control of dogs. (a)An owner shall maintain physical control of a dog at all times when the dog is off the owner's property, whether owned or leased, unless the property's owner or lessee consents to the removal of the physical control and the dog is under immediate adult supervision. No owner or other person having possession or control of any dog shall cause, permit, or allow the dog to stray or run at large in or upon any public street, sidewalk, school, park, other public property. For property owned or controlled by a government entity, it is presumed that consent is not given unless posted.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 63).
Full Breakdown
" No owner or possessor may let a dog "stray or run at large" on any public street, sidewalk, school, park or other public property, and on government-owned or -controlled property, consent to run loose is presumed absent unless posted. 08(1)(d), dogs engaged in organized training or exhibiting (obedience, conformation, field, hunting/retrieving or herding trials), and dogs on a legal hunt with a valid hunting license. 13, requires an owner to "immediately remove any feces deposited by the dog on any property other than the owner's" and to carry waste-removal devices or bags whenever the dog is off the owner's property.
05 to enforce Chapter 72. 00 per count; an enforcement officer may issue a written warning first but isn't required to, and citations must state the facts, the section violated, and how to pay or contest the penalty. 08(f).
Violations & Fines
Letting a dog run loose or stray on a public street, sidewalk, school, park or unposted government property without an adult maintaining physical control, or without an exempt status under §72.12(b), is a civil infraction under §72.08, punishable by up to $500.00 per count. Two or more citations against the same owner or dog within 12 months lets the county attorney seek an injunction as a public nuisance under §72.08(f).
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a literal leash, or just control?
Are service dogs exempt?
What if my dog poops on a neighbor's lawn?
What's the fine for a loose dog?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Alachua County
Florida rules heatmap·Compare Alachua County to another location·View the Florida animal ordinances overview
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