Greensboro, NC Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

City Code § 5-3(a) makes it unlawful for an owner or person controlling any animal to let it create a nuisance or public danger by running at large. Animal control officers and police are directed to pick up any domesticated animal, dogs, cats, fowl, or other animals as defined in the county ordinance, found at large and deliver it to the county animal shelter; Greensboro contracts animal control services to Guilford County under the interlocal agreement recited in § 5-2. Subsection (a)(1) sets the restraint standard: every animal except cats must be kept, on or off the owner's premises, under 'sufficient physical restraint', a leash, bridle, cage or similar device, confinement within a vehicle, or containment by a fence or other secure enclosure.

An invisible/electronic fence qualifies only if the owner also posts a visible, permanent sign on the property stating that an invisible fence system is in use, and the restraint duty is further subject to the standards in § 5-14 of the county ordinance. Because Greensboro incorporated the county's animal ordinance by reference in § 5-2, cats are exempt from the physical-restraint clause but remain subject to the separate running-at-large prohibition in subsection (a). The ordinance was re-enacted citywide on May 19, 2026.