Greenwood County, SC Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Greenwood County Code § 11-1-2 addresses dogs running at large in the unincorporated county. Subsection (e)(1) makes it unlawful for an owner to allow a dog to run at large off property owned, rented, or controlled by the owner where the dog causes or poses a threat of damage to property or injury to other persons. The council's findings in subsection (a) note that dogs whose owners make no provision for restraint "roam properties of neighbors, destroy personal property of others, litter property of others, endanger children and adults, pose hazards to motorists and constitute nuisances." The ordinance rests on S.C.

Code 1976 §§ 4-9-30(5), 4-9-30(14), and 47-3-20, which let county councils regulate dogs and set penalties. Any dog found running at large may be picked up and quarantined by the animal control officer under subsection (f); the owner must prove current rabies inoculation and pay a quarantine fee to reclaim the dog, and payment of that fee substitutes for further penalties under this section. A dog unclaimed after 21 days in quarantine may be humanely destroyed or transferred to an animal-care organization, with complete disposition records kept by the animal control officer.

The rule applies only within the unincorporated areas of the county under subsection (g); it does not reach dogs kept inside the City of Greenwood or the towns of Ninety Six, Ware Shoals, Hodges, or Troy, each of which enforces its own leash rules.