Haverhill, MA Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Section 137-10, adopted in Article III, Leashing of Dogs, requires that no person keep a dog in the City of Haverhill outside the owner's or keeper's own property unless the dog is held firmly on a leash not exceeding six feet in length. The code carves out two exceptions: dogs being used for hunting or training purposes by their owner or keeper, and farm dogs traveling from farm property they are kept on for the purpose of herding livestock. The leash requirement sits alongside § 137-11, Public nuisance prohibited, which separately requires owners to control animals so they do not become a public nuisance and to immediately remove and dispose of any feces their dog leaves on public or private property, a pooper-scooper duty added in 2024 that carries its own escalating fine of $50, $100, $200 and $300 for repeat offenses.

For the leash requirement itself, § 137-16, the chapter's general penalty section, sets the fine at $50 for a first offense and $100 for each subsequent offense, with an additional $100 penalty if the violation involves bodily harm to a person or another animal. The Mayor designates one or more Animal Control Officers under § 137-6 specifically to patrol Haverhill's parks and playgrounds enforcing the leash law along with the licensing and public-nuisance sections, and unleashed dogs picked up off their owner's property can be impounded under § 137-14 and held for at least five working days before being released, adopted, or euthanized if unclaimed.