Hialeah, FL Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Hialeah's leash requirement is written as an at-large prohibition rather than a literal leash-length rule. Sec. ' Sec. 10-1 defines 'at large' to mean 'off the premises or beyond the custody and control of the owner or other person responsible,' so a dog that slips a leash, escapes a yard, or is walked without a leash and wanders beyond the handler's control all fall under the same prohibition. The rule covers 'any animal,' not just dogs, and applies regardless of whether the animal is aggressive; the separate vicious-animal and cruelty prohibitions in Sec.

10-2(a), (b) and (e) address dangerous conduct instead. 'Owner' is defined broadly in Sec. 10-1 to include 'any person keeping, harboring, or having charge or control of' an animal on their premises, so a house-sitter or tenant, not just the titled owner, can be cited. ch. 828, but the at-large rule itself is purely local. Because Sec. 10-2(c) sits in the general Prohibitions section rather than a licensing article, there is no separate leash-length or tether-type standard specified; a dog walker must simply keep the animal under physical control at all times once off the owner's own property.