Jackson, TN Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Jackson Municipal Code § 10-102 makes it unlawful for any person raising, owning, or keeping a dog or other animal to permit it to run at large upon the public streets, avenues, alleys, parks, or other public property of the city, or to willfully suffer the animal to run at large or go onto property owned or controlled by anyone else. The same section separately bars tethering dogs in the communal spaces of community housing, including apartment complexes, hotels, motels, duplexes, or any multi-family dwelling, unless the property owner or landlord has given written permission.

'Owner' is defined broadly in § 10-101 to include anyone who feeds, shelters, or harbors an animal or lets it remain on their property, and, if the animal belongs to someone under eighteen, that minor's parent or guardian. Enforcement runs through the Jackson Animal Care Center, whose director is the code's 'health officer,' along with animal control officers and the Jackson Police Department, who may investigate and issue citations. A dog running at large is also relevant to the vicious-dog chapter: an unprovoked, off-property attack while a dog is loose can support a vicious-dog declaration under § 10-301 and the confinement, leash, and muzzle requirements that follow.

Owners who let their dog run loose repeatedly, or who tether a dog in a shared courtyard without the landlord's consent, face code enforcement action independent of any bite or attack incident. The prohibition applies citywide and covers 'other animals' as well as dogs, so cats and similar pets kept loose on public property fall under the same running-at-large ban.