Jersey City, NJ Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

§ 90-16 sits in Article III of Chapter 90, Dogs and Other Animals, and applies to any person who owns, keeps or harbors a dog inside city limits. Subsection A bars a dog from being 'upon the public streets or in any of the public places of the city' unless it is 'accompanied by a responsible person and is securely confined and controlled by one adequate leash not more than six feet long,' except inside an area the Division of Parks and Forestry has signed as an official dog run.

Subsection B extends the rule to establishment dogs: a dog kept in a kennel, day care facility, pet shop, shelter or pound cannot leave the premises unless leashed or held in a crate or other safe control. 1's total dog ban, leashed or not, at First Street Park and Paulus Hook Park, where only a service dog with its handler or trainer is exempt. Enforcement runs through the Division of Health, which under § 90-21 appoints dog wardens with authority to seize any dog found off its owner's premises without a current registration tag or reasonably believed to be a stray.

A seized dog is held for seven days after written notice to the owner (or seven days after seizure if the owner cannot be identified); the owner must appear with proof of license and registration and pay impoundment and maintenance costs to reclaim the animal, or it may be offered for adoption or destroyed. Every dog of licensing age (seven months, or once it has a full set of permanent teeth) must separately carry a Division of Health registration tag under § 90-13, obtained within ten days of acquiring the dog or the dog reaching that age.