Lyon County, NV Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Section 7.01.05(J) of the Lyon County Code prohibits anyone who owns, harbors, keeps or has possession, charge, custody or control of a dog from causing, permitting, suffering or allowing it to stray, run or be at large on any public highway, street, alley, sidewalk, park, place or school ground, or on any lot or land, public or private, other than the owner's own. The rule applies throughout unincorporated Lyon County, covering Dayton, Silver Springs, Stagecoach, Mound House and Smith Valley; Fernley and Yerington enforce their own city codes.

The section carves out one exception: it does not apply to a dog performing under the immediate direction and control of the person responsible for it or that person's agent or employee, so a working or trained dog under active handler control is not automatically at large. For capture, the code authorizes the county officer to tranquilize a dog at large to aid the capture, and if safe capture cannot be made using tranquilization, the officer may use any reasonable means necessary, including destruction of the animal, to capture it.

Section 7.01.06 separately lets a property owner impound a trespassing dog at the owner's own risk and deliver it to the animal services center, while section 7.01.04(C) sets out the notice, holding and redemption process once animal services impounds an at-large dog, including up to seven days' notice before disposition. Section 7.01.10 makes any violation of chapter 7.01, including the at-large prohibition, a misdemeanor.