Macon-Bibb County, GA Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Section 15-1 opens Chapter 15's nuisance article by declaring a list of conditions to be nuisances 'when any of them endangers the health, welfare or good order of the community,' and item (15) covers dogs specifically: allowing any dog not on a leash, not under restraint, to run loose on the property or premises of another without permission. The rule is triggered by the dog being loose on someone else's land, not merely being off-leash on the owner's own property. Enforcement follows the standard nuisance procedure in the same chapter: Section 15-3 lets any official or inhabitant direct a complaint to the Sheriff's Office, which investigates and may place the matter on the municipal or state court docket.

Section 15-4 requires the court to issue a written order and notice to abate after five days' notice to both the complainant and the property owner or tenant, and Section 15-8 makes violating that abatement order punishable under the Code's general penalty section. Dogs formally classified as dangerous or vicious under a separate article face a stricter rule: Section 5-30 bars a dangerous dog from leaving the owner's property unless restrained on a leash no more than six feet long and under the immediate control of someone capable of controlling it, or bars a vicious dog from leaving at all unless muzzled and on that same six-foot leash. That classified-dog leash rule is enforced by the county's Animal Welfare Department rather than through the general Chapter 15 nuisance process.