National City, CA Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Section 8.16.020 is the restraint rule. It is unlawful for an owner or handler to allow a dog to run at large within the city limits, and a dog confined within a motor vehicle is not at large. The same section requires any licensed dog to wear the license tag on a collar or harness, except when the dog is securely contained in a motor vehicle or upon the owner's or handler's property. A handler weighing less than the dog being restrained is rebuttably presumed to lack the physical capacity to restrain it.

The definitions in § 8.04.015 give the rule its edges. At large means untethered, unleashed, or not confined to the limits of the owner's or handler's property by a fence or enclosure capable of containment, or not under the physical control of an owner or handler when the animal is on any property other than that of the owner. A leash is a cord or strap of leather, canvas or other strong, non-elastic material that does not exceed six feet in length, with a hook or snap at one end and a loop or handle at the other. Unleashed means the dog is not attached to a leash held by a person who has the physical ability to restrain it.

On private property the rules tighten. Section 8.16.100 requires a fence or enclosure of sufficient height and strength to contain the dog, and treats a fence as insufficient unless it is at least the greater of four feet in height or the height of the dog at its shoulders plus twelve inches. Under § 8.16.030, a dog cannot enter or remain on public or private property without consent, whether it is on a leash or not, and the person in control must clean up feces immediately. An animal control officer cannot seize a dog for a restraint violation when the dog has not strayed from private property the owner controls (§ 8.04.010). A nonresident's dog is not impounded if the owner leashes it and removes it from the jurisdiction on demand (§ 8.16.090).