Palm Coast, FL Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Palm Coast's animal control program was substantially overhauled when the City took over from the Flagler Humane Society roughly 15 years ago. Animal Control sits inside the City Code Enforcement Division and employs three full-time certified Animal Control Officers and two administrative technicians who handle stray pickup, cruelty investigations, bite reports, and dangerous-dog cases. Section 8-31 of Chapter 8 ('Duties of animal owners') is the operative leash and restraint rule. Key requirements: (1) Off the owner's property, every dog (and other animal capable of restraint) must be on a physical leash; (2) the leash MAY NOT exceed eight (8) feet in length - this is a hard maximum measured at full extension, so most retractable leashes used at maximum extension are non-compliant; (3) voice command and electronic 'invisible fence' collars are NOT permissible substitutes for a physical leash when the dog is off-property; (4) the dog must remain 'under control' of the owner at all times; (5) dogs may not be transported loose in the open bed of a pick-up truck (a long-standing FS 316.6135 issue that Palm Coast incorporated into its own Code); (6) the owner must immediately remove and dispose of any feces deposited by the animal on any property other than the owner's own; (7) the animal must be currently vaccinated against rabies (Florida statewide requirement under FS 828.30 - rabies vaccination required for all dogs, cats, and ferrets 4 months and older, with the tag worn). Sec. 8-32 of Chapter 8 codifies the cruelty-to-animals prohibition: no owner may deprive an animal under their control of food, water, shelter, and protection, or abandon, poison, beat, whip, or kill any animal (paralleling the criminal cruelty statute at FS 828.12). Field enforcement is by the City's certified Animal Control Officers at 386-986-2520; impounded animals are transferred to the Flagler Humane Society shelter at 1 Shelter Drive, Palm Coast, for housing pending owner reclaim or adoption (the City and Flagler County are currently in joint-workshop discussions about a possible county-operated shelter independent of the Humane Society). Bite-quarantine is handled under Florida Administrative Code 64D-3.040, requiring 10 days of observation by a licensed veterinarian or at an approved facility.