Pope County, AR Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Pope County Code § 700.00(2) is the county's at-large and restraint rule for unincorporated Pope County. No owner or possessor of a dog covered by the section may permit it to 'go at large' into any situation, condition or place where it could inflict or be at risk of inflicting danger on a person or another animal. The rule is strictest for a dog already declared vicious or a nuisance: that dog cannot go beyond its owner's premises at all unless it is securely muzzled and restrained with a leash rated to at least three hundred pounds of tensile strength and no longer than three feet, a specification aimed squarely at large or aggressive dogs rather than routine leash walking.

For any other dog, the county does not require confinement to the owner's property, but it does require identification: an owner, custodian or person with authority over a dog cannot allow it to run at large in the unincorporated areas of Pope County unless the dog is 'properly tagged,' meaning its collar or harness carries an identification tag showing the owner's name, phone number and address. A dog that roams the common property of unincorporated Pope County while properly tagged is not in violation of the article; the tagging requirement, not confinement, is what keeps an ordinary at-large dog lawful.

Any dog that harms a person or animal badly enough to require medical treatment must be impounded and observed at the owner's expense under the Rabies Control Act, A.C.A. §§ 70-19-301 through 312, and a law enforcement officer investigating a bite can demand proof of rabies vaccination on the spot.