Somerset County, NJ Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Section 3 sets the scope for the whole regulation book: "These Regulations shall be effective within all Parks under the administration of the Commission and shall regulate the use thereof by all Persons." That reach covers golf courses, reservations, preserves and every ancillary facility under Commission jurisdiction, per the Section 1 definition of "Park or Parks." Within that territory, Section 4(a)(1) is direct: a dog owner may not let a dog into any part of a park where dogs are barred outright, and "with the exception of supervised dogs within the confines of a Commission designated area where dogs are permitted to roam, all dogs within a Park must be restrained by a leash and kept under control at all times." Cats get the identical treatment one clause later in Section 4(a)(2): they too "must be restrained by a leash and kept under control at all times." A Park Ranger, defined in Section 1(j) as any person the Commission employs in that role, is the officer who checks compliance on the ground.

Section 5(b)(18) backs that authority up: a visitor who fails to obey or interferes with a Ranger performing park duties is separately in violation, and anyone told to leave for breaking a Regulation must do so "promptly and peacefully" under Section 5(b)(17). There is no borough or township leash ordinance layered on top here; this Commission regulation is the entire county-level rule, and it only reaches property the Park Commission itself administers, not municipal streets or private yards.