Spring Hill, TN Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Section 10-203 is short and applies citywide: it is unlawful for any person knowingly to permit any dog owned by him or her or under his or her control to run at large within the corporate limits. Unlike the livestock rule in § 10-101, it does not limit the prohibition to streets, alleys or unenclosed lots. The word leash does not appear anywhere in the code, so the operative standard is the at-large prohibition rather than a stated tether requirement. Section 10-204 adds a restraint duty for dangerous animals: no one can own or keep a dog known to be vicious or dangerous unless it is so confined or otherwise securely restrained as to reasonably provide for the protection of other animals and persons.

Two licensing sections sit alongside. Section 10-201 requires every dog to be vaccinated against rabies and registered under the state's Anti-Rabies Law (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 68-8-101 through 68-8-114) or other applicable law, and § 10-202 requires every dog to wear a tag evidencing that vaccination and registration. Section 10-205 bars harboring a dog whose loud and frequent barking, whining or howling annoys or disturbs the peace and quiet of any neighborhood. Under § 10-206 the Health Officer or Chief of Police can have a dog confined or isolated for as long as reasonably necessary when it has bitten or is suspected of having bitten a person or is suspected of rabies.

Section 10-207(A) governs impoundment. Any dog found running at large can be seized by the Health Officer or any police officer and placed in a pound designated by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. A tagged dog's owner is notified in person, by telephone or by postcard and has five days to redeem the dog by paying a reasonable pound fee fixed by the pound keeper. An untagged dog is humanely destroyed or sold unless the owner legally claims it within two days. No dog is released until it has been vaccinated and a tag placed on its collar. Under § 10-207(B), a dog that cannot be safely impounded because of viciousness or apparent rabies can be summarily destroyed.