Wayne County, IN Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

Wayne County Code § 90.03 states plainly that no person shall permit his or her dog to be at large within the county, and § 90.01 defines AT LARGE as any dog off the property of its owner and not under the control of a competent person while on a leash, meaning a dog must be either confined to its owner's property or leash-controlled elsewhere in unincorporated Wayne County. The Sheriff of the county, or a deputized ANIMAL WARDEN sworn in by the Sheriff, enforces the chapter under § 90.02.

Section 90.04 requires dogs found at large to be taken up by the Sheriff and impounded at the Animal Welfare Shelter for at least five days; if unclaimed after five days the dog becomes shelter property and may be disposed of at the shelter's discretion, though if the owner is known the Sheriff may instead issue a warning or a citation to appear in court without impounding. To redeem an impounded dog, § 90.05 sets impound, notice and daily keeping charges of $2 each, on top of complying with state law and any other costs the shelter incurred.

Any dog that bites someone faces a mandatory ten-day quarantine directed by the County Health Department under § 90.06, and cannot be released without the Health Department's or a licensed veterinarian's consent. Penalties for letting a dog run at large are set directly in § 90.99(B): a fine of not less than $10 nor more than $50 for each offense, distinct from the chapter's general fallback to the county-wide § 10.99 penalty for unspecified violations.