Yuba City, CA Animal Ordinances: Dog Leash Laws (2026)

310 of the Yuba City Municipal Code makes it unlawful for any owner, harborer, or person with charge, care, control, custody or possession of a dog, licensed or unlicensed, to allow it onto any public road, highway, street, alley, square, park, school ground or other public place, or onto another person's property without permission. Any dog found running at large in violation of state or city law is deemed a stray and must be immediately seized and impounded. 320(a) supplies the specific restraint standard: on any public street or other public place in the City, or on City property, a dog must be restrained by a leash no more than eight feet in length and kept under the complete control of the person in possession of it, unless the dog is confined securely inside an automobile, which is exempted from the leash requirement.

301(b) softens enforcement on the owner's own land: Animal Control Officers cannot seize, impound, or cite for a leash violation when the dog has not strayed from and remains on private property the owner or handler controls, though a dog that strays and then returns can still be cited even though it may not be impounded. A dog seized as a stray is held at the public animal shelter for the state-mandated holding period under Food and Agricultural Code Section 31108 before it may be sold, given away, or humanely destroyed if unclaimed.