{"data":{"id":"us-ga/o.c.g.a.-4-8-29","jurisdiction":"us-ga","citation":"O.C.G.A. § 4-8-29","heading":"Limitations on dog’s presence off of owner’s premises; penalty for violation; defense.","body":"(a) It shall be unlawful for an owner of a dangerous dog to permit the dog to be off the owner’s property unless:\n(1) The dog is restrained by a leash not to exceed six feet in length and is under the immediate physical control of a person capable of preventing the dog from engaging any other human or animal when necessary;\n(2) The dog is contained in a closed and locked cage or crate; or\n(3) The dog is working or training as a hunting dog, herding dog, or predator control dog.\n(b) It shall be unlawful for an owner of a vicious dog to permit the dog to be:\n(1) Outside an enclosure designed to securely confine the vicious dog while on the owner’s property or outside a securely locked and enclosed pen, fence, or structure suitable to prevent the vicious dog from leaving such property unless:\n(A) The dog is muzzled and restrained by a leash not to exceed six feet in length and is under the immediate physical control of a person capable of preventing the dog from engaging any other human or animal when necessary; or\n(B) The dog is contained in a closed and locked cage or crate; or\n(2) Unattended with minors.\n(c) A person who violates subsection (b) of this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of high and aggravated nature.\n(d) An owner with a previous conviction for a violation of this article whose classified dog causes serious injury to a human being under circumstances constituting another violation of this article shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than ten years, a fine of not less than $5,000.00 nor more than $10,000.00, or both. In addition, the classified dog shall be euthanized at the cost of the owner.\n(e) Any irregularity in classification proceedings shall not be a defense to any prosecution under this article so long as the owner of the dog received actual notice of the classification and did not pursue a civil remedy for the correction of the irregularity.","path":["TITLE 4 Animals","CHAPTER 8 Dogs","Article 2 Responsible Dog Ownership"],"source_url":"https://archive.org/download/gov.ga.ocga.2018/release86.2022.11/gov.ga.ocga.title.04.odt","current_through":"Release 86 (2022-11)","vintage":"Public.Resource.Org bulk O.C.G.A., Release 86 (2022-11), retrieved 2026-09-17","retrieved_at":"2026-09-17T19:34:57Z","sha256":"c6fd169ceb4348c185207087f6f9db493275130f3cae027a17389ce8e0c54d4b","source_id":"us-ga","stale":false,"prev":"us-ga/o.c.g.a.-4-8-28","next":"us-ga/o.c.g.a.-4-8-30"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}