Our Local Laws provide residents with guidelines for animal keeping. We use these guidelines to make sure that animals are kept humanely and do not create a nuisance or health risk to the community or environment.

Local Laws also guide how many dogs you can keep on your property. The table below shows how many dogs can be kept depending on the property size.

Animal keeping approvals

If you want to keep more than the number of dogs allowed for your property size you need to apply for an animal keeping approval. An application fee, annual renewal fee and an annual inspection fee applies.

If you rent a property, have a body corporate or live in a retirement village you will need to get approval from your landlord, body corporate or the management of the retirement village. This approval needs to be lodged with your animal keeping approval application.

To apply for an animal keeping approval, see Applying to keep more animals.

• Application fees are non-refundable.
• Submitting and paying for an application does not guarantee approval.
• The application fee covers the cost of property searches and inspections.
• We also check previous animal registrations to make sure the applicant is a suitable person.
• When these inspections and checks are completed, we determine the outcome of your application.

Development approvals

You may need a development approval to keep more than 9 dogs. To find out more, see Development in Logan.

Prescribed dogs

A prescribed dog can be a greyhound, show dog, agility, herding or trial dog. 

Animal keeping of a Prescribed Dog is subject to conditions of both Logan City Council and the relevant recognised association, e.g. Dogs Queensland.

Enclosure requirements and effective control of dogs

Dogs living in Logan must be contained within their property boundary. Dog owners must provide and maintain a suitable enclosure for their dog to prevent escape.

Dog enclosures must:

• provide uninterrupted access to an entry of your home for emergency services, delivery drivers and other visitors to safely enter without coming into contact with your dog
• be built of strong and firm materials
• prevent the dog escaping over, under or through the fence or barrier. This includes any part of the dog protruding through the fence line
• be at least 1 metre in height for dogs under 10 kilograms and 1.2 metres in height for dogs over 10 kilograms
• not be less than 10 metres2 in area and must not include your swimming pool
• meet all welfare requirements of the dog.

If your dog has previously escaped over a 1.2 metre fence, we may enforce you to increase your fence to height to 1.8 metres and other improvements as required.

Remember to close the gate or door so your dog doesn't get out. If you have children, padlocks or self-closing latches can be very beneficial.

A dog is under effective control on private property when it is:

• adequately contained within your property boundary
• unable to escape over, under or through the fence or barrier
• unable to protrude any part of its body over, under or through
• unable to cause harm, fear or worry to a person, animal or thing.

A dog is under effective control in a public place when it is:

• held by a leash no longer than 2 metres in length
• held by an owner / handler who is physically able to control the dog to ensure it won’t attack or worry another person or animal
• held by a minor (under 16), and accompanied by an adult who is physically able to control it
• held by an owner / handler who is not handling more than 2 dogs at the same time
• tethered to a fixed object and under the continuous supervision of the owner / handler
• restrained in or on a vehicle so that it is unable to escape or protrude any part of its body outside of the vehicle boundary
• participating in training or obedience trials under the supervision of its owner / handler (only applicable to members of recognised associations)
• being shown at an event, under the supervision of its owner / handler (only applicable to members of recognised associations).

Effective control also applies when your dog is off leash in a designated off leash area.

Even though your dog is permitted off leash while using one of our off-leash dog parks, you must still maintain effective control. You do this by:

• remaining within the dog off leash area with continuous supervision of your dog
• ensuring your dog returns to you when it’s called (effective recall)
• ensuring your dog displays and engages in positive, social interaction with other people and animals
• understanding your dogs’ behaviour and what they do and don’t enjoy. If your dog is displaying signs of being uncomfortable in the of leash area, it’s best to remove them.

There’s no rule about the size or weight of dogs for using the “small” or “large” off-leash areas. Understanding your dogs’ energy levels and how they get along with dogs of all sizes will help you to choose the right area to exercise your dog. 

For more information about appropriate dog park etiquette, visit Off-leash dog parks.