The state-level rules every owner and walker in Québec should know. Local leash lengths, licensing and off-leash rules are set by each city — find those on the city pages below.
Québec is a CIVIL-LAW province: under article 1466 of the Civil Code of Québec the owner of an animal is liable for the damage it causes, and 'a person making use of the animal is also, during that time, liable therefor together with the owner' — so the walker or sitter using the dog is directly and jointly liable, the strongest walker hook in Canada.
Québec follows the civil law, not common law. The governing rule is article 1466 of the Civil Code of Québec: the owner of an animal is bound to make reparation for injury it has caused, whether the animal was under the owner's custody or that of a third person, or had strayed or escaped. The article then adds the key line: a person making use of the animal is also, during that time, liable therefor together with the owner. In plain terms, the walker or sitter who is using the dog is directly and jointly liable with the owner for damage the dog does while in their care. This is the strongest walker-liability hook in Canada — the exposure falls on you by statute, alongside the owner, not merely through a negligence claim.
Following a fatal 2016 attack, Québec enacted the Act to promote the protection of persons by establishing a framework with regard to dogs (2018), with its Regulation (P-38.002, r.1) in force from 2020. A municipality can declare a dog potentially dangerous, which triggers conditions: the dog must be sterilized, microchipped and have up-to-date rabies vaccination, and may be required to be muzzled in public. A potentially dangerous dog cannot be kept around a child aged 10 or under unless a person 18 or older is constantly supervising. Enforcement is municipal. A walker should confirm whether any dog in their care carries a dangerous-dog declaration and handle it strictly to the imposed conditions.
The provincial Regulation sets a maximum leash length of 1.85 m in public (except in dog exercise areas or during canine activities), and requires a dog weighing 20 kg or more to wear a halter or harness attached to the leash. Owners or guardians must register their dog with the local municipality (generally within 30 days). Everything else — licences, fees, waste rules — is municipal and bilingual. In Montréal, for example, every dog needs a licence (about $31.80) and a tag worn at all times, must be microchipped and sterilized, kept on the 1.85 m leash, and owners must pick up droppings. By-laws differ between cities and boroughs, so a walker must check each area's rules.
Identification is largely municipal in Québec, but the provincial dangerous-dog Regulation makes microchipping and sterilization mandatory for potentially dangerous dogs, and cities such as Montréal require every licensed dog to be microchipped and sterilized and to wear its licence tag at all times. A current microchip tied to up-to-date contact details is how a lost dog is reunited quickly. A walker should confirm each dog's licence, tag and microchip are current, and that any potentially-dangerous-dog conditions are met, before taking it out.
This is general information about Québec law, not legal advice. Confirm current rules with the official state and municipal sources.