The state-level rules every owner and walker in Tennessee should know. Local leash lengths, licensing and off-leash rules are set by each city — find those on the city pages below.
Tennessee (Dianna Acklen Act, T.C.A. § 44-8-413) is strict-liability when a dog isn't under reasonable control or is running at large and injures someone in public — but a residential exclusion flips it back to one-bite on the owner's own property.
Tennessee (T.C.A. § 44-8-413, the Dianna Acklen Act of 2007) imposes strict liability with a specific trigger: an owner has a duty to keep the dog under reasonable control at all times and not running at large. Breach that duty and the dog injures someone in a public place or lawfully on another's private property, and the owner is liable regardless of the dog's history or the owner's knowledge. No one-bite required — the public walk is squarely in the strict-liability zone.
If the injury happens on the dog owner's own residential, farm, or noncommercial property (or where they are a lawful tenant), strict liability does not apply — the victim must instead prove one-bite scienter, that the owner knew or should have known of the dog's dangerous propensities. So the standard flips based on where the injury happens: the sidewalk and the park are strict liability; the owner's own yard is not.
The statute defines owner as one who regularly harbors, keeps, or controls the dog — and Tennessee firms confirm that dog sitters, walkers, and caretakers may be held responsible if they fail to keep the animal under reasonable control. There is no liability where the injured person was a trespasser on nonresidential property, provoked the dog, was subject to the dog protecting its owner, or where the dog was securely confined in a kennel or crate, or was a police or military dog doing its work.
There is no statewide leash law — local ordinances govern, where running at large means off the property and unleashed, and a violation supports negligence / negligence per se. Rabies vaccination is required statewide with local licensing; dangerous dogs fall under § 44-17-117. Tennessee uses modified comparative fault with a 50% bar, and the personal-injury statute of limitations is just one year (§ 28-3-104) — among the shortest in the country.
This is general information about Tennessee law, not legal advice. Confirm current rules with the official state and municipal sources.