Prosecutions under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 fall into two main offences:
Banned dogs
It is an offence to own, breed, give away or abandon any of the following specific breeds of dogs:
- Pit bull Terrier
- Japanese Tosa
- Dogo Argentino
- Filo Brasileiro
- XL bully dogs (England & Wales)
This list is correct as of September 2023 but the government can add breeds so an up to date list can be found by visiting the Government website. If your dog matches many of the characteristics of one of the banned list of dogs it may still be banned even if it is not officially of that breed.
If you own a banned dog, it can be taken away from you irrespective of whether it isn’t acting in a dangerous way. The police will still need a warrant if the dog is in a private place but there doesn’t have to be any sort of initial complaint made. Once the dog has been removed the Police of Council dog expert will decide its breed and if it is on the banned list, it will be taken to a kennel, and you will not be able to visit it.
The court can then decide to add your dog to the Index of Exempt dogs if it thinks the dog is not a danger to the public. In these circumstances, the dangerous dog must then be neutered, microchipped and kept on a lead (and muzzled at all times in public.
Dangerously out of control dogs
Irrespective of breed, a dog can be seen as dangerously out of control and fall foul of the Dangerous Dogs Act. This offence can be committed by either the keeper or the person in charge of a dog that is dangerously out of control in a public place. If your dog injures a person, whilst out of control in a public place, this amounts to a more serious, or “aggravated” offence that can be prosecuted. This offence may also be committed in a private place where the dog is not permitted to be. If your dog does injure a person then this raises a presumption that the dog should be destroyed, however this may also be avoided if you can show that your dog is not a risk to the public.
The definition of dangerous dogs out of control is quite vague but can be on any occasion where there is reasonable apprehension that it will injure any person or assistance dog, whether it actually does.
