Albemarle County, VA Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

Some Virginia localities have faced pressure to single out breeds like pit bulls, but Albemarle County's dangerous-dog and vicious-dog ordinances expressly reject that approach. § 4-212 then lists the circumstances under which a court will not find a dog dangerous, and subsection (B) states plainly that breed alone is never sufficient: "Particular breed. Solely because the dog is a particular breed. " The county's separate "vicious dog" division, reserved for a dog that has killed a person, inflicted serious injury on a person, or continued dangerous behavior after a prior finding, carries the identical breed disclaimer at § 4-223(A).

Both provisions were adopted by Ordinance 13-4(1) on July 3, 2013 and readopted with the 2018 code recompilation. Because breed cannot support a declaration, an Albemarle County Police Department animal control officer or a court hearing a summons under § 4-211 or § 4-222 must point to an actual bite, attack, injury, or killing before a dog can be registered as dangerous or ordered euthanized as vicious. Owners in Albemarle County outside Charlottesville and Scottsville therefore face no breed-based licensing surcharge, muzzle mandate, or ownership restriction tied to a dog's breed; consequences attach only after a documented incident.