Napa County, CA Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

Under California Food & Agricultural Code section 31683 'no program regulating any dog shall be specific as to breed,' with a narrow exception only for mandatory spay/neuter or breeding programs adopted under Health & Safety Code 122331. HSC 122331(a) further provides that under any such program 'no specific dog breed, or mixed dog breed, shall be declared potentially dangerous or vicious' and limits the permissible measures to spay/neuter or breeding requirements. Napa County has not adopted a breed-specific mandatory spay/neuter ordinance. Instead, the county relies on conduct-based regulation through Chapter 6.16 (Dangerous Animals, originally adopted as Ordinance 1296 in 2007), which defines a 'potentially dangerous animal' as 'any animal which, when unprovoked, engages in aggressive conduct prompting or resulting in defensive action by any person to avoid bodily injury' and lays out hearing, registration, confinement, sign-posting, microchipping, spay/neuter, and liability-insurance requirements for any dog that meets the conduct criteria, regardless of breed. Owners of dogs that injure people remain strictly liable for bite damages under California Civil Code section 3342, again without reference to breed.