Coral Springs, FL Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

Coral Springs regulates dangerous dogs through an individualized classification system in § 4-18 rather than a breed-specific ban. When an incident involving a possibly vicious dog is reported, the Coral Springs Police Department investigates, including interviewing the owner if possible and taking a sworn affidavit from anyone, including the investigating officer, who wants the dog classified as vicious. If the department finds sufficient cause, it issues an initial vicious classification and notifies the owner by registered mail, certified hand delivery, or service of process.

An owner who doesn't contest the classification must comply with the confinement and registration requirements of § 4-18(e) within fourteen calendar days. An owner who does contest it has seven calendar days to file a written hearing request with the police director, must confine the dog in a secure enclosure pending the appeal, and must post a cashier's check covering the hearing officer's fee, which is set by resolution and refunded within fourteen days if the owner wins.

Once a dog's vicious classification is final, § 4-18(e) requires the owner to register it with the police department within fourteen days, obtain a vicious dog license tag renewed annually, have the dog implanted with a police-department-approved microchip at the owner's expense, post a warning sign visible from the street, and maintain a secure enclosure on the property. Under § 4-18(f), the dog must stay confined indoors or in that enclosure at all times, or be muzzled and leashed with the owner present when it isn't. A vicious dog without a valid license tag, without a secure enclosure, or outside its enclosure without a muzzle can be confiscated, quarantined and, after fourteen days' written notice, humanely destroyed under § 4-18(h). A vicious dog that attacks and severely injures or kills a person can be confiscated and destroyed after just ten business days' notice under § 4-18(i).