Decatur, GA Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

City of Decatur ordinances take a behavior-based approach rather than a breed-based one. Section 14-31 defines a dangerous animal as one that constitutes a physical threat to human beings or other domestic animals by virtue of a known propensity to endanger life by an unprovoked assault or by biting so as to cause serious bodily harm, or one trained, owned, or harbored for animal fighting, with no breed named anywhere in the definition. The same section carves out exceptions for an animal defending its owner from an assault, defending against a trespasser, responding to abuse, or protecting its young.

Once an animal is declared dangerous, § 14-33(b) imposes extra confinement duties beyond the ordinary restraint rule: the owner's property must have a perimeter fence, and inside that fence the dangerous animal must be kept in a separate pen or kennel with secure sides buried two feet into the ground or set in a concrete pad, a secure top, and a locked gate. Whenever the dog leaves that pen but stays on the owner's property, it must be attended and restrained on a secure collar and leash.

1 gives a law enforcement or code enforcement officer authority to order an immediate correction, cite the owner, or seize and impound an animal posing an immediate serious threat, with judicial review of the dangerous-animal finding before the animal is released.