Everett, MA Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

Everett's dog-control article is built on what a dog does. Section 3-5 lists the prohibited behavior: biting, physically injuring, assaulting or threatening any person without legally recognized justification or provocation (subsection (d)), biting or physically injuring any domestic animal (e), chasing any motorist, bicyclist, or pedestrian on a public way, street, sidewalk or public place (f), and being present on school or cemetery property (j). No breed is named in Section 3-5 or Section 3-6, and no breed-based restriction appears in Chapter 3 as printed. The only enforcement step that records a dog's breed is the impound registry in Section 3-3(b), which enters breed, color and sex along with the license number and owner's name and address.

Section 3-6 gives the police chief or his designee, who is the hearing authority defined in Section 3-1, the power to order a dog confined to the premises where it resides or to other premises, or muzzled when off those premises, after a hearing. The triggers are a bite, injury or assault on a person without legally recognized justification or provocation, a bite or injury to a domestic animal, or chasing a motorist, bicyclist or pedestrian on at least 2 occasions. An order can come in addition to or in lieu of a fine under Section 3-7. Once an order exists, Section 3-5(g) and (h) make it a violation to let the dog be off the property where it resides, or off that property unmuzzled under a muzzle order.

Section 3-1 also prints the definitions Everett uses. A dangerous dog is one that either, without justification, attacks a person or domestic animal causing physical injury or death, or behaves in a manner that a reasonable person would believe poses an unjustified imminent threat of physical injury or death to a person or to a domestic or owned animal. Section 3-6 preserves the chief's option to use MGL c. 140, §57 to determine that a dog is a nuisance dog or a dangerous dog, and Section 3-9 keeps the city's statutory remedies. Under Section 3-35, a canine bite or mauling in progress is one of the emergency calls the animal control officer answers on an emergency response basis.