Grand Prairie, TX Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

Sec. 5-17 lets the animal services manager investigate a written, sworn report of a dog attack and determine whether the dog is dangerous based on the need to protect public health, safety and welfare. If the manager finds the dog dangerous, notice must go to the owner and any known victim by certified mail or personal delivery, and the manager must choose one of two dispositions: exclusion of the dog from the city or humane destruction. The owner must immediately remand the dog to Animal Services pending any appeal; refusing to surrender it lets the manager or staff seek a warrant to seize the dog, and the failure to remand is itself a violation.

Both the owner and any victim get fifteen days to appeal to the Grand Prairie Municipal Court, with a further appeal to county court available under state law. During an owner's appeal, the dog stays at the animal services facility or an approved holding facility, and the owner must post a bond covering daily maintenance, quarantine and veterinary costs. If exclusion is ordered, the owner has seven days from notice, or forty-eight hours after losing an appeal, whichever is longer, to remove the dog from the city, and must prove the animal is microchipped and registered with a national registry, notify the receiving jurisdiction of the dangerous designation, and report the relocation address in writing.

Every dangerous dog must carry a lifetime microchip registration with a national database such as the AVMA's or UKC's, kept accessible for at least twenty years and paid for by the owner. A dog already declared dangerous by another jurisdiction may not be brought into Grand Prairie at all.