High Point, NC Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

Section 12-2-17(a) defines two tiers. A "dangerous dog" is one that, without provocation, has killed or inflicted a severe injury (broken bones, disfiguring lacerations, or an injury requiring cosmetic surgery or hospitalization) on a person, or one already determined "potentially dangerous," plus any dog kept even partly for dog fighting or trained to fight. A "potentially dangerous dog" is one that has inflicted a qualifying bite, killed or severely injured another domestic animal off its owner's property, approached a person off-property in a vicious or terrorizing manner, or displayed an unprovoked attack posture, snarling, baring teeth, snapping, growling, or lunging against a leash or fence, toward a person.

The definitions exclude police dogs on duty, lawful hunting dogs, working dogs injured while herding or controlling predators on their owner's property, and dogs that injure someone who was trespassing, tormenting the dog, or committing a crime. Subsection (b) makes it unlawful to own, maintain, or harbor a dog once it's been declared dangerous or potentially dangerous except as the section allows. Under subsection (c), an animal control or law enforcement officer who makes that determination must notify the owner in writing, and the owner has 24 hours to surrender the dog to the county animal shelter or face a court order to seize it; after six working days the shelter may humanely destroy the dog or transfer it to a qualified rescue.

Subsection (d) gives the owner five working days to appeal in writing to the city manager, which stays the surrender requirement, and subsection (e) routes the appeal to a three-citizen hearing panel named by the mayor within 10 working days. To reclaim a dog found dangerous, subsection (f) requires, within 30 days, a locked, freestanding enclosure at least 15 by 6 feet with a 4-inch concrete pad, 12-gauge welded chain link walls on posts sunk 18 inches deep, and a warning sign of at least 120 square inches, inspected and approved by the city building inspection department, with the dog boarded at the owner's expense until approval; failing to maintain the enclosure is itself a misdemeanor.