No city, township, or county in Pennsylvania — including anywhere in Lehigh County — may ban or restrict a specific breed of dog. State law expressly preempts breed-specific legislation, so pit bulls and other breeds cannot be outlawed locally.
Pennsylvania's Dog Law, at 3 P.S. §459-507-A(c), abrogates local dangerous-dog provisions and bars any municipal ordinance from prohibiting or limiting a specific breed. This statewide preemption means Allentown, Bethlehem, Emmaus, and every Lehigh County township are prevented from enacting breed bans. Dogs are instead regulated by behavior: a dog can be declared 'dangerous' under §502-A only if it inflicted severe injury, killed or injured a domestic animal off the owner's property, attacked a person, was used in a crime, or has a history of unprovoked attacks. The law is neutral as to breed.
Breed-based local ordinances are legally void. Owners of dogs adjudicated dangerous face registration, confinement, insurance, and misdemeanor penalties under §§503-A–505-A of the Dog Law.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Lehigh County, PA
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See how Lehigh County's breed restrictions rules stack up against other locations.
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