Jessamine County, KY Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

The Jessamine County Code does not define a dangerous dog by breed. Section 90.01 defines a VICIOUS CANINE through actions that can be used in a criminal complaint or evidentiary hearing before a District Judge. The listed actions are an unprovoked assault or bite that has resulted in bodily harm, approaching a person in a terrorizing manner in an attitude of attack on streets, sidewalks or public grounds, a known propensity for unprovoked attacks, biting multiple times to the extent of causing injury, and being owned or harbored primarily or in part for fighting with animals. A bite to a human being or domestic animal more than once in the same attack is prima facie evidence that the canine is vicious.

The definition also lists exceptions. A canine is not deemed vicious solely because it acts against a person assaulting its owner, a person or animal who has tormented or abused it, a trespasser in violation of KRS 511.060 through 511.090, or a person invited onto the property for legal reasons. Defending its owner or another person, protecting its young, and breed or assumed or known breed component are also excluded as the sole basis.

Section 90.05 sets the process and the owner's duties, and it reaches both the unincorporated area and any incorporated area of Jessamine County. A person attacked by a canine without provocation can file a criminal complaint against the owner in district court to have the canine declared vicious. The owner of a vicious canine must keep it securely confined 24 hours a day in an enclosed pen of sufficient height and strength to prevent escape, or under the owner's personal control by leash when outside the confined area. A vicious canine found outside its owner's premises, not restrained or controlled, can be impounded or destroyed by an Animal Control Officer or by the owner on whose property it is found running at large.

The court sets conditions under § 90.99(C). A returned dog needs a locked enclosure at least seven feet high or a locked kennel run with a secured top, a warning sign visible from the public roadway, a muzzle under KRS 258.235(3) when it leaves for veterinary care or the shelter, and a lead or leash not to exceed three feet. The owner must notify Animal Control immediately if the canine is loose or has attacked.