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

Kenton County Code of Ordinances § 90.01 defines VICIOUS ANIMAL by conduct, not by breed: an animal is vicious if it has a known propensity to endanger life shown by an unprovoked bite causing serious bodily harm, approaches a person in a terrorizing manner unprovoked, has a known tendency toward unprovoked attacks, causes severe injury by biting, or is kept for animal fighting. Division (7) then lists exceptions, closing with subdivision (d): an animal is not deemed vicious solely because of 'its breed or assumed/known component of its breed.' No chapter of this code lists prohibited or restricted dog breeds, and no section conditions ownership, licensing, or insurance on breed.

Once an animal is found vicious under this behavior-based definition, § 90.15(B) makes it unlawful to own or possess it, and a first conviction under § 90.99(B)(2) is a Class B misdemeanor, fined up to $250 with up to 90 days in the county jail, or both. On conviction the court must choose between two outcomes under § 90.99(B)(2)(a) and (b): order the animal microchipped, spayed or neutered, and registered as a vicious animal with Animal Services, confined in a secure, locked enclosure that prevents digging out or escape and keeps out small children, posted with a visible warning sign, and muzzled and leashed to no more than three feet whenever it leaves the enclosure for veterinary care, or order the animal euthanized outright. These consequences attach to the individual animal's documented conduct, never to its breed, and apply identically to a Kenton County resident's dog of any breed found to meet the vicious-animal standard.