Lyon County, NV Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

Chapter 7.01 of the Lyon County Code targets dangerous behavior rather than breed. Under section 7.01.05(A)(2), an animal in unincorporated Lyon County becomes known as vicious or dangerous once the person with care or custody has personally seen it bite or attempt to bite, or injure or attempt to injure, a person or another animal, or has been told of such an incident by someone else; no breed is named anywhere in the section. Once that knowledge exists, subsection (A)(3) requires the owner to keep the animal on the private property confines and, whenever it leaves those confines, to have it muzzled, leashed and under an adult's effective control.

The property itself must carry conspicuous warning signs listing the names and phone numbers of the animal's handlers, and any enclosure used to confine the animal must be tall and sturdy enough to stop it biting or escaping over the top. Because the rule is triggered by a bite history rather than a breed label, a Lyon County pit bull, German shepherd or any other dog is treated identically until it actually bites or attempts to bite; a dog that has never bitten anyone is not subject to these confinement conditions no matter its breed.

Section 7.01.05(A)(4) makes it a misdemeanor for an owner who knows an animal is dangerous to let it violate the confinement rules and then injure someone or run at large where it could endanger public safety, and section 7.01.05(A)(5) allows a person to lawfully kill a known dangerous animal running at large if that is reasonably necessary for safety.