Tehama County, CA Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

California sets the limits here. Food and Agricultural Code section 31683 allows cities and counties to adopt dangerous-dog and vicious-dog programs, but expressly bars any program that is specific as to breed from being used to declare a dog potentially dangerous or vicious; the only breed-specific local rules permitted relate to mandatory spaying, neutering, or breeding of a particular breed. As a result, Tehama County does not - and legally cannot - ban or automatically classify pit bulls or any other breed as dangerous based on breed alone. Instead, dogs are regulated by behavior. Tehama County's own Code includes Chapter 7.30 (Potentially Dangerous and Vicious Dogs), which provides for filing a petition with the superior court for a hearing on whether a dog is potentially dangerous or vicious, and the statewide scheme in Food and Agricultural Code sections 31601-31683 defines those terms - for example, a dog can be declared 'potentially dangerous' after unprovoked threatening behavior or biting, and 'vicious' after an unprovoked attack causing severe injury. No breed registry, breed insurance mandate, or breed-specific muzzle requirement is published for the unincorporated county. The practical takeaway: any breed may be kept, and enforcement focuses on a specific dog's conduct, not its breed.