Santa Ana Breed Restrictions Rules (2026): What You Need to Know

California Food and Agricultural Code Section 31683, enacted in 1989, explicitly prohibits any city, county, or city and county from adopting or enforcing breed-specific legislation. This state preemption means that Santa Ana cannot ban pit bulls, Rottweilers, German Shepherds, or any other breed, nor can it impose breed-specific requirements such as mandatory muzzling, special insurance, or additional licensing fees targeting certain breeds. All dog breeds are treated equally under the law in Santa Ana and throughout California.

Instead of breed-based regulation, Santa Ana and Orange County rely on behavior-based dangerous dog laws. Under California Food and Agricultural Code Sections 31601 through 31683, a dog may be designated as potentially dangerous if it has bitten a person without provocation on two separate occasions within a 36-month period, or if it has approached a person in a menacing manner while unprovoked and not confined. A dog may be classified as vicious if it has inflicted severe injury or death on a person without provocation, or if it was previously designated potentially dangerous and the owner failed to comply with all conditions imposed. These designations follow a formal investigation and, upon the owner's request, an administrative hearing. The evaluation applies uniformly to all dogs regardless of breed, size, or appearance.

All dogs in Santa Ana must be licensed through OC Animal Care, which provides animal control services for Santa Ana and most Orange County cities. Licensing requires proof of current rabies vaccination. Dogs must be kept on a leash when off the owner's property. Stray or unlicensed dogs may be impounded at the OC Animal Care shelter in Tustin. Owners of dogs declared potentially dangerous must maintain the animal in a secure, escape-proof enclosure when not under the direct physical control of a responsible adult, post conspicuous warning signs at all property entry points, have the animal spayed or neutered, and maintain liability insurance of at least $100,000 covering bodily injury and property damage.

One narrow exception to California's breed preemption exists under Health and Safety Code Section 122331, which permits cities to adopt breed-specific mandatory spay/neuter ordinances. Santa Ana has not enacted any such breed-specific spay/neuter ordinance and currently imposes no breed-specific requirements of any kind. Contact OC Animal Care at (714) 935-6848 for licensing, dangerous dog proceedings, or general animal control inquiries.