Schaumburg, IL Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

Village Code Chapter 92 defines three escalating classifications instead of naming breeds. A DANGEROUS ANIMAL is one that, per police, veterinarian, or village records, has aggressively bitten, attacked, or menaced a person or killed a domestic animal off the owner's property (§ 92.01). An animal becomes POTENTIALLY VICIOUS after two separate documented incidents of that kind, and VICIOUS after a bite requiring more than minimal medical attention or after a second incident following a potentially-vicious finding. Under § 92.07, the chief of police or a designee makes the classification in a written finding that can also set maintenance conditions, such as a required enclosure. Section 92.08 gives the owner 30 days from that finding to file a written appeal with the village manager, who may hold a hearing and must rule in writing within 30 days.

Once an animal carries a potentially vicious or vicious finding, § 92.30(B) requires a muzzle and a leash no longer than six feet whenever it is off the owner's property, and § 92.30(C) requires a fenced enclosure or tethered run line in the yard, though a dog that finishes an approved training program may be supervised off-line inside a four-foot fenced yard. A vicious animal kept outside its enclosure or run line, other than for veterinary care or a court order, is impounded by police and turned over to a licensed veterinarian for destruction by lethal injection under § 92.30(L). Section 92.04 separately authorizes police to kill a dangerous, potentially vicious, or vicious animal on the spot when necessary to protect a person or another animal, with the brain then sent to a lab for rabies testing.