Youngstown, OH Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

Youngstown Codified Ordinances § 505.19 replaces breed-specific regulation with a conduct-based 'vicious dog' standard. Subsection (c)(2) defines a vicious dog as any dog with 'a propensity, tendency or disposition to attack, to cause injury to or to otherwise endanger the safety of human beings or other domestic animals,' or any dog that has already attacked a human or another domestic animal without provocation, regardless of breed. Once a dog meets that definition, subsection (a) bars its owner, keeper or harborer from letting it go unconfined on the owner's own premises, and subsection (b) separately bars letting it leave the premises unless it is 'securely leashed or otherwise securely restrained.' The section's editor's note confirms that former § 505.191, which had prohibited Pit Bull Terriers by breed, 'was repealed by Ordinance 15-371,' so Youngstown no longer names or restricts dogs based on breed anywhere in its Codified Ordinances.

Subsection (d) states that lack of knowledge or intent is not a defense: if a dog meets the vicious-dog definition and its owner fails to confine or restrain it, the violation stands regardless of whether the owner believed the dog was dangerous. Penalties are graduated by outcome rather than by breed: causing injury to a person is treated as more serious than a confinement violation that causes no injury.