Chapter 2025-61 rewrote this process, and the timetable is short enough that it matters whether you know the dates.
It starts with a sworn affidavit. Animal control “shall investigate reported incidents involving any dog that may be dangerous” and must “require a sworn affidavit from any person… desiring to have a dog classified as dangerous.” A phone complaint does not open a classification case.
Notice goes out formally. Written notification of the sufficient-cause finding and the proposed penalty is served on the owner “by registered mail or certified hand delivery or service in conformance with the provisions of chapter 48.”
Then two clocks run:
| Step | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Owner requests a hearing | within 7 calendar days of receiving notice |
| Hearing is held | not later than 21 days and not sooner than 5 days after the request |
Seven calendar days is not seven business days. If you are the person who reported the dog and want the record to reflect what happened, a week is not long.
What the classification means if it is made. The owner must obtain a certificate of registration, keep rabies vaccination current, provide a proper enclosure with a warning sign posted, have the dog microchipped and sterilised, and carry liability insurance of at least $100,000.
That last requirement is why the outcome matters to anyone the dog later injures — it sets a statutory insurance floor. The full framework.
Confiscation is separate from classification. A dog that “has killed a human being or has bitten a human being and left a bite mark that scores 5 or higher on the Dunbar bite scale” must be confiscated immediately. What happens to the dog itself.
None of this is your civil claim, and a classification is not required for you to have one. But the file it generates — the affidavit, the investigation, the findings — is evidence produced by a neutral public body rather than by you.