A common assumption is that a service dog is somehow outside the rules. Under Florida’s bite statute it is not.
Section 767.04 applies to “any dog.” There is no service-animal carve-out in it. The owner is liable for a bite regardless of the dog’s training, certification, or role.
The exemption in chapter 767 is for law enforcement canines, under § 767.16 — “any canine that is owned, or the service of which is employed, by a law enforcement agency.” That is a different thing from a service dog, and a police K9 bite is genuinely a different kind of case with much shorter notice deadlines.
A few practical differences worth knowing.
A properly trained service dog biting is unusual, and the circumstances often matter — was the dog being petted or distracted while working, was it under the handler’s control, had it shown problems before. Those facts cut in various directions.
If the bite happened at a business, the business may have its own liability and its own policy depending on the circumstances, which is a second place recovery can come from.
And a dog that bites may face dangerous dog classification like any other, since the statute assesses individual conduct rather than category.
One thing to hold onto. Bringing a claim after being injured is not an attack on service animals or on disabled handlers generally. Handlers carry insurance for the same reason every owner does. The claim is against a policy, not against a person’s right to have a working dog.