A Dog The County Calls Dangerous
N.J.S.A. 4:19-23 — the municipal court's potentially dangerous finding, by clear and convincing evidence, and N.J.S.A. 4:19-22 — vicious
Vicious. The municipal court declares a dog vicious if it finds by clear and convincing evidence that the dog killed a person or caused serious bodily injury to a person. A dog is not declared vicious if it was provoked, and the municipality bears the burden of proving it was not.
Potentially dangerous. The municipal court declares a dog potentially dangerous if it finds by clear and convincing evidence that the dog caused bodily injury to a person in an unprovoked attack and poses a serious threat of serious bodily injury or death to a person, or seriously injured or killed another domestic animal and poses a serious threat to a person or to other domestic animals.
- Injuring a person if the dog was provoked.
- Injuring or killing a domestic animal that was the aggressor.
- Injuring a person committing or attempting a crime against the owner, or a trespass or other offense on the owner's property.
- Injuring a person or animal that was abusing, assaulting or physically threatening the dog or its offspring.
- Injuring a person intervening between dogs that were fighting.
Those are the grounds on which a dog is not declared potentially dangerous.
What follows a vicious finding. If no appeal is taken, the court may order the owner to comply with restrictions at least as stringent as those for potentially dangerous dogs, or order the dog humanely euthanized, but no dog is euthanized while an appeal is pending.
Cities and counties often add their own dangerous dog rules on top of these, and those are not on this page. What a particular designation means for a particular dog is a question for a licensed New Jersey attorney.
Sources for this section (2)
- N.J.S.A. 4:19-22 — Dog declared vicious by municipal court; conditions
- N.J.S.A. 4:19-23 — Dog declared potentially dangerous; conditions
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed New Jersey attorney.