A Dog The County Calls Dangerous
ORC 955.222 — ten days to ask for the hearing, and who has to prove what at it
A designation is not a criminal charge and it is not a lawsuit by the person who was bitten. It is a determination made about the dog, by a dog warden or another person the chapter allows to make it, and the owner finds out by being notified. What follows from it are duties that attach to the dog for the rest of its life.
| The designation | What the definition turns on |
|---|---|
| The designationNuisance dog | What the definition turns onWithout provocation and off the owner's premises, has chased or approached a person in a menacing fashion or an apparent attitude of attack, or attempted to bite or otherwise endanger any person |
| The designationDangerous dog | What the definition turns onWithout provocation, has caused injury, other than killing or serious injury, to any person |
| The designationVicious dog | What the definition turns onWithout provocation, has killed or caused serious injury to any person |
Without provocation is in all three, and it is doing work. Each definition opens with it. A dog that bit somebody who was provoking it has not met the definition on the words of the section, and the question of whether there was provocation is a question of fact rather than a formality, which is what a hearing is for.
Ten days, in writing, to the court where you live. An owner, keeper or harborer who disagrees with a designation may, not later than ten days after receiving notification of it, request a hearing about the determination. The request is in writing and is filed with the municipal court or county court that has territorial jurisdiction over the residence of the owner, keeper or harborer. It is not filed with the dog warden, and ten days is the whole of the window.
At the hearing it is not the owner who has to prove anything. The person who designated the dog has the burden of proving, by clear and convincing evidence, that the dog is a nuisance dog, a dangerous dog or a vicious dog. Clear and convincing is a higher standard than the one that decides most civil cases, and it rests on the side that made the designation rather than on the side contesting it.
Either side may appeal the court's final determination as in any other case filed in that court. The dog's owner and the person who made the designation both have that right, on the same terms.
Where a designation stands, the confinement and control duties in the chapter attach, and failing them is an offence under the chapter's own penalty section rather than a matter between neighbours. Those duties differ between the three designations, which is why which of the three it is matters as much as whether there is one at all.
The breed is not the test, and has not been since 2012. Substitute House Bill 14 of the 129th General Assembly, effective in May of 2012, rewrote these definitions and added the nuisance category. The definitions above turn on what a particular dog has done, without provocation, and not on what breed it is. The belief that a breed is vicious in Ohio by operation of the statute is a description of an older version of it.
Local ordinances may impose requirements of their own, and a municipality's rules are not reproduced here. The liability of an owner, keeper or harborer for an injury a dog causes is a separate question under a separate section, and being designated is not the same as being sued. Whether a particular dog meets a definition, and what a hearing is likely to turn on, are questions for a licensed Ohio attorney.
Sources for this section (5)
- ORC 955.222 — Hearings for dog designation, and the ten days to ask for one
- ORC 955.11 — Definitions, including nuisance dog, dangerous dog and vicious dog
- ORC 955.22 — Confinement of dogs, and the duties that attach to a designation
- ORC 955.99 — Penalties under the dog chapter
- ORC 955.28 — Liability of an owner, keeper or harborer for injury caused by a dog
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Talk to a licensed Ohio attorney about your situation.