California city to require $100,000 insurance policy for ‘dangerous dog’ owners

Redlands dog owners whose pets are deemed “vicious” must now carry liability insurance under a tightened city ordinance aimed at holding owners accountable for animal attacks.

Under the updated code, animals would be labeled “potentially dangerous dogs” and “vicious dogs” based on certain behaviors, circumstances and situations. Other changes to the code include definitions for what constitutes a “severe injury” and the duties of animal owners.

The Redlands City Council approved the changes on Tuesday, Dec. 16 — a move Mayor Mario Saucedo said is long overdue.

“I think some of the challenges of trying to go just on subjective evaluations was kind of cumbersome, and now with this, it allows a little more objective investigations and administrative recourse,” Saucedo said before the council’s unanimous passage of the updated ordinance.

Tabitha Crocker, the city’s Facilities and Community Services Department director, said the new updates to the ordinance were “aligned with best practices and legal standards to ensure clarity, consistency and enforcement.”

Under the ordinance, a dog is considered “potentially dangerous” and “vicious” when it engages in an unprovoked behavior that requires someone to take defensive action to prevent bodily injury to themselves or others, which now includes any “domestic animal or livestock” on the property of its owner. The ordinance would also cover attacks in “a common area of a multi-family residential property.”

A “severe injury” caused by this dog classification expands the scope of physical damage to include a “major fracture,” joining muscle tears, disfiguring lacerations, or wounds that require multiple sutures or surgery.

New provisions in the ordinance authorize law enforcement to impound dogs posing an immediate threat to the public and direct that the city’s animal services department handle the impoundment.

Conditions for releasing a dog deemed dangerous include the owner securing $100,000 in liability insurance, mandatory licensing, vaccination and microchipping. Other stipulations include obedience training courses, using a leash and muzzle when away from home and posting clear signage on the owner’s property indicating the presence of a potentially “dangerous” or “vicious” dog.

Violations include fines ranging from $100 to $500.

Owners also have the right to appeal the “potentially dangerous” and “vicious” classification by filing a request with the city clerk’s office 10 calendar days after the order.