Arkansas dog laws combine a municipal impoundment system with state rules on owner liability, rabies vaccination, and shelter adoption. Cities and towns can pick up dogs running at large and, after at least five days’ written notice by certified mail, destroy them if the owner does not reclaim. Separate statutes govern what happens when a dog bites a person, injures livestock, or has an unknown vaccination status. The pieces fit together, and missing one of them can cost you your dog.
Dogs Running at Large
Arkansas Code 14-54-1102 gives every municipality the power to prevent dogs from running at large, to deal with the injuries and disturbances loose dogs cause, and to authorize destroying any dog found loose in violation of a local prohibition.1Justia. Arkansas Code 14-54-1102 – Dogs Running at Large That statute is the floor. Cities and towns build on it with their own ordinances covering licensing, leash requirements, and impoundment costs, and those local rules can be stricter than what the state requires.
When a municipality picks up a loose dog, it must give the owner at least five days’ notice of the proposed destruction date before it can destroy the animal.1Justia. Arkansas Code 14-54-1102 – Dogs Running at Large The notice goes out by certified letter with return receipt requested.
There is a critical limit on that protection. The notice-and-reclaim process only applies when the dog carries its owner’s address. No tag, no collar, no microchip linking the dog back to you means no address for the city to write to, and the certified letter never has to be sent. Dogs without identifiable owners can still be impounded, but the five-day safeguard does not kick in. Keeping a current tag on the collar, or a microchip on file, is what triggers the city’s obligation to notify you.
Reclaiming an Impounded Dog
If your dog does carry your address and the certified notice reaches you, you can reclaim it at the municipal pound by reimbursing the city for the cost of the notice plus any other costs and requirements the municipal governing body has set by ordinance.1Justia. Arkansas Code 14-54-1102 – Dogs Running at Large The state statute does not cap those additional fees, so they vary by city. Common charges include daily boarding, a veterinary examination, and any emergency medical care given while the dog was held.
You have to complete this before the destruction date on the notice. The statute provides no extension mechanism and no appeal once that date passes. If the local ordinance also requires proof of vaccination or a licensing fee, expect to satisfy those at the same time. Bringing only the boarding money will not be enough where the ordinance demands more.
Liability When a Dog Bites Someone
Arkansas follows the one-bite rule. A bite victim can recover from the owner if the dog had previously bitten someone or shown aggressive tendencies and the owner knew about that history. A dog with no prior incidents generally gets the benefit of the doubt, and the owner is not automatically liable for a first bite.
That does not shut the door on first-time bite claims. Arkansas courts also allow recovery on ordinary negligence: a duty of care, a breach, and injury caused by that breach. The Arkansas Model Jury Instructions describe the owner’s duty as using “ordinary care” to keep animals from running at large when the owner knows or should know the animal could cause harm. An owner who lets a large, unrestrained dog approach strangers can be found negligent even without a prior bite on record. Some individual counties have gone further and adopted strict liability ordinances that hold owners responsible for any bite regardless of the dog’s history.
Arkansas Code 5-62-125 adds a criminal layer. Someone who owns a dog they know or should know has a tendency to attack commits the offense of unlawful dog attack if that dog causes serious injury or death.2Justia. Arkansas Code 5-62-125 – Unlawful Dog Attack A conviction can include a court order requiring the defendant to pay the victim’s medical bills.
Liability When a Dog Injures Livestock
The rules change sharply once livestock is involved. Under Arkansas Code 20-19-102, the owner or anyone in possession or control of a dog is liable for the full value of any domesticated animal the dog kills or injures.3Justia. Arkansas Code 20-19-102 – Injuries to Domesticated Animals by Dogs Domesticated animals under this statute include sheep, goats, cattle, swine, and poultry, among others. There is no one-bite defense; liability attaches to the first incident.
The same statute gives livestock owners the right to kill a dog they know has killed, or is about to catch, injure, or kill, a domesticated animal, with no liability to the dog’s owner.3Justia. Arkansas Code 20-19-102 – Injuries to Domesticated Animals by Dogs It is a self-help remedy that can surprise dog owners, particularly in rural areas. If your dog is chasing livestock, the rancher does not have to call animal control first.
Rabies Vaccination and Bite Quarantine
Arkansas Code 20-19-305 requires all dogs, cats, and other animals to be vaccinated against rabies according to the standards set by the State Board of Health.4Justia. Arkansas Code 20-19-305 – Vaccination for Dogs, Cats, and Other Animals The Board sets the schedule, which generally follows the national pattern of an initial vaccine at 12 to 16 weeks, a booster one year later, and additional boosters every one to three years depending on the vaccine used.
When a person reports a bite from a dog whose vaccination status is unknown or lapsed, Arkansas Code 20-19-307 directs local health authorities working with law enforcement to have the dog confined and observed for ten days. Confinement can happen at a veterinary clinic, in the owner’s custody, or at a public pound. At the end of the ten days, whoever handled the confinement must notify local public health authorities of the dog’s condition. The window matches the timeframe in which a rabid animal would show symptoms.
Sterilization Before Adoption
One more rule affects anyone acquiring a dog from an Arkansas shelter. Under Arkansas Code 20-19-103, no pound, shelter, humane organization, or animal rescue group in any county may release a dog older than three months to a new owner unless the animal has been sterilized. It applies statewide. Owners reclaiming their own dogs are not subject to it, but new adopters are, and any dog that passes through impoundment and moves to a new home will be spayed or neutered before leaving the facility.