{"topic_id":"gb_dangerous_dogs_out_of_control","category":"gb-dangerous-dogs","context":"---\ntopic_id: gb_dangerous_dogs_out_of_control\ncategory: gb-dangerous-dogs\ntitle: \"England & Wales — dog 'dangerously out of control' offence & penalties (Dangerous Dogs Act 1991; 6 months / 5 years / 14 years / 3 years)\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"UK Government (GOV.UK / DEFRA) — 'Controlling your dog in public (GOV.UK)' (https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public), landed 2026-08-13\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/gov-uk-petwelfare/control_dog_public.html\ndate_parsed: 2026-08-13\ntokens_estimated: 256\nverified: true\nverification: c1_substring\nsource_document: \"Controlling your dog in public (GOV.UK)\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"UK Government (GOV.UK / DEFRA)\"\n  title: \"Controlling your dog in public (GOV.UK)\"\n  url: \"https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-08-13\"\n  ref: \"\"\n  doc_type: \"official web page / guidance\"\n  needs_review: false\nlicense: open_government_licence_v3\n---\n\n# England & Wales — dog 'dangerously out of control' offence & penalties (Dangerous Dogs Act 1991; 6 months / 5 years / 14 years / 3 years)\n\nVerbatim C1 topic drawn from a first-hand UK Government (GOV.UK / DEFRA) source. Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0; every claim below is a whitespace-normalised substring of the landed source file. No paraphrase.\n\n## Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)\n- `It’s against the law to let a dog be dangerously out of control anywhere, such as:`\n- `in a public place`\n- `in a private place, for example a neighbour’s house or garden`\n- `in the owner’s home`\n- `The law applies to all dogs.`\n- `Your dog is considered dangerously out of control if it:`\n- `injures someone`\n- `makes someone worried that it might injure them`\n- `A court could also decide that your dog is dangerously out of control if either of the following apply:`\n- `it attacks someone’s animal`\n- `You can get an unlimited fine or be sent to prison for up to 6 months (or both) if your dog is dangerously out of control.`\n- `You may not be allowed to own a dog in the future and your dog may be destroyed.`\n- `If you let your dog injure someone you can be sent to prison for up to 5 years or fined (or both).`\n- `If you allow your dog to kill someone you can be sent to prison for up to 14 years or get an unlimited fine (or both).`\n- `If you allow your dog to injure an assistance dog (for example a guide dog) you can be sent to prison for up to 3 years or fined (or both).`\n","sources":["gb-dangerous-dogs — Controlling your dog in public (GOV.UK) (retrieved 2026-08-13)"],"source":{"authority":"gb-dangerous-dogs","title":"Controlling your dog in public (GOV.UK)","url":"https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public","retrieved":"2026-08-13","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Controlling your dog in public (GOV.UK)","verification_file":"pdf-raw/gov-uk-petwelfare/control_dog_public.html"},"source_document":"Controlling your dog in public (GOV.UK)","source_file":"pdf-raw/gov-uk-petwelfare/control_dog_public.html","trust":{"authority_tier":"ungraded","fidelity":"verbatim","license":"open_government_licence_v3","display_grade":"pending"},"tokens_estimated":256,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}