There are more strict controls in place for certain breeds of dog in Northern Ireland.

There are four banned breeds of dogs in Northern Ireland:

• Pit Bull terrier
• Japanese Tosa
• Dogo Argentino
• Fila Braziliero

Certain exemptions exist.

In some cases a court will allow you to own a banned dog. If a dog is a banned type but the court believes it would not be a danger to the public if it was kept under certain strict conditions, the court may make a ‘contingent destruction order’. This exempts the dog from the ban as long as the exemption conditions are met.

The exemption conditions are:

• the dog is neutered
• the dog is kept leashed and muzzled when in a public place
• when not in a public place, the dog is in sufficiently secure conditions
• the dog is made available to council dog wardens for inspection
• the council is notified of any change of address of the dog, or of the death or export of the dog
• third party insurance policy is taken out for the dog

In these circumstances you have two months to show that the exemption conditions have been met. Then you can apply for dog a licence from the council.

If the exemption conditions are not met, it is likely to lead to the destruction of the dog concerned.

Where a dog has been exempted from the ban on certain dog types, it is still an offence to breed from that dog, advertise it for sale or exchange, or transfer its ownership without informing the council.

All further information may be found here

*All information is correct as of July 2023. DogStop accepts no responsibility for information being out of date on this page, but we will endeavour to keep all information as up to date as possible. This information is not extensive.

If you see anything that does not look right, please let us know at info@dogstop.ie