Arkansas Dog Bite Laws: Liability, Dangerous Dog Rules, and Insurance
What Arkansas law expects from you as a dog owner — who pays after a bite, how a dog gets designated dangerous, and whether the state requires liability insurance. Every citation links to the official statute.
This page is not legal advice. It summarizes Arkansas state law as of 2026-07-13. Laws change and cities add their own rules — personally check the official statutes linked below, and talk to a licensed Arkansas attorney before acting on anything that matters.
| Liability rule | One-bite (owner knowledge) rule |
|---|---|
| Bite statute | common law (scienter doctrine; no statewide dog-bite civil liability statute) |
| Dangerous-dog statute | none found (no active statewide designation statute; HB1992 of 2025 would have created one but was withdrawn before passage) |
| Insurance requirement | No statewide requirement found |
Who pays when a dog bites: the Arkansas rule
Arkansas has no statewide law that automatically makes you liable if your dog bites someone. Courts apply the common-law one-bite rule instead, from the Arkansas Supreme Court's decision in Strange v. Stovall (1977). You are liable for a bite only if you knew, or reasonably should have known, that your dog had dangerous tendencies before it bit someone. A prior snap, a pattern of lunging at people, or a warning from a vet or neighbor is enough to count as notice, even without a documented prior bite. Once you have notice, Arkansas treats you as liable for what the dog does next, even if you took precautions and the escape was not your fault.
A separate statute, Ark. Code Ann. § 20-19-102, imposes automatic liability on owners, but only for dogs that kill or injure livestock or poultry, not people.
A severe attack can also be a crime. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 5-62-125, an owner who knows a dog is prone to attack and negligently lets it kill or seriously injure someone commits a Class A misdemeanor and may owe restitution for medical bills.
A trespassing or provoking victim weakens a claim against you, and Arkansas's comparative-fault rule can bar recovery if the victim was mostly at fault. Leash rules are set locally under Ark. Code Ann. § 20-19-303 and § 14-54-1102, so a leash violation only counts against you if your city has one.
How a dog gets designated dangerous
Arkansas has no active statewide law letting a court or agency declare a dog dangerous or vicious. Any designation process comes from local ordinance instead.
In 2025, lawmakers came close to changing that. House Bill 1992 would have created a statewide designation process, with a written declaration from an animal-control officer, a hearing right, and registration backed by insurance. The bill was withdrawn by its author on April 10, 2025, before any committee vote, and never became law.
Claims circulating online that Arkansas enacted a dangerous-dog registration law effective July 2025 requiring $100,000 in liability insurance are false on both counts: the bill was withdrawn, and it would have set the floor at $50,000.
Insurance requirements
Arkansas law does not require dog owners to carry liability insurance statewide. No statute conditions dog ownership, or ownership of a dog labeled dangerous, on insurance or a bond. The 2025 bill above would have tied insurance to a dangerous-dog registration, but since it was withdrawn, that requirement never took effect.
Some cities require proof of liability insurance to keep a locally declared dangerous dog, but that comes from the city, not the state.
Worth knowing
- Breed bans are legal here. A 2023 bill that would have barred local breed-specific rules, HB1519, failed on a House floor vote, 34 to 45, so cities and counties can still ban or restrict breeds.
- Quarantine after a bite is mandatory. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 20-19-307, a biting dog must be confined and observed for rabies for 10 days by a vet, the owner, or a public pound, at the owner's expense unless the dog is an unowned stray.
- Reporting is required. Ark. Code Ann. § 20-19-306 makes it unlawful to know about a bite and not notify health authorities, or to dispose of a dog known to have bitten someone before authorities release it.
Other states
Rules change at the state line — a dog that is fine at home can put you under a different liability standard on vacation. See the full 50-state table.
General information, not legal advice, current as of 2026-07-13. Statutes get amended and courts reinterpret them — confirm anything that matters with the statute text linked above, your local animal control authority, or a Arkansas-licensed attorney. Municipal ordinances can add requirements beyond state law.