Wyoming Dog Bite Laws: Liability, Dangerous Dog Rules, and Insurance
What Wyoming 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 Wyoming 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 Wyoming attorney before acting on anything that matters.
| Liability rule | Mixed (statute + common law) |
|---|---|
| Bite statute | common law (scienter/strict liability, ordinary negligence, and negligence per se from statute or ordinance violations); W.S. § 11-31-105 imposes statutory strict liability but only for a dog killing, wounding, or chasing livestock — not for a dog biting a person |
| Dangerous-dog statute | none found — no state statute creates a dangerous/vicious dog designation process; W.S. § 11-31-301(e) governs impoundment and rabies quarantine of an animal that bites or attacks a person, and § 11-31-301(g) delegates vicious-dog ordinance authority to county governments |
| Insurance requirement | No statewide requirement found |
Who pays when a dog bites: the Wyoming rule
Wyoming has no standalone dog-bite statute, so it does not fit neatly into strict liability or one-bite. The only statute that makes an owner liable for damages a dog causes covers a dog killing, wounding, or chasing livestock, not biting a person (W.S. § 11-31-105). It defines owner broadly: harbor a dog for 20 days and the law treats you as the owner for liability.
For a person bitten, Wyoming courts apply three common-law theories instead, an approach the Wyoming Supreme Court laid out in a 2003 decision commonly cited as Borns ex rel. Gannon v. Voss:
- Scienter, the traditional one-bite rule: if you knew, or had reason to know, your dog was dangerous, you are liable when it bites again.
- Ordinary negligence: a victim can win by showing you failed to reasonably control the dog and that failure caused the bite, without proving you knew it was dangerous.
- Negligence per se: violating a state law or local leash or at-large ordinance, if that led to the bite, can establish liability on its own.
Provocation matters under the scienter and negligence theories, so a dog that bites after being provoked is less likely to trigger liability. Leash and at-large rules run through county ordinances under W.S. § 11-31-301(g), so whether a leash was required depends on the county. Wyoming is also widely reported to be a modified comparative-negligence state, meaning an injured person who shares more than half the fault generally cannot recover, though this page has not independently verified that against the statute's text.
How a dog gets designated dangerous
Wyoming has no state law creating a dangerous or vicious dog designation, no statewide labeling process, and no statewide confinement, muzzle, signage, or registration requirement tied to a bite history.
State law does provide one narrower response: if your dog attacks or bites a person, the county sheriff or an animal control officer can impound it and quarantine it for at least 10 days, or longer if the state health officer requires it, to check for rabies or other disease it could pass on (W.S. § 11-31-301(e)). If the attack was vicious, the dog can be destroyed, or you can be fined up to $200, or both. Beyond that, state law goes no further. A formal dangerous-dog list, mandatory muzzling, warning signs, or special licensing exists only if your county has adopted its own ordinance under W.S. § 11-31-301(g), or your town has a separate local rule.
Insurance requirements
Wyoming law does not require liability insurance for dog owners statewide. A full read of Title 11, Chapter 31 of the Wyoming Statutes turned up no insurance or bond mandate anywhere in the chapter, including for a dog already impounded after a bite.
Some counties or towns may separately require insurance or a bond for a dog classified locally as dangerous, but that would come from a local ordinance, not state law.
Worth knowing
- No statewide breed rule either way. Wyoming has not banned or protected breed-specific ordinances, so counties and towns are free to adopt their own, and some have.
- Rabies quarantine after a bite or vicious attack runs at least 10 days, or longer at the state health officer's discretion, and the owner pays the cost.
- A livestock guarding dog actively protecting livestock is shielded from liability, unless the owner was grossly or willfully negligent (W.S. § 11-31-301(m)).
- Dogs and cats count as personal property, and an unlicensed dog's owner has no legal claim if it is destroyed.
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 Wyoming-licensed attorney. Municipal ordinances can add requirements beyond state law.