About this directory
This is a selection of reported cases, not every dog-related hearing. A successful appeal may change an order without overturning a conviction. The outcome shown is the result of the judgment listed, not a claim about what happened to the dog afterwards.
A researched core digest, not an exhaustive index or a substitute for a current legal citator. Citation and holding checks use the sources attached to each entry. Some free repositories blocked automated retrieval; these entries distinguish indexed judgment text, approved transcript mirrors and reported authorities. No Supreme Court appeal-status certification is implied.
Banned dog types
Section 1 covers types, not simply pedigree breeds. Pit bull terriers and Japanese tosas are specified in the Act; Dogo Argentino and Fila Brasileiro were designated in 1991, and XL Bully dogs in the England and Wales 2023 Order. No separate, verified England and Wales conformation judgment for each of the three less-litigated types was located. Section 5(5) supplies the criminal-proceedings presumption and advance-notice requirement; it must not be turned into a blanket statement that every civil section 4B issue has the same burden. DEFRA guidance and conformation standards are distinct from the statutory text.
Dogs out of control
Read older public-place decisions against the version of the Act applicable at the time. Since the 2014 amendments, section 3 extends to any place in England and Wales. The section 3(1A) householder exception is limited: it is not a general defence to attacks on anyone entering private land. The section 3(2) defence belongs to an owner who was not in charge and reasonably believed the actual person in charge to be fit and proper.
Destruction & keeping dogs
Section 4A must be read alongside sections 4 and 4B. A control-based order after a section 3 conviction and an order requiring a prohibited dog to obtain exemption are different statutory routes. Sandhu predates the 2014 mandatory owner/keeper assessment. Do not treat Flack as conclusively resolving the distinct section 4B dispute addressed in Golding and left unresolved in Dawson.
Police powers & court procedure
Seizure, continued detention, interim release, final destruction and costs each require their own legal basis. A case-stated appeal determines legal questions on the stated facts; it is not an unrestricted retrial. Flack and Singh also address behavioural evidence; Webb addresses who is legally in charge.
Other dog-control laws
Dogs Act 1871 section 2 proceedings are civil and preventive. The 2014 Act provides distinct mechanisms: individual Community Protection Notices, civil injunctions and area-based Public Spaces Protection Orders. Summers concerns a PSPO, not a CPN. No dog-specific appellate CPN or Part 1 injunction judgment was sufficiently verified for inclusion in this edition; this is a research gap, not a claim that none exists. General ASB cases and unreported local enforcement stories have not been presented as dog-specific precedents.