Sep 3, 2026

Summit County Dog Fines: The Whole Schedule, Published

The most complete fine schedule in this series, including a chase with no contact at $300 and a 10 percent monthly late fee.

Luis ZamoraCo-founder of PetCompass; Dog Dad to Banzo and Tuck

Park City, Utah9 min readPet Care & Services

Most counties tell you a violation is an offence and leave the cost to your imagination. Summit County publishes eighteen dog violations with dollar amounts next to them, plus a rule that doubles every one of them for an unsterilised dog.

It is the most complete fine schedule we have found anywhere in this series, and it is worth reading before you need it.

The schedule, as published

Verbatim from the county's citation fees page, under the heading "Ordinance Violations":

Violation, as published	Fine
Failure to license	$50
Failure to display tag	$25
No rabies vaccination	$50
Failure to sterilize	$250
Harboring a stray dog	$100
Running at large (1st Offense)	$100
Running at large (2nd Offense)	$150
Running at large (3rd Offense)	$200
Dog in prohibited place	$100
Dog attacking chase, worry	$300
Dog attack Bite (1st Offense)	$500
Dog attack Bite (2nd Offense)	$750
Dog attack Bite (3rd Offense)	$1000
Vicious animal	$500
Nuisance animal	$75
Animal cruelty	$500
Failure to procure a kennel permit	$250
Interference with an officer	$250

The wording in that left column is the county's own. "Dog attacking chase, worry" and "Dog attack Bite" are as printed.

The four notes that change the arithmetic

Verbatim, beneath the table:

"* Additional $100 for each additional violation applicable." "* Fine doubled if dog is unsterilized." "* Fines may change without prior notice. Additional fines and fees may be assessed. Late fee 10% / Month"

Read the second note twice. It does not apply only to the sterilisation line. As published, it is a general note under a table of eighteen violations.

So an unsterilised dog is a fine multiplier on everything. A first at-large offence reads as $200 rather than $100 on the face of the schedule, and a third bite offence reads as $2,000. We are describing what the schedule says rather than asserting how the county applies it, and if that matters to your case, ask.

And a single incident can carry more than one violation. An unlicensed, untagged, unvaccinated dog picked up running loose touches four lines at once, before the additional-violation surcharge.

Late payment costs 10 percent a month, compounding your delay into the bill.

The remedy most people miss

The same page gives you a route out, and it is genuinely useful. Verbatim:

"Individuals recieving a citation may request a hearing before Administrative Law Judge ( ALJ ). The ALJ may dismiss violations followed upon proof of compliance."

The spelling is the county's.

"May dismiss violations followed upon proof of compliance." In plain terms: if the citation was for failing to license, licensing the dog and showing the paperwork may get it dismissed.

Where and when, verbatim: "Hearings are held on the 3rd Thursday of the month at the Summit County Courthouse, 60 North Main, Coalville, Utah."

Third Thursday, in Coalville, which is a drive from Park City. Plan the day rather than the hour.

What triggers the common ones

Failure to license, $50. Summit County requires every dog living in the county to be licensed, and a licence costs $12 for an altered dog for a year. The fine is more than four times the licence. Our Summit County dog licence guide covers the process.

Failure to display tag, $25. The county's own instruction, verbatim from its animal control FAQ: "Owners should attach the tags to the collar of their dog and make sure that the collar and the tags are constantly worn. Failure to adhere to these codes could result in citation."

A licensed dog with the tag in a drawer is still a citation.

No rabies vaccination, $50. And note the licence cannot be issued without a current rabies vaccination in the first place, so these two tend to travel together.

Running at large, $100 rising to $200. The trigger is the leash rule, verbatim: "When your dog is not on your property, they must be on a leash or lead or have an electronic collar with a leash on your person at all times." Our Park City leash law guide covers what counts as restraint, including the e-collar option and the requirement to carry a leash anyway.

Dog in prohibited place, $100. Which places are prohibited depends on whose land you are on, and our where dogs are not allowed in Park City guide collects them. Basin Recreation, for example, prohibits dogs in its bike park, on playgrounds, on turf fields and on groomed Nordic trails.

Nuisance animal, $75. The county lists barking complaints among the things it enforces "if covered by county ordinance", per its Animal Control or HOA page. Our stop dog barking in an apartment guide covers the underlying problem.

The three that escalate fastest

"Dog attacking chase, worry", $300. Note that this is a step below a bite. The county's leash guidance says, verbatim: "dogs are not allowed to charge, chase, or otherwise display aggression toward any person or animal." So a chase with no contact is already a $300 line, before any doubling.

Bites, $500 then $750 then $1,000. Our dog bites in Park City guide covers the reporting duty and what follows.

Vicious animal, $500. A separate line from a bite, which suggests a designation rather than an incident.

Impound and boarding, which are not fines

Separate money, on a separate page. Verbatim from the county's fee schedule:

Impound fees, dogs and cats	Amount
1st offence	$35
2nd offence	$45
3rd offence	$55
Each subsequent	$85

Plus boarding at $10 a day, a trap rental at $30 per trap agreement, and a kennel permit at $50 for 5 to 15 dogs or $100 for 16 or more, with a $25 late fee.

So a loose dog picked up on a Friday and collected on a Monday is an at-large fine plus an impound fee plus three days of boarding, and that is before the unsterilised doubling. Our lost dog in Park City guide covers the five-day hold and where the shelter is.

The one thing we could not verify

Whether Summit County actually requires sterilisation.

The schedule lists "Failure to sterilize" at $250 and adds that fines double for an unsterilised dog. But the underlying duty is not stated on that page, and the county's licensing material offers unaltered licences at $36 for a year and $50 for three years, which reads as the county pricing intact dogs rather than banning them.

Two readings are possible. Either sterilisation is required of some subset of dogs, such as previously impounded or dangerous ones, or the line covers a narrower duty than its label suggests.

We are not going to guess between them. Ask animal control on (435) 336-3985 before assuming either way, particularly if you own an intact dog.

What this schedule tells you about the county's priorities

Fine schedules are policy documents if you read them sideways, and this one is unusually legible.

Bites dominate everything. A third bite offence at $1,000 is twenty times the failure-to-license fine and four times a nuisance complaint. Add the doubling note for an unsterilised dog and the top of this schedule is in four figures.

Chasing is treated as serious in its own right. "Dog attacking chase, worry" at $300 sits above every paperwork violation and above a first at-large offence. In a county whose open space carries livestock, deer and elk, that pricing is deliberate, and it lines up with the leash guidance prohibiting a dog from charging or chasing any person or animal.

Paperwork is cheap to fix and cheap to punish. $50, $25 and $50 for licence, tag and rabies. Those are nudges rather than deterrents, and the ALJ dismissal route makes them softer still.

Interference with an officer at $250 is a tell. It sits level with failure to sterilise and failure to procure a kennel permit, which suggests the county has had enough trouble with owners obstructing officers to price it.

And the escalation structure assumes repeat offenders. Three of the eighteen lines have first, second and third offence tiers, and the impound fee schedule runs to "Each subsequent" at $85. A county that expects one-off mistakes does not build four-tier ladders.

How to owe nothing

License the dog and leave the tag on the collar. $12 a year for an altered dog, against $50 plus $25 for the two paperwork lines.

Keep the rabies current, because the licence term is tied to it.

Carry a leash even if you use an e-collar. The county requires a leash on your person regardless.

Keep the dog under voice and sight control at all times, which is the county's wording and applies alongside whatever restraint you are using.

And read the signs where you are walking, since "Dog in prohibited place" is a $100 line and the prohibited places differ between the city, the county and Basin Recreation. Our Park City dog rules guide explains which authority governs where.

One number the schedule does not contain

Worth flagging because its absence is informative.

There is no waste line among the eighteen violations. Every other city in this series has a pick-up ordinance with a citation attached, Basin Recreation asks visitors to "Always pick up after your dog", and the district provides waste stations at its parks and many trailheads.

But the county's published schedule does not price it. Either it sits in a different part of the code, or it is enforced as a nuisance matter, or the schedule is not exhaustive. The schedule itself says as much, verbatim: "Additional fines and fees may be assessed."

Which is the right way to read this document overall. It is unusually complete for a county fee schedule, and it is still not the whole ordinance. Treat it as a floor on what things cost rather than a ceiling.

Frequently asked questions

How much is the fine for an unlicensed dog in Summit County? $50 for failure to license, plus $25 for failure to display a tag and $50 for no rabies vaccination if those apply too.

What is the fine for a dog running at large? $100 for a first offence, $150 for a second and $200 for a third, per the county's published schedule.

What is the fine if my dog bites someone? $500 for a first offence, $750 for a second and $1,000 for a third. A separate line for "Dog attacking chase, worry" is $300.

Do fines double for an unsterilised dog? The county's schedule carries a note reading "Fine doubled if dog is unsterilized" beneath the whole table of violations, so as published it applies generally.

Is there a surcharge for multiple violations? The schedule notes an additional $100 for each additional violation applicable.

Can a citation be dismissed? The county states that individuals receiving a citation may request a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, and that the ALJ may dismiss violations on proof of compliance.

Sources

The county states that fines may change without prior notice. Confirm current amounts with Summit County Animal Control.