Sep 2, 2026

Dog Bites in Maricopa County: Home Quarantine, or Seven Days in the Pound

Whether your dog is quarantined in your house or in a county pound turns on a $22 licence and a current rabies shot. Here is the ordinance, the discretion in it, and the reporting duty most people do not know they have.

Anant ShastriTelling stories through PetCompass

Phoenix, Arizona11 min readPet Care & Services

If your dog bites someone in Maricopa County, whether it is quarantined in your house or in a county pound depends on one thing: whether it is licensed and vaccinated.

Maricopa County Ordinance P-13, Section 9, verbatim:

"An unlicensed or unvaccinated dog or cat that bites any person shall be confined and quarantined in a county pound or, upon request of and at the expense of the owner, at a veterinary hospital for a period of not less than seven days. A dog properly licensed and vaccinated pursuant to this ordinance, that bites any person, may be confined and quarantined at the home of the owner or wherever the dog is harbored and maintained with the consent of and in a manner prescribed by the county enforcement agent."

Read those two sentences against each other.

Unlicensed or unvaccinated: not less than seven days, in a county pound, or at a veterinary hospital at your expense.

Properly licensed and vaccinated: may be quarantined at home.

A Maricopa County dog licence costs $22 for a spayed or neutered dog. That is the whole price of the difference.

Who quarantines where, under P-13

Licence and vaccination status decide where the animal is held, and the species decides the minimum length. This is what Ordinance P-13 sets out.

Animal and status	Where it may be held	Minimum period
Dog or cat, unlicensed or unvaccinated	County pound, or a vet hospital at owner's expense	Not less than seven days
Dog, properly licensed and vaccinated	Owner's home, only with county consent	Not stated in the ordinance
Animal other than a dog or cat	County pound, or a vet hospital at owner's expense	Not less than fourteen days
Caged rodent	Owner's home, only with county consent	The required period, unspecified

The word "or" is doing a lot of work

Note the phrasing in the first sentence: "unlicensed or unvaccinated". Either failure puts you in the pound category. A vaccinated dog with a lapsed licence is caught. A licensed dog whose rabies has expired is caught.

And the second sentence requires both: "properly licensed and vaccinated".

So the home-quarantine route needs a current licence and a current rabies vaccination together. Our pet health and vaccination tracker is where to keep the two dates, and in Maricopa County they are linked: the county states that "The term of a dog license is based on the month and day of the most current rabies vaccination certificate on record."

Home quarantine is at the county's discretion

Read the second sentence again. It says a licensed and vaccinated dog "may be confined and quarantined at the home of the owner", and it adds two conditions: "with the consent of and in a manner prescribed by the county enforcement agent."

So it is permission, not entitlement. Being licensed and vaccinated buys you eligibility for home quarantine, not a right to it, and the county sets the manner. We are not going to tell you how that discretion is exercised in practice, because the ordinance does not say and we found no page that does.

What the ordinance does say is that without the licence and the vaccination, the home option is not on the table at all.

Other animals, and the fourteen-day rule

Verbatim: "Any animal other than a dog or cat that bites any person shall be confined and quarantined in a county pound or, upon request of and at the expense of the owner, at a veterinary hospital for a period of not less than fourteen days, provided that Livestock shall be confined and quarantined for the fourteen-day period in a manner regulated by the Arizona Livestock Board."

Fourteen days rather than seven, for anything that is not a dog or a cat. With one exception, verbatim: "If the animal is a caged rodent, it may be confined and quarantined at the home of the owner or where it is harbored or maintained, for the required period of time, with the consent of and in a manner prescribed by the county enforcement agent."

Wild animals are handled differently, verbatim: "Any wild animal which bites any person may be killed and submitted to the county enforcement agent or his deputies for transmission to an appropriate diagnostic laboratory."

Reporting a bite is a legal duty on anyone who knows

This one catches people out, because it is not limited to the owner or the person bitten.

Verbatim: "Whenever an animal bites any person, the incident shall be reported to the county enforcement agent immediately by any person having direct knowledge."

Any person having direct knowledge. Immediately. So a neighbour who saw it, a dog walker, a delivery driver's colleague. The duty is not on the owner alone, and there is no waiting period.

The county can end a quarantine early, in two circumstances

Verbatim: "The county enforcement agent may destroy any animal confined and quarantined pursuant to this ordinance prior to the termination of the minimum confinement period for laboratory examination for rabies if Such animal shows clear clinical signs of rabies." And: "The owner of such animal consents to its destruction."

The capitalisation is in the original.

We are quoting that plainly because a page about bite quarantine that omits it is not telling you the position. Rabies testing requires brain tissue; that is why the provision exists.

Vicious animals, and the hearing

P-13 defines the category, verbatim: "'Vicious animal' means any animal of the order carnivora that has a propensity to bite human beings without provocation, and has been so declared after a hearing before a justice of the peace or city magistrate."

Two elements. A propensity to bite without provocation, and a declaration after a hearing. A dog is not vicious in the ordinance's sense because somebody says so; it becomes vicious when a justice of the peace or a city magistrate declares it after a hearing.

The consequence, verbatim: "The county enforcement agent shall destroy a vicious animal upon an order of a justice of the peace or a city magistrate. A Justice of the Peace or city magistrate may issue such an order after notice to the owner, if any, and a hearing."

And a vicious declaration changes what an at-large violation costs in Phoenix. City Code 8-14, quoted in the Phoenix Police Department's leash law document, sets out a penalty ladder, and its top rung is this, verbatim: "Any misdemeanor violation of this section when the dog has previously been determined to be vicious pursuant to Section 8-16.01 shall be punishable by a fine of not less than five thousand dollars and imprisonment for a term of not less than five days."

Five thousand dollars and five days. For an at-large violation, once the dog has been declared vicious.

The state layer, on dogs at large

ARS 11-1012(A) puts a flat state prohibition on two categories, verbatim: "Neither a female dog during her breeding or mating season nor a vicious dog shall be permitted at large."

So a dog declared vicious is barred from being at large by state statute, county ordinance and city code simultaneously.

Avoiding the whole situation

Bites happen for reasons, and most of them are visible in advance.

Six feet, on a lead that will hold. All three layers use the same figure. P-13 states a dog is not at large "If said dog is restrained by a leash, chain, rope, or cord of not more than six (6) feet in length and of sufficient strength to control action of said dog." Phoenix City Code 8-14(A) allows "a leash not to exceed six feet in length and directly under the owner's or custodian's control". Our how to leash train a dog guide covers making that comfortable rather than a struggle.

Leave the dog park at the first sign of trouble. Phoenix's dog park rules are explicit, verbatim: "immediately leash your dog if it exhibits aggressive behavior and leave the dog park area." Our dog park etiquette guide covers reading the room.

Do not take a dog in heat. Verbatim from the same rules: "Absolutely no female dogs in heat are allowed into exercise areas." And ARS 11-1012(A) bars a female dog in season from being at large.

Keep children out. Phoenix asks that children under 12 not be brought into its dog parks, "for the safety of children", noting that "Some dogs exhibit unpredictable behavior around small children."

And mind the heat, because a hot dog is a shorter-tempered dog. Maricopa County's pet heat safety page gives 125-degree asphalt at 77 degrees of air temperature and states that skin damage can occur in one minute above that. A dog in pain from its feet is not a dog at its most patient. Our summer heat safety for pets guide covers the signs.

If your dog has bitten someone

We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice. What we can tell you is what the ordinance provides.

The incident must be reported immediately, by any person with direct knowledge, to the county enforcement agent.

Get the person medical attention. Obviously, and first.

Have your licence and rabies certificate to hand. That pair decides whether home quarantine is even available.

Expect a minimum period, not a maximum. The ordinance says "not less than seven days" for an unlicensed or unvaccinated animal, and sets no ceiling.

And if the dog is unlicensed, licensing it after the fact does not undo the position at the moment of the bite. The ordinance describes the animal's status, not the owner's subsequent paperwork. We are not going to speculate about how that is applied; we are telling you the sentence is written in the present tense about the biting animal.

Our emergency vet, what to know explainer covers the veterinary side if the dog itself is injured, and Maricopa County publishes a directory of 24-hour hospitals which we cover separately.

If your dog has been bitten

Different problem, same reporting duty.

Report it. The duty in the ordinance is on any person with direct knowledge, which includes you.

Get the other dog's details if it is safe to do so. Whether that animal was licensed and vaccinated determines what happens to it, and rabies status is the question your vet will ask first.

And go to a vet. Bite wounds close over and abscess. Our pet first aid basics guide covers the first few minutes.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if my dog bites someone in Maricopa County? Ordinance P-13 requires an unlicensed or unvaccinated dog that bites a person to be confined and quarantined in a county pound, or at a veterinary hospital at the owner's expense, for not less than seven days. A properly licensed and vaccinated dog may be quarantined at the owner's home with the county enforcement agent's consent.

How long is a dog bite quarantine in Maricopa County? Not less than seven days for an unlicensed or unvaccinated dog or cat. For any animal other than a dog or cat, not less than fourteen days.

Can my dog be quarantined at home after a bite in Phoenix? Only if it is properly licensed and vaccinated, and then only with the consent of and in a manner prescribed by the county enforcement agent. The ordinance says "may", not "shall".

Do I have to report a dog bite in Maricopa County? Yes, and so does anyone else who knows. The ordinance requires the incident to be reported to the county enforcement agent immediately by any person having direct knowledge.

What makes a dog vicious in Maricopa County? Ordinance P-13 defines a vicious animal as one of the order carnivora with a propensity to bite human beings without provocation that has been so declared after a hearing before a justice of the peace or city magistrate.

What happens to a dog declared vicious? The county enforcement agent shall destroy a vicious animal upon an order of a justice of the peace or city magistrate, which may be issued after notice to the owner and a hearing.

Sources

This is not legal advice. Ordinances are amended; check the current text with Maricopa County.