Tag: Texas Dog Law

The following is meant for educational purposes on the law involving dog bites causing serious bodily injury.

You Have Rights

You have the right to hire a lawyer when local government officials take your dog and accuse your pet of a bite that caused serious bodily injury. Your dog’s life is on the line at these hearings as the Judge may order that your animal be put down. Often a dog owner will be going against a lawyer and the Texas Rules of Evidence will be enforced.

Don’t Lose Hope If You Lose

You can still save your dog’s life after a judge rules that your dog is to be destroyed. Texas law allows for dog owners to appeal a judge’s decision,so long as the dog owner files a notice of appeal within 10 days of the issuance of the order calling for the dog to be destroyed. Once the notice of appeal is filed, a dog owner gets to re-argue the case with a de novo hearing (legalese for do over, where no weight is given to the previous court’s decision on the matter). This new hearing may be heard in front of a completely different judge or a jury.