Banned and Restricted Dog Breeds by Country: Where Your Dog Can and Cannot Go

If you own a Staffie, a Rottweiler, an Akita, a mastiff or anything that might be taken for a pit bull, this is the guide to read before any other. Vaccinations and paperwork can be fixed. A breed ban cannot. In some countries a dog of the wrong type can be refused at the border, seized by the police, or in the worst cases destroyed, and it does not matter how gentle the dog is or how complete its papers are. That sounds alarming, so here is the reassuring part first. Most countries have no breed ban at all. Many of the ones that do have a list do not ban anything, and ask only for a muzzle, a lead and sometimes insurance. What catches people out is not that the rules are harsh but that they differ, sometimes between neighbouring countries and sometimes between regions of the same one. What follows is each country's rule as its own law or government states it.

Ban or Restriction: Know the Difference

There are two quite different things a country can do, and most lists you will find online muddle them together. A ban means the dog cannot come in. A restriction means the dog can come in and live there, but under conditions, usually a muzzle and a short lead in public, and often a licence and liability insurance for people who live there.

Spain is a good example of how badly this gets reported. It is regularly described as banning eight breeds, and it bans none. A Rottweiler can go on holiday to Spain, and what it needs is a muzzle. The second thing to understand is that some countries judge by breed and some by appearance. That matters enormously if your dog is a cross or has no papers, because in a country that goes by looks, a pedigree certificate proves nothing and a mixed breed dog can fall foul of a law written for a breed it does not belong to.

The United Kingdom and Ireland

Great Britain bans five types of dog: the Pit Bull Terrier, the Japanese Tosa, the Dogo Argentino, the Fila Brasileiro and, since 2024, the XL Bully. You cannot bring one into the country unless it already holds a Certificate of Exemption. The crucial point is that Britain bans by type, not by breed. It is what the dog looks like that counts, not what its pedigree says, and the police can seize a dog of a banned type even if it has done nothing wrong. If you own a bull breed cross that could be mistaken for a pit bull, take that seriously.

Ireland is different. It has a list of eleven restricted breeds, which includes the German Shepherd, the Rottweiler, the Dobermann, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, the Akita, the Bull Mastiff and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. All of them can enter Ireland. In public they must be muzzled, on a strong lead no longer than two metres, and handled by someone over sixteen. The exception is the XL Bully, which cannot be imported into Ireland at all.

France

France has two categories, and the difference between them is a piece of paper. Category 1 covers dogs without a pedigree that look like an American Staffordshire Terrier, a mastiff or a Tosa. These cannot be brought into France, and doing so is a criminal offence. Category 2 covers pedigree American Staffordshire Terriers, Rottweilers and Tosas, plus dogs that look like Rottweilers. These can come in, provided they are muzzled and on a lead in all public places and on public transport.

So a pedigree AmStaff with its papers can visit France, and the same dog without papers cannot. If you own one of these breeds, carry the pedigree certificate with you wherever you go, and keep a copy on your phone. British owners should remember that France is the country they drive through on the way to almost everywhere else, so its rules matter even if the holiday is in Spain or Italy.

Germany

Germany bans four breeds from import at federal level: the Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier and the Bull Terrier, along with their crosses. There is an exemption that most lists miss, which is that a visitor who does not live in Germany may bring such a dog for up to four weeks.

Beyond that, each German state has its own list of dogs it treats as dangerous, and they vary a great deal. Bavaria's is much longer than the federal one. If you are going to Germany with any bull, mastiff or guarding breed, look up the rules of the particular state you are visiting, and of any state you will cross on the way, since the conditions can change at a state border.

Spain, Portugal and Italy

Neither Spain nor Portugal bans any breed. Spain lists eight breeds as potentially dangerous: the Pit Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Rottweiler, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro, Tosa and Akita, along with their crosses and any dog with similar physical characteristics. In public such a dog must be muzzled and on a lead shorter than two metres that does not extend, with one dog per handler. Residents need a licence and insurance. Portugal's list is the same without the Akita, and there a muzzle is compulsory and the lead must be no longer than one metre.

Italy has no national breed list at all, having repealed the one it had in 2009. Some towns and regions have local muzzle and lead rules, so check where you are staying, but your dog's breed will not stop you at the border. Italy does expect any dog to carry a muzzle on public transport, whatever its breed, which is a different matter and applies to a spaniel as much as to a mastiff.

Denmark and Norway

These two are the strictest in Europe. Denmark bans thirteen breeds and all their crosses, and its list goes well beyond the usual one. It includes the American Bulldog, the Boerboel, the Kangal and several large shepherd breeds such as the Central Asian and Caucasian Ovcharka, which are legal almost everywhere else. A dog of a banned breed can be seized by the police, and it is for the owner to prove what the dog is.

Norway bans five breeds, the Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Fila Brasileiro, Tosa and Dogo Argentino, plus wolf hybrids and the Czechoslovakian Wolfdog, and all their crosses. Again the burden of proof is on you. If your dog could be mistaken for one of these, the Norwegian rules expect a microchip, a pedigree and DNA evidence, and a ferry to Scandinavia is not the place to discover that you have none of them.

The United States and Canada

Neither country has a national breed ban, which leads visitors to assume there are no rules. There are, but they are local. In Canada, the province of Ontario bans pit bulls outright, so do not drive or fly into Ontario with one, as our guide to taking a dog from the US to Canada explains.

In the United States the rules are made by towns, cities and counties. The list we keep of American local breed laws runs to more than 550 that are currently in force, spread across 27 states, and nearly all of them concern pit bulls. Some states forbid their towns from passing such laws and some do not, so two towns an hour apart can have opposite rules. If you are planning a road trip with a bull breed, check each place you intend to stay, including the overnight stops.

Australia, New Zealand and Singapore

Australia prohibits the import of five pure breeds: the Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro, Japanese Tosa, Pit Bull Terrier and Presa Canario. Crosses of those breeds are not covered by the import ban, although each Australian state then has rules of its own. New Zealand bans the same five from import, and goes a step further: every dog arriving in the country, of any breed, needs paperwork confirming that it is not one of them.

Singapore's list is longer than most. It bans the whole pit bull family, including the Staffordshire Bull Terrier and the American Bulldog, and also the Akita, Boerboel, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro, Neapolitan Mastiff, Tosa and Presa Canario, with their crosses. Akita owners in particular are caught out by this. All three of these countries are hard to enter with any dog, as our guide to the quarantine countries explains, so the breed check is only the first of several.

The Gulf, India and Thailand

The United Arab Emirates refuses entry to all pit bull types and to most of the mastiff family, including the Cane Corso, Bullmastiff, Dogue de Bordeaux and Boerboel, as well as the Tosa, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro and Presa Canario. For India and Thailand we have to be straight with you, because we could not confirm the current position from either government. India issued a circular in 2024 naming 23 breeds, and Thailand is widely reported to refuse pit bull types and some others, but the accounts conflict. If your dog is a bull, mastiff or guarding breed and you are heading to either country, get written confirmation from the authorities before you book anything.

It Is Not Only Governments

Two other gatekeepers have breed rules of their own. Airlines often refuse flat faced breeds in the hold, because of the breathing risk, and some have rules for what they call fighting breeds. KLM, for example, will not carry bulldogs, boxers, pugs, the Cane Corso or the American Bully in the hold, and American Airlines does not accept snub nosed dogs as checked pets. Our guide to flying a dog in the hold lists the airlines' rules.

Hotels do it too, and far more often than owners expect. When we read 236 hotel pet policies for our study of the hotel pet policy, 39 of them, about one in six, restricted dogs by breed. One hotel's list ran from pit bulls to Great Danes and St Bernards. A hotel is entitled to make its own rules, so ask before you book, and ask about your dog's breed by name. Our guide to the questions to ask any hotel suggests how to put it.

What to Do if Your Dog Is on a List

Check every country you will enter, including any you only pass through or change planes in. Carry your dog's pedigree papers if it has them, since in France and elsewhere they change everything. If your dog is a cross that could be taken for a banned type, get a letter from your vet describing its breeding, and think hard about whether a country that judges by appearance is worth the risk.

Pack a muzzle that your dog is already used to wearing, because in much of Europe a muzzle is the whole of what is being asked, and our guide to training your dog to travel explains how to teach a dog to accept one happily. And when the rules are unclear, write to the country's own authority and keep the reply. An email from an official is worth more at a border than any number of reassurances from a website.

A Closing Thought

Breed laws are blunt instruments, and plenty of sensible people think they punish the wrong dogs. The rule we suggest for hotels is different, which is to judge the dog by its behaviour and not its breed. But at a border the argument is beside the point. The rule is whatever that country says it is, and the officer in front of you has no discretion. Know the rule before you travel, carry the papers and the muzzle, and choose your route accordingly. For the great majority of dogs and the great majority of countries, that is all it takes.