Travelling through a BSL state with a pit bull (vet, legal, cost)

[dylan_505]

My wife and I are moving across country from NYC to LA in the summer and we are driving across with our pit bull. Our route is taking us through Denver and we are going to be spending a night in Boulder where there is no ban on pit bulls. We are a little worried about driving through Denver and Aurora as they have very strict bans on pit bulls. I would hate to think we get pulled over and our dog taken away from us.

Has anyone travelled through Denver or a BSL state with their restricted breed?

[subject2change]

I don't believe your dog can be confiscated when just driving through, but I would email the Denver police dep't and ask just to be on the safe side. And make sure to take a comfort break just before entering a place where a ban is in effect.
Side note, one place I know of where they *can* confiscate your dog even though you're just innocently passing through, and the dog is in your vehicle, is the province of Ontario. Apparently, even if you say you'll turn right around and get the dog out of there, they can take it from you (although that part might be selectively enforced, I don't know). Really excessive, as if BSL itself wasn't excessive already.

[mic111]

You have nothing to worry about. The penalty for having a pit bull in Denver is to show that you are permanently removing the dog from the city. Since you are just passing through even if for some odd reason your dog should escape your car and get picked up by animal control you can get them back by showing you are moving to LA.

As long as the dog is safely confined in your car (preferably by a crate for his own safety during the trip) you will have no problems. The crate prevents him from running off if there is an accident or jumping out when the door is opened.

The legal language is very scary but it all comes down to "If the dog is found to be a pit bull, it shall be destroyed, unless the owner produces evidence deemed sufficient by the manager that the pit bull is to be permanently taken out of Denver and the owner pays the cost of impoundment."
https://www.animallaw.info/local/co-...lls-prohibited

It also says you should transport them through in a crate. Which is a good idea whether or not there is BSL.

[APBT_Samara]

You shouldn't have anything to worry about. I've been in Denver several times (and Aurora), especially when attending shows in Golden or once in Longmont. I've also went through visiting friends or family in the area. You are not moving there, you are going through there to move elsewhere. Most officers are not even going to ask what breed of dog is that in the crate back there, they are usually concerned with writing you a ticket or not. Actually I was in another city with a ban a few days ago and nothing happened even though there were several police around. I think they were more concerned investing something rather than what type of dogs we had. One detective walked right by my dog going to the business next door.
My vet is located in a city with BSL, so my dogs obviously go there pretty regularly.

There are likely some cities with exceptions where they can possibly take a dog even traveling through, you could probably get your dog back after some legal investment. No one wants to deal with that so you should check out how the BSL is written. Most of it is written that they are banned from actually residing there.