Dogfighting Laws in Vermont: Felony Penalties, Spectator Crimes, and Seized Dogs

Vermont’s criminal code never actually uses the word “dogfighting.” Instead, the entire offense sits inside the state’s general animal cruelty statute, folded in next to provisions about overworked livestock and untreated wounds. That structure trips up a lot of people searching for dogfighting laws in Vermont, because the same section that punishes neglect also carries one of the stiffest felony exposures on the books.

This guide breaks down what Vermont actually prohibits, who the law reaches, what happens to dogs pulled from a raid, and how federal statutes stack on top of state charges. You’ll also see the one area lawmakers were actively revising as of 2026.

Important Note: This article explains Vermont’s dogfighting statutes for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. If you are facing charges, defending a seizure, or need to report an active fight, talk to a licensed Vermont attorney or contact law enforcement directly.

Is Dogfighting a Felony in Vermont?

Yes. Vermont treats animal fighting as a felony-level violation of its cruelty statute rather than a lesser offense. Animal fighting offenses carry heavier penalties and cross into felony territory, since an offense committed under subdivision 352(5) or (6) — which covers animal fighting and related conduct — is punishable by a sentence of imprisonment of not more than five years or a fine of not more than $5,000.00, or both. Because five years exceeds the two-year misdemeanor threshold, animal fighting convictions are felonies under Vermont’s classification system.

That felony status applies broadly. It reaches the person who owns the dogs, the person who trains them for the pit, and the property owner who lets the fight happen on land they control. The broader animal cruelty framework in Vermont treats fighting as categorically different from ordinary neglect cases, which usually stay at the misdemeanor level unless aggravating factors apply.

What Counts as Dogfighting Under Vermont Law

Vermont defines the offense through two subdivisions of 13 V.S.A. § 352. A person commits a crime if they own, possess, keep, or train an animal engaged in an exhibition of fighting, or possess, keep, or train any animal with intent that it be engaged in an exhibition of fighting, or permit any such act to be done on premises under their charge or control; a separate subdivision covers acting as judge or spectator at events of animal fighting or betting or wagering on the outcome of such a fight.

A related general provision confirms how broadly this reaches: a person who participates in a fighting exhibition of animals is in violation of subdivisions 352(5) and (6) of the title, which means intent to fight an animal — not just a completed match — can already satisfy the statute. The law also isn’t limited to dogs. It covers organized fighting involving any animal, which is why Vermont’s separate rooster ownership rules intersect with the same cruelty statute when cockfighting is alleged instead of dogfighting.

Is It a Crime to Attend a Dogfight or Bring a Child to One in Vermont?

Attending is not treated as a bystander activity under Vermont law. The same subdivision that criminalizes fighting also covers spectating: acting as judge or spectator at events of animal fighting, or betting or wagering on the outcome of such a fight, is itself a violation of section 352, meaning spectators face the same felony classification as participants under state law.

Federal law adds a separate layer that specifically addresses minors. The Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act, included in the 2014 Farm Bill, makes it a federal felony to knowingly bring a minor under the age of 16 to a dogfight or cockfight, punishable by up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and a federal misdemeanor to knowingly attend a fight as a spectator, punishable by up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. A Vermont spectator case can therefore trigger both a state felony charge and a parallel federal referral, depending on how the investigation unfolds.

Owning, Breeding, Training, or Selling Dogs for Fighting in Vermont

Ownership and training are treated the same way under state law, with no distinction between the person who bred the dog and the person who finishes its training for the pit. Owning, possessing, keeping, or training an animal engaged in an exhibition of fighting, or training any animal with intent that it be engaged in one, is enough to trigger the offense — prosecutors don’t need to prove a completed match took place.

Selling or transporting fighting dogs also exposes a seller to federal exposure once state lines are crossed, since it is a felony crime under federal law to sponsor or exhibit an animal in a fighting venture; to buy, sell, deliver, possess, train, or transport an animal for fighting purposes; to use the Postal Service or other interstate means to promote animal fighting; and to bring a minor to an animal fight. A breeder who ships dogs into Vermont for this purpose may also run into the state’s separate pet import requirements, which weren’t written with fighting rings in mind but still apply to how animals legally enter the state.

Dogfighting Paraphernalia, Bait Animals, and Evidence of Intent in Vermont

Vermont doesn’t require investigators to catch a fight in progress to make a case. Intent alone — shown through training equipment, treadmills built for conditioning, breakaway sticks, or veterinary supplies kept outside normal pet-care use — can support a charge. The statute’s general provisions back this up directly: in addition to seizing fighting birds or animals involved in a fighting exhibition, a law enforcement officer or humane officer may seize other items connected to the operation, notwithstanding other provisions of law that might otherwise limit what gets taken during a search.

Bait animals — often strays or free-roaming dogs used to condition fighting dogs — frequently connect fighting investigations to Vermont’s leash and loose-dog rules, since animals picked up off the street are a common source. Investigators increasingly rely on forensic tools like DNA testing to link scarred or injured dogs found at a property to specific bloodlines associated with fighting operations, building intent evidence even when no match was witnessed directly.

Hosting a Dogfight, Allowing One on Your Property, or Profiting From One in Vermont

Property owners can’t avoid liability by claiming they weren’t the one training or fighting the dogs. The statute specifically covers anyone who permits any such act to be done on premises under his or her charge or control, meaning a landlord, landowner, or even a tenant who knowingly hosts fights faces the same felony exposure as the dogs’ owner.

Profiting from the activity adds federal exposure on top of the state charge. Under the federal Animal Welfare Act, sponsoring or exhibiting an animal in a fighting venture is itself a separate felony, which covers promoters who organize matches, collect entry fees, or take a cut of betting proceeds even if they never personally own a fighting dog.

Penalties for Dogfighting Offenses in Vermont: Prison, Fines, and Repeat Convictions

Vermont’s penalty structure separates ordinary cruelty from fighting-related conduct and from the state’s most severe category, aggravated cruelty. The table below reflects how those three tiers compare.

Offense Type	First Offense	Subsequent Offense	Classification
Standard cruelty (§ 352(1)-(4), (7)-(8))	Up to 1 year and/or $2,000 fine	Up to 2 years and/or $5,000 fine	Misdemeanor
Animal fighting / spectating (§ 352(5)-(6))	Up to 5 years and/or $5,000 fine	Up to 5 years and/or $5,000 fine	Felony
Aggravated cruelty (§ 352a)	Up to 5 years and/or $5,000 fine	Up to 10 years and/or $7,500 fine	Felony

Because five years exceeds Vermont’s two-year misdemeanor threshold, both the animal fighting provisions and aggravated cruelty under § 352a are classified as felonies, with the aggravated tier carrying the steepest penalties for repeat offenders.

Important Note: Vermont lawmakers were actively working on H.578, “An act relating to penalties and procedures for animal cruelty offenses,” during the 2026 legislative session. As passed by the House in April 2026, the bill kept aggravated cruelty under section 352a punishable by a sentence of imprisonment of not more than five years or a fine of not more than $5,000.00, or both, but other procedural sections were still being amended. Confirm the final enacted text with the Vermont General Assembly before relying on specific figures in a legal matter.

What Happens to Dogs Seized in a Vermont Dogfighting Case

Seizure in a fighting case works differently than a routine neglect call, largely because of how many animals are typically involved at once. When charging someone under Title 13, the number of charges brought depends on the number of animals involved or the number of individual acts of cruelty, which is why a single raid can produce dozens of counts tied to a single property.

Vermont’s enforcement framework, detailed in materials compiled by the Vermont Humane Federation, covers both the criminal seizure process and the civil forfeiture track that can run alongside it, since fighting dogs are often held as evidence while the case proceeds. Once a court orders forfeiture, seized dogs typically pass through rescue partners that must bring them current on vaccination requirements before any placement or adoption can move forward.

Animal Ownership Bans and Other Consequences After a Dogfighting Conviction in Vermont

A felony conviction under § 352(5)-(6) carries consequences beyond the prison term and fine listed in the statute. Courts commonly attach probation conditions that restrict future animal ownership, and restitution for the cost of caring for seized dogs during litigation is routine in multi-animal fighting cases.

These consequences typically arrive through sentencing conditions rather than a standalone ownership-ban statute, so the specifics can vary by judge and by how many animals were involved. One narrow area worth flagging: ownership restrictions generally don’t override legitimate needs recognized elsewhere in state law, such as those addressed under Vermont’s service dog laws, though a felony conviction can still complicate how those situations get handled case by case.

Federal Dogfighting Law That Applies Alongside Vermont Law

A Vermont dogfighting case rarely stays purely a state matter once it crosses a certain size or involves interstate activity. Since 2008, it has been a federal felony to sponsor, exhibit, buy, sell, deliver, possess, train, or transport an animal for participation in an animal fighting venture, a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment of five years and a fine of $250,000. That statute lives in the Animal Welfare Act, not the PACT Act, and the two shouldn’t be confused: the Animal Fighting Venture Prohibition under 7 U.S.C. § 2156 is a separate federal law that criminalizes sponsoring, exhibiting, buying, selling, delivering, possessing, training, or transporting an animal for fighting purposes.

The PACT Act, by contrast, targets extreme cruelty more broadly rather than organized fighting specifically. Signed into law in 2019, the PACT Act makes extreme acts of animal cruelty a federal felony punishable by up to seven years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, and it applies when the conduct crosses state lines, uses interstate commerce, or occurs on federal land. In a Vermont case, federal charges typically attach when dogs, equipment, or proceeds moved across state lines, which federal prosecutors can pursue independently of whatever happens in Vermont’s own courts.

What Vermont Dogfighting Law Does Not Cover: Breed, Hunting, Herding, and Lawful Training

Vermont’s fighting statute is breed-neutral. It applies the same way regardless of whether the dog involved is a pit bull, a Rottweiler, or any other breed, which is a meaningful distinction from how some other states handle breed-specific ownership rules. Vermont’s own pit bull ownership laws and Rottweiler-specific regulations address insurance and liability issues separately, but neither one changes how the fighting statute applies to that breed.

Legitimate hunting, field trials, and working-dog training also fall outside the statute’s reach, since Vermont’s cruelty law carves out specific categories for lawful activity. These exemptions cover review by an institutional animal care and use committee, livestock and poultry husbandry practices for raising, management, and use of animals, veterinary medical or surgical procedures, and the killing of an animal as provided under separate state hunting statutes. That’s why a bird dog flushing game under Vermont’s general hunting laws isn’t treated the same as a dog trained to fight — the exemption framework protects lawful husbandry and field activity, but it offers no comparable carve-out for staged animal-versus-animal fighting under subdivisions (5) and (6), regardless of the handler’s stated purpose.

How to Report Suspected Dogfighting in Vermont

Reports typically start with local or state police rather than a dedicated hotline, since fighting investigations fall under the same enforcement structure as other Title 13 violations. A veterinarian licensed to practice in Vermont must, if practicable, accompany the humane officer during the execution of a related search, which reflects how closely law enforcement and veterinary professionals coordinate once a tip leads to a warrant.

Pro Tip: When reporting, note specific details investigators can act on — address or location, number of dogs visible, signs of scarring or conditioning equipment, and any dates or times fights are believed to occur. Vague tips are harder for officers to turn into a search warrant than specific, observed details.

If you suspect a fighting operation, contact your local police department or the Vermont State Police directly rather than waiting to gather more evidence yourself, since officers and humane officers already have statutory authority to seize fighting animals and related items once a warrant is secured. Approaching a suspected fighting site on your own can also be dangerous, given the amount of money and the aggression often involved in these operations.