Colorado Dog Bite Statute of Limitations: The 2-Year Deadline and the Exceptions That Change It
September 7, 2026
Two years sounds like plenty of time to sue over a dog bite, until you learn that a claim against a government-owned animal control dog can die in as little as 182 days. The dog bite statute of limitations in Colorado is not one single deadline; it’s a set of overlapping timelines that depend on who bit you, who owns the dog, and how old you were when it happened. Getting the timing wrong means losing your right to compensation entirely, no matter how strong your case would have been.
This guide breaks down exactly how long you have to file, when the clock actually starts, and which situations change the rules. If you were bitten recently or are still deciding whether to pursue a claim, knowing these deadlines now protects your options later.
Pro Tip: Even if your two-year deadline feels far away, start documenting the bite today. Evidence, witness memories, and medical records only get harder to gather as time passes.
How Long Do You Have to File a Dog Bite Lawsuit in Colorado
Colorado law sets a two-year window for most personal injury claims, and dog bites fall squarely within that rule. Under C.R.S. § 13-80-102, personal injury claims in Colorado, including dog bite cases, must be filed within two years from the date of injury. This applies whether your case relies on ordinary negligence or on Colorado’s dedicated dog bite statute.
That dedicated statute, Colorado Revised Statutes 13-21-124, covers dog bites and dog bite lawsuits directly. Dog owners in Colorado are strictly liable for serious bodily injury or death caused by their dog biting a person who is lawfully on public or private property, and it does not matter if the dog had a history of violence or if the owner was aware of prior incidents. You can read a full breakdown of how this liability standard works in our guide to Colorado dog bite laws.
Strict liability makes proving fault easier, but it does not change your filing deadline. CRS 13-21-124 imposes strict liability on owners when their dog bites a person who is lawfully on public or private property, and the owner remains liable even if the dog never bit someone or displayed violent tendencies previously. Whether you pursue economic damages under the strict liability statute or broader negligence damages, the same two-year window from C.R.S. § 13-80-102 governs how long you have to act.
When the Statute of Limitations Clock Starts in Colorado
Most people assume the clock starts on the day of the attack, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, that’s correct. The clock starts ticking when you discover the injury, or should have discovered the injury. Since dog bite wounds are almost always immediately visible, the discovery date and the bite date are usually the same day.
There are exceptions worth understanding, though. The “should have discovered” part of this rule applies primarily to medical malpractice and car accident cases, where injuries sometimes crop up weeks or months later, though in most cases the injuries sustained in a dog attack are visible and apparent. Internal injuries or complications that surface later are the rare scenario where this distinction matters. Colorado’s statute of limitations for dog bite lawsuits is two years from the date the injury occurred or that the injury should have been discovered, since while most dog bite injuries are immediately apparent, an internal injury or complication may be discovered at a later date.
Because owners can argue over prior aggressive behavior or lack thereof, it helps to understand how Colorado’s approach compares with the traditional “one bite” theory many people have heard of. Our breakdown of the one-bite rule in Colorado explains why that older doctrine rarely protects owners here, and readers curious how another jurisdiction handles it can compare against the one-bite rule in Pennsylvania.
Exceptions That Can Pause or Extend the Deadline in Colorado
Colorado’s courts and attorneys are blunt about how strict the two-year window is for typical adult claims. You have two years from the date of a dog bite to file a lawsuit in Colorado, and if you miss that deadline, you lose your right to compensation forever, with no exceptions, extensions, or excuses the court will accept. That warning applies to the standard personal injury deadline itself, but a few narrow circumstances change which deadline applies in the first place rather than extending the standard one.
The clearest exceptions in Colorado dog bite cases are the ones covered later in this article: claims involving minors, and claims against government entities, which run on an entirely different and much shorter clock. Multiple defendants can also complicate timing. Some dog bite cases involve multiple defendants, such as the dog owner, a landlord who knew about a dangerous dog, or a dog-sitter who lost control of the animal, and each defendant’s liability may involve different legal theories and potentially different timing considerations.
Insurance claims work differently from lawsuits, and this distinction confuses many victims. The two-year deadline applies to filing a lawsuit in court; insurance claims have no fixed deadline, but insurers become increasingly skeptical of delayed claims, and you lose negotiating leverage if you can no longer threaten litigation. Waiting to see how an insurance negotiation plays out before filing suit is a common strategy, but it carries real risk if the two-year window closes while you wait.
Important Note: Sources describe the two-year rule as having “no exceptions,” but that refers to extending the standard adult deadline itself. Separate statutes for minors and government claims create different starting points, not extensions of the same clock.
Special Rules for Minors in Colorado
If the dog bite victim is a child, Colorado gives families more breathing room than the standard rule suggests. There may be an exception for an injured minor, where the minor typically has two years from the date that he or she turns 18 to file a claim. In practice, this means the statute of limitations doesn’t even begin running until the child’s 18th birthday.
This tolling rule is confirmed across multiple sources covering Colorado dog bite law. If the victim is a minor, the statute of limitations is deferred until the child turns 18, providing additional time to file a claim. So a five-year-old bitten by a neighbor’s dog could, in theory, wait until close to their 20th birthday to file, though waiting that long is rarely advisable given how much evidence and witness memory degrades over more than a decade.
Parents and guardians should not treat this extended deadline as a reason to delay. Medical documentation, veterinary records showing the dog’s history, and witness statements are far easier to gather in the weeks after an attack than years later when the child approaches adulthood. Consulting an attorney early preserves the option to file sooner if that serves the family’s interests, while still protecting the legal right to wait if needed.
Filing Against a Government-Owned or Stray Dog in Colorado
This is where Colorado’s dog bite statute of limitations gets dramatically shorter, and where victims lose valid claims most often simply from not knowing the rule exists. If you were bitten by a police dog, animal control dog, or other government-owned animal, claims against government entities in Colorado require filing a notice of claim within 182 days, about six months, under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act, and missing this notice deadline bars you from suing even though the general statute of limitations is two years.
This notice requirement is separate from, and comes before, any lawsuit filing deadline. Under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act, a person claiming to have suffered an injury caused by a public entity or employee must provide a written notice of claim to the proper entity or person within 182 days of discovering the injury. Colorado courts have made clear this deadline is not flexible; recent appellate rulings confirm the notice period runs from the date you knew of your injury, even if you did not yet know which government entity was responsible.
Stray dogs raise a different question: who do you even sue? If the animal doesn’t have a direct owner, whoever is legally considered accountable for its care, its last owner, or a sitter, may be liable for damages. Identifying that party often requires working with animal control records, which is another reason to report any bite promptly rather than waiting.
| Claim Type | Deadline | Governing Law |
|---|---|---|
| Standard dog bite lawsuit (adult victim) | 2 years from date of bite | C.R.S. § 13-80-102 |
| Minor victim | 2 years from 18th birthday | C.R.S. § 13-80-102 (tolled) |
| Government-owned or municipal animal | 182-day written notice of claim | Colorado Governmental Immunity Act, C.R.S. § 24-10-109 |
| Insurance claim (no lawsuit filed) | No fixed deadline, but earlier is stronger | Policy terms, not statute |
What Happens If You Miss the Deadline in Colorado
Missing your filing window does not just weaken a case, it typically ends it. Colorado gives injured people two years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit, and if the lawsuit is filed after this two-year deadline has expired, the court may throw out the case without hearing it. The dog owner’s attorney or insurance company only needs to point to the calendar to win, regardless of how clear the liability was.
The consequences extend beyond the courtroom. If the lawsuit is filed after the two-year deadline, the court will not hear the case and insurance claims will be denied. That second part matters: once a court would dismiss your case as time-barred, insurers lose any incentive to negotiate, since they know you have no legal leverage left. If an individual fails to file a dog bite case within the time limit, he or she will almost always lose the right to recover compensation from the pet owner in Colorado.
There is no do-over once the statute runs, which is why understanding what happens after a dog bite in Colorado from day one, including reporting requirements and evidence preservation, matters just as much as knowing the filing deadline itself.
What to Do Before the Deadline Approaches in Colorado
Acting early protects both your legal deadline and the strength of your evidence. Here’s a practical sequence to follow after a dog bite:
- Seek medical treatment immediately, even for wounds that seem minor, since infections and complications from bites are common and documented treatment creates a medical record tied to the incident date.
- Report the bite to local animal control. The bite must be reported in the city where the bite happened, so if you’re visiting friends in another Colorado city when a dog bites you, the report is filed there, not in your home city.
- Understand the quarantine process. When a dog bites someone in Colorado, state law mandates a 10-day quarantine for the animal, regardless of its vaccination status, and this record becomes part of the official incident file you can later request.
- Photograph injuries and the scene as soon as possible, and collect names and contact information for any witnesses before memories fade.
- Consult an attorney well before the deadline, not in the final weeks. Collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses, and evaluating your injuries is easier when done early, since waiting too long can result in fading memories, lost evidence, and difficulty establishing a clear narrative.
If a government entity might be involved, such as an animal control officer’s dog or an incident on public property, treat the 182-day notice window as your real deadline, not the two-year lawsuit deadline. Missing that shorter notice period forfeits your claim before the standard statute of limitations even becomes relevant. For serious injuries, it also helps to understand which breeds and animals cause the kind of harm that qualifies as “serious bodily injury” under Colorado’s statute; our guides to dog breeds with the strongest bite force and animals with the strongest bite force offer useful context on bite severity generally.
Pro Tip: Keep a simple folder, physical or digital, with medical bills, photos, the animal control report number, and witness contacts. Handing this to an attorney on day one speeds up every step that follows.
Colorado’s dog bite laws touch on more than just bite injuries; if you’re researching broader animal-related incidents in the state, our Colorado animal law and wildlife coverage rounds up related topics worth reviewing.
Legal Disclaimer: This article provides general information about Colorado law and is not legal advice. Statutes, court interpretations, and filing requirements can change, and your specific situation may involve facts that alter which deadline applies. Consult a licensed Colorado attorney to evaluate your case before any deadline passes.
The bottom line is straightforward even though the exceptions are not: most adult victims have two years, minors have until two years past their 18th birthday, and anyone dealing with a government-owned animal has a mere 182 days to give formal notice. Knowing which clock applies to your situation, and acting well before it expires, is the single biggest factor in whether you keep your right to compensation.