The state-level rules every owner and walker in Utah should know. Local leash lengths, licensing and off-leash rules are set by each city — find those on the city pages below.
Utah imposes statutory strict liability on "every person owning or keeping a dog" — no one-bite rule — so a walker or keeper is a named strictly-liable party for a bite (statute amended 2025).
Utah (Utah Code § 18-1-1) is a statutory strict-liability state, and the language reaches the walker directly: every person owning or keeping a dog is liable for injury the dog commits, without needing to prove the dog was vicious or that the owner or keeper knew it. There is no one-bite rule — the owner or keeper is liable for a bite even the first time and even with reasonable precautions. Utah firms confirm that keepers, handlers, and dog-sitters can share liability.
A 2025 amendment (Chapter 311, effective May 7, 2025) added a defense where the dog was reasonably secured within a fence or enclosure on private property, and refined the law-enforcement-dog exemption; there is also an at-large definition (§ 18-1-1.2) and an optional binding-arbitration process (§ 18-1-4, awards capped at $50,000 plus medical). The strict-liability statute covers bites; purely non-bite injuries (knockdowns, chasing a cyclist) generally run through negligence. Comparative fault reduces recovery, and the defenses include trespass, provocation, the new fenced-enclosure defense, and police or military dogs. The personal-injury limit is four years.
This is general information about Utah law, not legal advice. Confirm current rules with the official state and municipal sources.