Saginaw County, MI Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

Saginaw County's dog ordinance, Ordinance #110, contains no breed-specific ban or classification: pit bulls, German shepherds and every other breed are treated identically. What the county regulates instead is bite behavior. Under Article Three, Section 1, any dog that bites a person or another animal must be securely confined by its owner in an appropriate building or enclosure for a minimum of ten days after the bite. If the owner cannot securely confine the dog for that period, the Animal Control Officer may take custody of it and hold it at the animal shelter for the ten days at the owner's expense, plus a licensing fee and rabies fee if either is not current.

Once there is satisfactory evidence the dog is not rabid, the officer may release it. Section 2 covers bites by dogs whose owner cannot be identified: the animal is confined at the shelter for ten days, and on the recommendation of the victim's physician or a veterinarian, it can be euthanized, with a specimen sent for testing as the Animal Control Director determines. This is the county's functional dangerous-dog mechanism: there is no separate 'dangerous dog' declaration hearing in the county code, only this bite-triggered confinement and euthanasia track administered by the Animal Control Division.

Boarding rates and license/rabies fees applied during confinement are set by the Board of Commissioners and can change before November 1st each year by resolution.