Southfield, MI Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

Southfield's Chapter 113 Animal Control Ordinance regulates dangerous dogs by conduct rather than by breed. Code § 9.63 defines a "fierce or vicious animal" as one owned, possessed, harbored or trained for animal fighting, or one that has killed a person or caused serious bodily injury such as hospitalization or reconstructive surgery, or that has killed or maimed another animal. A separate definition of "dangerous animal" in the same section covers a dog or other animal that bites or attacks a person, or bites or attacks and seriously injures or kills another animal while under its owner's control, but it carves out exceptions for animals responding to a trespasser, to provocation, or defending a person under lawful attack.

Section 9.70 then makes it unlawful to harbor or keep a fierce or vicious dog, a rabid or rabies-exposed animal, a dangerous animal as just defined, or an exotic or otherwise dangerous animal under § 9.63, regardless of the dog's breed. No pit bull, Rottweiler or other breed is named or singled out anywhere in Chapter 113; the animal control officer and Southfield Police make case-by-case behavioral determinations instead, typically after a bite, attack or fighting-related incident, and an animal that has attacked a person or is a dangerous animal may also be impounded for a ten-day confinement period under § 9.87. A conviction under § 9.70 is a misdemeanor, not a civil infraction, exposing the owner to up to ninety days in jail, a $500 fine, or both.