Taylor, MI Animal Ordinances: Pet Groomer Rules (2026)

Taylor's animal code, chapter 6, defines a 'board kennel' in section 6-1 as any premises of an owner who keeps, grooms, cares for, trains, breeds, handles, maintains, boards or sells four or more domestic animals, four months or older, for profit or as a business. Grooming is listed by name in that definition, so a grooming or obedience-training business that handles four or more animals at a time, even without overnight boarding, meets the board kennel threshold. Section 6-137 makes clear that no person may establish, maintain or operate a kennel in the city without first obtaining a license under division 2 of chapter 6 or under the state's 1919 Dog Law, Public Act 339 of 1919.

Section 6-138 requires the license application to be filed with the city clerk's office or the animal control officer, on the city's own forms, on or before December 31 of each year. The zoning ordinance's schedule of uses treats grooming without boarding separately from kennels: it is listed as a permitted use in the city's B-1, B-2 and B-3 business districts and the MT-1 and MT-2 Midtown districts, while a commercial kennel needs special land use approval instead. A groomer that stays under the four-animal threshold and does not board overnight can rely on that by-right zoning status, but crossing the threshold pulls the business into the kennel licensing division regardless of how the zoning table labels it.