Dearborn Heights, MI Animal Ordinances: Pet Limits (2026)

Section 6-91 provides that no person or persons residing in a residential area in the city shall be permitted to keep, harbor or possess more than a total of three animals over the age of four months. The rule counts animals per household rather than per species, so three dogs, three cats, or a mix of dogs and cats all count toward the same three-animal ceiling, while animals under four months old are not counted. This section sits in Article V, Prohibited Acts, alongside the chapter's other numeric and conduct-based limits: § 6-92 requires a female animal in heat to be confined or leashed at all times, § 6-93 bars any animal whose loud or habitual barking, howling or crying annoys the neighborhood, and § 6-94 bars a dog or animal from running at large or being off its own property without a leash or adequate control.

A related but distinct cap applies to hobby breeders: City Code § 6-2 defines a "private kennel" as premises where more than three animals over four months are kept for a hobby, sporting activity, breeding or sale, meaning that use shifts the property into a different regulatory category rather than simply exempting it from § 6-91. The city's animal control officer, defined at § 6-2, is the enforcing official for this chapter.