A Saginaw committee has presented a dangerous dog law that could restrict ownership of the following breeds (and mixes of these): “pit bull,” Rottweiler, German Shepherd, Husky, Alaskan Malamute, Doberman Pinscher, Chow Chow, Great Dane, St. Bernard, and Presa Canario.
The restrictions would include special registration of a dangerous dog breed, special signage, and muzzles in public. Code enforcement would enforce the ordinance through increasing fines for infractions. It is not clear how dog breeds would be determined or whether there is any means of appeal.
The proposal will be considered at the council meeting on February 21 at 6:30 PM. The public is encouraged to speak about the proposal at council meetings, as there will be no special hearing.
Want to speak at the next meeting? Fill out and return this form by 1 PM on the day of the meeting: http://www.saginaw-mi.com/Government/Departments/CityClerk/Forms/Personal%20Appearance%20Request%20Form%20(City%20Council)%20-%20S.pdf
City of Saginaw City Hall, 1315 S. Washington Ave., Saginaw, MI 48601
Phone: (989) 759-1400
Fax: (989) 759-1607
Mayor Greg Branch, anngreg@chartermi.net
Amos O’Neal, amossam@charter.net
Dennis Browning, dbrowning125@charter.net
Dan Fitzpatrick, dlfitz@ameritech.net or danfitzpatrickonline@gmail.com
Larry Coulouris, lcoulouris@yahoo.com
Amanda Kitterman-Miller, akitterman@spsd.net
Dr. William “Bill” Scharffe, drbills@charter.net
Paul Virciglio, Ptvirciglio90@charter.net
Andrew Wendt, wendtmsu93@yahoo.com
As the council seems determined to do something about their dog problems, please provide reasonable alternatives for consideration by the council.
Saginaw crafts ‘dangerous dogs’ ordinance including pit bulls; measure could fine owners, oust pets from animal-heavy homes
Published: Sunday, January 16, 2011, 4:06 AM
By Justin L. Engel | The Saginaw News
SAGINAW — Dog owners may be restricted to no more than three pet pooches, buy licenses for them and face fines if they don’t register dogs that are on Saginaw’s list of the most dangerous canines.
The Saginaw City Council in the coming weeks likely will vote on the “dangerous dogs” ordinance that’s been in the works since August. Council members could review the new rules Feb. 21 meeting and enact them by April 1.[…]
A Saginaw committee organized by Mayor Greg Branch continues to debate which breeds to list.[…]
When the council introduces the ordinance, bylaws rule the council must wait at least two weeks before voting.
While there will be no public hearings, Herman said citizens can sign up to speak in front of the council to voice concerns or show support.[…]
Full article retrieved 1/16/11 from http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2011/01/saginaw_to_consider_dangerous.html
All alerts for Saginaw: http://stopbsl.com/?s=saginaw
Fred M. Kray
krisdiaz9
Stop BSL 
Your so called “dangerous dog” list made me laugh. These breeds are not dangerous dogs. For example, Great Danes are considered one of the best family dogs by the AKC. I think you need to actually get to know the breeds before passing judgements on ignorance.
agreed *gentle giants*
Does anyone have the full text of the proposed ordinance?
Gary Felty, Esq., Vice President
Oakland County Kennel Club
AKC Legislative Liaison
Gary, several of us have requested the proposed ordinance, but the council has refused to send it to anyone. One of the councilmembers stated that it will be available from the city clerk’s office when it is finalized.
awesome. So my registered therapy dog, who also has AKC obedience titles, who happens to be a great dane, would have to wear a muzzle when he visits families weekly in hospice… something seems just wrong about that.
Yeah this will be REAL nice to go to colleges to teach pit bull education with a muzzled dog. how nice will that be. also running an animals rescue and having people come to meet the dogs that have to be muzzled, who is going to want to adopt a dog that has to be muzzled? I think this is terrible, and totally against our rights as Americans. Not only that do you know how many times that the “media” has SCREWED up on the dog breeds they have reported on. second where are the small breed dogs that bite even MORE then the large breed dogs. when they do it its cute right? Or how about labs that bite, every dog has the potential to bite, lets just ban them all for the publics safety. then we will all be happy right? And saginaw is such a great place to begin with, you hear about more shootings then dog bites, but YET the dogs are the focus, not getting criminals off the streets. this society is backwards, and I will fight this ban tooth and nail if I need to.
This is ridiculous. I am a proud owner of a doberman. though I do not live in Saginaw, we often go there to petsmart and take him in, and even go to the dog park there and in bay city.
Max is the sweetest dog, yes he is big, but he loves people so much. I work as a CNA at a local long term care facility, and I have taken Max there since he was a puppy. He seems to know that the residents are fragile, and he will go and stand by them so they can pet him, or put his head on their laps.
I have a 4 year old nephew, a 2 year old niece, and a newborn nephew. Max is also 2 years old, so he’s grown up with the kids. The kids can play with him while he’s eating, take his food away, and cuddle all over with him. The one time my niece came over to him while he was chewing 4 inches of remaining dog bone, and before I realized what she was doing she stuck her hand in his mouth to get the bone. I was worried he wouldn’t realize her hand was there and keep chewing, but he had watched her and when she put her hand in his mouth he just stopped chewing and opened his mouth so she could take the bone out of his mouth. She flounced off with it, and he just sat and waited for her to come back. When she hands him food, he just licks it up instead of grabbing the food with his teeth. He is the GENTLEST dog I have ever met.
Max plays with big dogs and little dogs and loves them all. He plays strongly with the big dogs and when the litle dogs are playing with him, he tones it down and lets the young or little dogs win.
We also have cats, and his best friend is our 1 year old cat. The cat thumps him over the head and play attacks him and he just loves it. Get the cat calmed down, max will wake it up to play. Get max laying down, and the cat will pounce on him to get him to play.
Max is the sweetest dog and it hurts me that people are wanting to do this to a bunch of sweet dogs. St. Bernards? Dobermans? Great danes?
Max has been bitten 4 times… all times by CHIHUAHUAS. And after they bite him he just bows and wants them to play. He’s also been bitten twice by ferrets when he stuck his nose by the ferret cage. And he just bows and wiggles his stub.
People who breed/raise the dogs in a bad way AREN’T going to stop this. ban the breeds and they will just raise them more discretely and keep training them to be mean. Dogs aren’t BORN mean. All this law would do is hurt the people who have good dogs and raise them right.
I sure hope that this doesn’t pass. If so it’ll be a sad day for all animal lovers.