Just how many dogs can a person own and keep in Lansing?

That's a question that came to mind when I was scrolling through Facebook the other day.

I came across someone posting in a community Facebook group for a Lansing-adjacent city. They had a new neighbor recently move in nearby, and this new neighbor has numerous dogs and cats. Enough dogs and cats that the Original Poster (OP) can smell and hear the animals constantly. They were curious if this was even legal, and if there was anything they could do about this new nuisance.

This got me curious about the same question. Now, mind you, I'm not having any similar issues. I'm just a curious cat. So, I went in search of some answers.

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How many dogs can someone legally own in Lansing?

In searching for answers, I did the obvious thing and went to the Greater Lansing Community Reddit page. While there, I found a conversation thread from about three years ago that basically said that there is no limit on how many dogs one person or household can own. But, since that conversation was so dated, I went in search of something more recent.

In diving a little bit deeper, I found some more concrete answers in the municipal code library for the City of Lansing. Code 1250.02.05 deals with the keeping of animals, including household pets. It states,

(1)

The keeping of household pets, including dogs, cats, fish, birds, hamsters and other animals generally regarded as commonly housed inside human dwellings as household pets, is permitted as an accessory use in any zoning district.

(2)

No more than three dogs, four months of age and older, shall be kept or housed in or at one dwelling unit.

So, the long answer to what seems like a super simple question is...yes, there is a limit to how many dogs can be kept in one household or "dwelling unit". And the limit is three dogs.

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