Smiley Dog May Lose His Forever Home Due to Pit Bull Ban

One look at a photo of musician Dan Tillery and his newly adopted dog, Diggy, and it’s easy to see why the exuberant picture went viral.

Diggy, who was found wandering in Detroit, was temporarily named Sir Wiggleton and was housed at the shelter for nearly 100 days before Tillery adopted him.

Now, the Waterforld Township police department says the dog is a risky breed and they are trying to remove it from Tillery’s home. On Thursday afternoon, police officers visited Tillery’s home to inspect the dog. And when Tillery collected Diggy, he even got the dog licensed with the township as an American bull dog.

Tillery obtained a Waterford Township dog license for Diggy on Wednesday where he indicated that Diggy is an American Bulldog.

Waterford Township defines pit bulls as dogs that “substantially conform to the breed standards established by the American Kennel Club” for American pit bull terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, or American Staffordshire terriers.

As of Friday morning, the photo the shelter posted on their Facebook page was shared more than 6,000 times and “liked” more than 27,000 times.

Tillery says that he has no intentions of giving Diggy up.

The city is saying the dog violates a risky dog/pitbull ordinance.

“If he can show that it’s not (a pit bull), then it’ll be fine”, Hasselbach told The Detroit News.

On a Facebook post last week, we’re told a DDR volunteer described the dog as an “American Bulldog/Pit bull” mix, and, the description that differs from all paperwork, may have been an assumption because a large number of dogs DDR saves from the Detroit facility are often pit bulls and pit bull mixes. Detroit animal control workers did not indicate that the dog was a mix.

Rinaldi said they hope to convince police that the animal’s pedigree is that of a bulldog, which isn’t prohibited under Waterford ordinance.

“From our standpoint, it’s a pretty clear case of an ordinance that makes it clear what’s permissible and what’s not, and our job is to enforce the ordinance”.