Meet Dan Tillery, a musician, and his newly adopted dog Diggy who were both all smiles for their first photo together as the new official best friends in town. Diggy who was so happy to finally have his forever home couldn’t keep his excitement from showing. And naturally, this photo quickly became viral. No one could actually look at this photo and not smile.
But this viral photo also caused a bit of trouble for the duo. Apparently, one of the residents in Waterford Township in Michigan where Tillery was a longtime resident saw the photo and reported that Diggy was a pit bull. The Township had a ban on dangerous dogs and with that came police knocking at Tillery’s door. In fear of authorities taking away his best friend, Tillery agreed to get him out in three days.
Diggy was found abandoned and roaming the streets of Detroit before getting rescued by the Detroit Dog Rescue. He had been living in the shelter for 3 months before Tillery came to give him a forever home. Tillery and the rescue knew about the ban and Detroit Dog Rescue even called in ahead to make sure that Diggy would be allowed in the Township.
According to the Township, as long as a veterinarian would sign off and say that Diggy was not a pit bull then they were good. And Diggy had all the papers proving that and identifying him as an American Bulldog. In fact, Tillery had him licensed as one in the Township after collecting him in the rescue.
But a loophole in the ordinance ban allowed police to ban dogs that they believe were pit bulls. And that ultimately led to a legal battle to let Diggy stay in Tillery’s home in Waterford Township.
After the incident, a petition to lift the dangerous dog ban was launched and Diggy got over 111,000 supporters. In the following update, the court ruled in favor of Diggy and he was able to stay with Tillery. And he couldn’t be happier.
Source: Facebook via Detroit Dog Rescue