The statute, and what it leaves out
MCL 287.351 provides that if a dog bites a person, without provocation, while the person is on public property or lawfully on private property — including the owner's own property — the owner is liable for any damages suffered by the person bitten, regardless of the dog's former viciousness or the owner's knowledge of it. A person is lawfully on private property if there in the performance of a legal duty, or as an invitee or licensee of whoever lawfully possesses it, unless entry was for an unlawful or criminal act.
Two limits matter. First, provocation is a defense that the statute leaves undefined, so courts decide it case by case. Second, the statute is about bites. For a chase or knockdown, the common law preserved alongside it applies: negligence, or strict liability on proof the owner knew of the dog's dangerous tendencies.