Troup County, GA Animal Ordinances: Pet Groomer Rules (2026)

Troup County's Unified Development Ordinance addresses pet grooming under "Pet care and veterinary services," Appendix B Section 7.6(13), which layers zoning standards on top of the Georgia Department of Agriculture's licensing scheme. No county business license is issued to a groomer, boarder, or kennel operator until the state license from the Georgia Department of Agriculture has been approved, so a Troup County application starts with a valid state credential in hand. Once licensed, the operation is capped at ten dogs or cats being boarded or kenneled at a time.

Grooming and boarding activity must happen inside a fully enclosed structure, not in an open-air pen or yard, and waste must be handled through an accepted sanitary method that keeps runoff out of streams and off neighboring land. Boarded animals must be kept inside the facility structure between 8:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. every night, and any outdoor runs used during the day must still connect to enclosed inside runs. The use also carries two lot-level thresholds: the property must total at least five acres, and every structure that houses animals must be set back 200 feet from all property lines, pushing the use away from neighboring homes.

Applicants must submit a scaled site plan showing the north arrow, the placement of accessory structures and their distance from the property line, and the number and design of dog runs. A near-identical set of standards appears at Section 7.3(7) for commercial dog and cat kennels that combine boarding, grooming, and shelter functions, which additionally requires a written management plan describing the facility's capacity and staff-to-animal ratio. The Community Development Director reviews the site plan and business license application; the Troup County Building Official and designated code enforcement inspectors handle citations once a facility is operating.