Burlington, NC Animal Ordinances: Pet Limits (2026)

Section 6-15 limits dog owners to keeping, maintaining or harboring no more than three dogs aged twelve weeks or older per household, a rule the city rewrote in its entirety under Ordinance No. 22-36 on October 4, 2022, replacing an earlier version of the same section that traced back to the 1959 Code. The section defines how the limit applies to multi-unit buildings: a duplex counts as two separate households, so up to three dogs are allowed per unit, and a triplex counts as three households on the same basis, while a boardinghouse counts as a single household regardless of how many rooms are rented or how many people occupy it.

'Household' itself is defined in Section 6-2 as all persons who occupy a dwelling unit, whether that is one person living alone or any group sharing the unit. The three-dog cap does not distinguish puppies from adult dogs beyond the twelve-week threshold, so litters born on the property still count once puppies reach that age. Section 6-65(c)(1)(b) classifies a Section 6-15 violation as a Level I civil offense, the code's lightest civil tier, and Section 6-67's fine schedule sets the penalty at $50.00 for a first offense, $75.00 for a second, and $100.00 for a third offense or any offense after that, with repeat violations tracked over a rolling twenty-four-month period under Section 6-65(a).