Del Norte County, CA Animal Ordinances: Pet Limits (2026)

Del Norte County does not impose a simple maximum number of household pets in its Animal Control Ordinance. Instead, Title 8, Chapter 2 (Dogs and other Pets) regulates larger-scale dog keeping through a 'Dog Kennel License' provision. Under that section, any person owning or controlling a kennel must secure a kennel license, paying the kennel license fee set by the Board of Supervisors, and the kennel license operates in lieu of individual licensing of the dogs kept in the kennel. For purposes of that section, a 'kennel' means a place where more than five dogs are kept for breeding, training, sale, or other commercial purposes. The kennel must comply with all applicable zoning and land-use ordinances, and newly operating kennels must be licensed within thirty days of commencing operation. Separately, every individual dog over six months of age (or within thirty days of acquisition) must be licensed after presenting a current rabies vaccination certificate. The County Code does not set a numerical household cap on cats or on dogs kept noncommercially, so the operative dog 'limit' is the more-than-five-dogs-for-commercial-purposes threshold that triggers kennel licensing. Confirm zoning for any kennel with Del Norte County Planning, and license individual dogs through Del Norte County Animal Services.