Spotsylvania County, VA Animal Ordinances: Pet Limits (2026)

Sec. 4-29 of the Spotsylvania County Code makes it unlawful for any person or entity to own, keep, or harbor more than 50 dogs four months of age or older, regardless of the size of the parcel involved and regardless of whether the dogs are spread across one or more tax map parcels. The section is explicit that it controls and limits the number of dogs that may be kept even if the owner has purchased licenses covering a larger number, so buying additional licenses under Chapter 4's dog-licensing article cannot be used to get around the 50-dog cap.

The ordinance sits in Article II, Dogs Generally, immediately after the kennel and multi-dog license provisions in Sections 4-26 through 4-28, which govern how owners with large numbers of dogs must display license tags and keep dogs confined to their facility. The county's multi-dog license, described in Sec. 4-42, is available in blocks of ten, twenty, or fifty dogs, tying the licensing structure directly to the 50-dog ceiling set here, and a person may hold only one multi-dog license regardless of how many tax parcels the dogs are kept on.