Bartow County, GA Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

Bartow County Code § 14-18 governs animal breeding and pet dealers in unincorporated Bartow County, enforced by Bartow County Animal Control. The section starts from a household breeding allowance: any household may have one litter per year, total, not per animal, without becoming a licensed operation. A new litter that pushes a household over the maximum-animal limits set in section 14-17 gets a 12-week grace period from the date of birth before those limits apply. Any household producing more than one litter in a calendar year is treated as a pet dealer under the code, triggering the licensing requirement.

and applicable state regulations. Bartow County has no county-level ban on retail sale of dogs or cats, no requirement that pet stores be nonprofit or adoption-only, and no local puppy-mill licensing scheme separate from the state's; the county simply requires state licensure and defers standards to Georgia law. Subsection (d) adds a local sanitation duty: pet dealership premises, breeding operations, animal shelters, kennels and stables must be kept in a good state of repair, clean and sanitary, adequately ventilated, and disinfected when needed. Subsection (e) backs this with an enforcement tool: animals kept by or at any unlicensed pet dealer, private animal shelter, stable or kennel are subject to immediate impoundment by animal control, at the owner's expense.