Chino Hills, CA Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

010, and covers every method of transfer the Code can think to name: display, sale, delivery, offer for sale, barter, auction, giveaway, or other disposal. 030. 040 goes further and affirmatively allows a pet store to provide space and care for animals owned by a public animal control agency, nonprofit humane society, or nonprofit rescue organization so those animals can be adopted out to the public from the store's premises. In practice this means a Chino Hills pet store can host adoption events for shelter or rescue animals but cannot itself be a commercial source of dogs or cats, closing off the retail supply chain frequently associated with commercial breeding operations.

The ordinance, adopted by Ordinance No. 279 on October 28, 2014, defines 'retail sale' broadly enough to include offering an animal for adoption for a fee, which is what keeps the adoption carve-out narrowly limited to nonprofit and public entities rather than the store itself.