Commerce City, CO Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

Article VI of the Commerce City Animal Code, enacted by Ordinance No. 2647, exists to discourage inhumane breeding facilities and the retail sale of dogs and cats, as Sec. 4-6000 states. Sec. 4-6001(a) makes it unlawful for any person or establishment to display, sell, deliver, offer for sale, barter, auction, give away, or otherwise transfer or dispose of a dog or cat in the city on or after December 31, 2023, except as allowed in Sec. 4-6002 through 4-6004. Sec. 4-6002 let existing pet stores continue selling, adopting out, or transferring cats and dogs only up to that same December 31, 2023 cutoff.

Sec. 4-6003 exempts lawfully operated commercial kennels, hobby breeders, animal care facilities, animal rescue organizations, and animal shelters from the prohibition entirely. Sec. 4-6004 lets a pet store still host space for shelter or rescue animals awaiting adoption, so long as the store has no ownership interest in those animals and charges no fee for providing the space. Sec. 4-6001(c) separately bars any pet store from selling, bartering, or auctioning a sick or injured animal, an animal too young or weak for safe transfer, or an animal that was inhumanely bred or raised, and Sec. 4-6005 requires a posted certificate of source on the enclosure of any animal a store offers for adoption.