Smyrna, TN Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

Section 10-210 of the Smyrna Municipal Code, added by Ordinance 23-7 in March 2023, is an adoption-only rule for retail pet stores. Subsection (1) says it shall be unlawful for a retail pet store to sell or offer for sale a dog or cat. Sell or offer for sale is defined broadly to mean to exchange for consideration, display for sale, adopt out, barter, trade, lease, or otherwise transfer. A retail pet store is a commercial establishment that sells or offers for sale animals on its premises at retail. Dog means any member of the species Canis familiaris and cat means any member of the species Felis catus, so the ban is limited to those two animals.

Subsection (2) keeps one door open. A retail pet store can provide space to an animal shelter or an animal rescue organization for the purpose of showcasing dogs or cats available for adoption, but only if the pet store has no ownership interest in the animals offered and does not receive a fee for providing the space. An animal shelter is a facility maintained by or under contract with any state, county, or municipality for impounding, boarding, or otherwise caring for seized, stray, homeless, abandoned, unwanted, or surrendered animals. An animal rescue organization must be a not-for-profit with tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code whose mission and practice is, in whole or in significant part, the rescue and placement of animals in permanent homes.

The definition closes the loophole a store would otherwise try. The term does not include a breeder or broker, or one that obtains animals from a breeder or broker for profit or compensation, or any entity that breeds animals or that is located on the same premises as, shares personnel with, obtains dogs or cats in exchange for payment or other compensation from, or facilitates the sale of dogs or cats obtained from a person that breeds animals. The section does not name an enforcing agency, and Title 10 places animal control with the police department.