Tempe, AZ Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

Sec. 6-54 defines a 'pet dealer' as anyone who owns or operates a 'pet shop,' a for-profit retail establishment selling cats, dogs or other animals (excluding a publicly operated pound, a private charitable nonprofit humane society, or an isolated non-business transaction). Subsection (b) bars a pet shop or dealer from obtaining a dog or cat for resale, or selling or offering one for sale, if it came from a source that is not currently licensed by the USDA under the Animal Welfare Act, committed a direct Animal Welfare Act violation within the prior two years, received an indirect 'no access' violation on each of its two most recent USDA inspections, or committed three or more indirect health-or-welfare violations in the prior two years.

Subsection (c) extends the ban to dogs or cats obtained indirectly through a chain that traces back to such a disqualified source, though a dealer is presumed to have acted in good faith if it searched the USDA's animal care inspection database before placing the order. Subsection (d) carves out an exception allowing pet shops to source animals from a publicly operated pound, a private charitable nonprofit humane society, or an adoption activity run by either. A pet dealer must keep compliance records for at least two years and make them available on request to a municipal or county peace officer or enforcement official (subsection (e)), and must display each animal's breeder name, the breeder's USDA license number (if licensed) and the USDA website for that breeder both on the animal's cage and on all printed or electronic marketing materials for that specific animal (subsection (f)).