Rockland County, NY Animal Ordinances: Pet Store Rules (2026)

Adopted October 7, 2014 by Local Law No. 3-2014, the act supplements state law after Albany 'for the first time' authorized counties to regulate pet dealers (Section 230-14). A 'pet dealer' is anyone who sells or offers more than nine cats or dogs a year for profit, including breeders, but excludes a breeder who sells fewer than 25 animals a year born and raised on the breeder's own residential premises, and excludes incorporated humane societies making animals available for adoption (Section 230-15). Section 230-16 bars any pet dealer or pet store from offering an animal for sale, trade or give-away younger than eight weeks, not weaned, or not in good health, and bars sourcing from a breeder that received a direct USDA violation within two years, continuous 'no access' USDA violations in two years, or three or more indirect noncompliance findings under the federal Animal Welfare Act on its most recent USDA report.

Stores must give consumers daily fresh food and water, provide USDA inspection reports on request, keep every breeder/broker invoice for two years for the Office of Consumer Protection, and make sterilization services available. Section 230-17 sets enclosure standards: a maximum of four animals per primary enclosure, a floor-space formula based on the animal's length, six inches of headroom above the tallest animal, resting boards in wire cages, no more than two stacked enclosures (three under a five-year grandfather clause in Section 230-18 for cages bought before the law), and identification tags on every enclosure.