Animal Ordinances in Sandoval County, NM (2026)
4 rules for unincorporated Sandoval County, New Mexico.
Verified from official government sources
Chickens & Livestock
In Sandoval County's R1-35 single-family district, residents may keep livestock, defined to include horses, cattle, goats, rabbits and fowl, at one animal per 21,780 square feet of lot area, with corrals and stables set back 60 feet from any lot line and confined to the rear yard.
Sandoval County R1-35 Backyard Livestock Ratio
Some RestrictionsSandoval County Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance § 12(1.1)(B)(12)
In R1-35 Districts, the keeping of livestock is permitted at a ratio of one animal per twenty-one thousand seven hundred eighty (21,780) square feet of lot area. Such livestock shall not be corralled or stabled within sixty (60) feet of any lot line. Corrals and stables shall be located in the rear yard. ... Livestock means horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, rabbits and/or fowl or any other an...
Dog Leash Laws
Dog owners in unincorporated Sandoval County must keep animals under control at all times. Code § 4-9(a) bars any animal from running at large on streets, sidewalks, or private property without permission, and § 4-7 separately requires every dog to stay on its owner's premises or under the owner's control.
Sandoval County Dog At-Large Law
Some RestrictionsSandoval County Code § 4-9(a)
(a)Animals running at large. It is unlawful for any person to allow or permit any animal to run at large in or on any street, alley, sidewalk, vacant lot, public property, other unenclosed place in the county; or private property without the permission of the owner thereof. Any animal permitted to run at large in violation of this section is declared to be a nuisance, a menace to the public hea...
Breed Restrictions
Sandoval County has no breed-specific dog ban. Instead, Code § 4-9(b) targets individual animals: it is unlawful to keep or harbor any 'vicious animal,' defined in § 4-1 as one that bites or attacks a person or another animal off its owner's property. A judicial finding of viciousness forces euthanasia or surrender.
Sandoval County Vicious Animal Rules
Significant RestrictionsSandoval County Code §§ 4-1, 4-9(b)
Vicious animal means any animal which shall bite or in any other manner attack or attempt to attack any person or other animal within the county, except that any animal that bites, attacks, or attempts to attack any person or other animal within the county, upon its owner's or keeper's premises, or which is provoked to attack, shall not be deemed a vicious animal. ... (b)Vicious animals. It is ...
Wildlife Feeding
Sandoval County makes it a crime to feed a free-roaming horse without a horse feeding permit issued by the county. The rule targets horses specifically, not deer, geese or other wildlife, and exempts feeding your own horse or feeding on federal or tribal trust land.
Sandoval County Permit Required to Feed Free-Roaming Horses
Significant RestrictionsSandoval County Code § 14-42
Sec. 14-42. - Unlawful feeding of free-roaming horses. It shall be a crime called "unlawful feeding of free-roaming horses" to feed a horse without a horse feeding permit issued by the county.
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