St. Mary's County commissioner asks staff to revisit rule that treats owners of five dogs as commercial

A St. Mary's County commissioner said the county should revise a rule that treats owners of five or more dogs as a commercial kennel and asked the county administrator and county attorney to bring back proposed changes.

The commissioner said last week "St. Mary's County Animal Services shared a post about if you own 5 or more dogs, you are considered a commercial breeding establishment, and you need to get a license for that." The commissioner added, "owning 5 dogs does not make you commercial...that's just government overreach to the extreme."

The commissioner told colleagues the county had planned to wait for the local delegation in Annapolis to carry legislation, but "the delegation decided not to take our legislation forward." The commissioner said they have spoken with the county administrator and county attorney and asked staff to "bring that back" so the county ordinance can be changed.

The remarks were presented as an instruction to staff rather than as a formal motion or vote. No ordinance number, statutory citation, or formal board vote was given during the remarks; the transcript records only the commissioner’s request that staff return with proposed changes.

The commissioner emphasized that existing animal-welfare rules would still apply, saying people "cannot mistreat your animals and those rules still apply," but argued the numerical threshold (five dogs) should not by itself trigger a kennel-license requirement.

No timetable or draft ordinance language was provided in the remarks, and no formal vote was recorded on the floor during this segment. The commissioner said earlier conversations with county counsel had considered waiting for delegation action in Annapolis, but that option is no longer available after the delegation declined to move the county’s requested changes.

Looking ahead, the commissioner asked staff to prepare proposed amendments for future consideration by the board.