Sep 4, 2026
Albuquerque Dog Fines: Every Number Actually Published
From a $500 general city penalty to a $500,000 insurance requirement for a dangerous dog, here is every published fine and fee for Albuquerque and Bernalillo County.
Albuquerque, New Mexico7 min readPet Care & Services
Albuquerque and Bernalillo County publish a genuine mix of hard numbers and open-ended penalty pointers.
The city's general penalty, the figure most violations point back to
Angel's Law and most other undesignated Albuquerque ordinances share a single general penalty rather than each setting its own figure. Verbatim, § 1-1-99: "Any person who violates any provision of this code for which another penalty is not specifically provided shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine not exceeding $500 or by imprisonment not exceeding 90 days or both unless a different specific penalty is provided. Each separate violation shall constitute a separate offense and, upon conviction, each day of violation shall constitute a separate offense." Our dangerous dogs in Albuquerque guide covers Angel's Law's own penalty clause, which points directly to this figure.
The intact-permit citation, confirmed in plain language
The city's own FAQ states this directly rather than through a legal cross-reference. Verbatim: "Citations are being issued to people whose animals are not in compliance with the ordinance. The penalty is up to $500 and/or 90 days in jail as determined by a Metro Court judge." This matches the general penalty figure above almost exactly, and it applies specifically to an unaltered animal without the required Intact Companion Animal Permit.
Permits, not fines, but real recurring costs
The city's fee table for various animal-related permits, exactly as published:
| Permit | Fee |
|---|---|
| Intact Companion Animal Permit (ICAP) | $150.00/per animal/year |
| Litter permit | $150.00/litter |
| Multiple Companion Animal Site Permit (MCASP) | $50.00/site/year |
| Guard Dog Site Permit (GDSP) | $150.00/site/year |
| Animal Service Provider Permit (ASPP) | $75.00/site/year |
| Pet Store Permit (PSP) | $100.00/site/year |
| Trolley Permit | $50/animal |
| Animal-Drawn Vehicle Permit (ADVP) | $150/animal/year |
Our Bernalillo County dog license guide covers the county's own, separate licensing fee table for anyone outside city limits.
The dangerous-dog insurance requirement
Not a fine, but a real, ongoing financial obligation once a dog is designated dangerous under Angel's Law. Verbatim: "An owner of a dangerous dog shall at all times have an insurance policy with coverage of a minimum of $500,000 pertaining to injury to any person or property caused by the dangerous dog." This is the single largest dollar figure in this entire batch, and it is a standing coverage requirement rather than a one-time payment.
The county's reclaim fee for an unsterilized stray
Verbatim, from Bernalillo County's ordinance: "An unsterilized animal reclaimed by its owner shall be released without being sterilized upon payment of at least $25.00 for the sterilization deposit and impoundment fees imposed by the shelter, and the owner shall sign an agreement stating he will sterilize the animal within 30 days after release or will obtain a breeder permit, intact permit, or its equivalent." This is a minimum figure; the ordinance does not state a ceiling.
What the county points to rather than states directly
Bernalillo County's own general penalty section does not set its own number for most violations.
The nonprofit source we would not use, even for a number
Even a passing result would not have changed how this guide treats it, since a nonprofit's own transcription is not a government source, and this project does not present a secondary transcription as if it were the statute's own text, regardless of how convenient that would be for filling a gap.
Why licensing fees are not the same thing as fines
It is worth being precise about the difference. The Bernalillo County and Albuquerque fee tables covered in our Bernalillo County dog license guide are the cost of compliance, paid whether or not anything ever goes wrong. Everything in this guide, by contrast, is the cost of non-compliance or of a dog's own behavior triggering a designation. A resident who licenses on time and never triggers Angel's Law or the county's own dangerous-animal process never encounters a single figure in this guide at all.
What the two jurisdictions' penalty structures reveal about their priorities
Reading Albuquerque's and Bernalillo County's fine schedules side by side is instructive. The city's own general penalty, $500 and 90 days, applies uniformly across nearly every violation with no specific figure of its own, from a missing intact permit to a violation of Angel's Law itself. Neither approach is inherently stricter than the other.
What a genuinely worst-case scenario looks like on paper
Combine the pieces this guide has verified and a realistic worst case comes into view. A dog owner who ignores an intact-permit citation faces up to $500 and 90 days. If that same dog is later designated dangerous under Angel's Law and its owner cannot maintain the required $500,000 insurance policy, the consequence is not a fine at all but potential forfeiture of the dog itself. And if the underlying incident also amounts to an Angel's Law violation prosecuted criminally, each day of a continuing violation counts as a separate offense, meaning the $500 ceiling is not actually a hard ceiling on total exposure across an extended violation. The insurance requirement, not any single fine, is the real financial pressure point in this entire batch. Our dangerous dogs in Albuquerque guide covers the full designation process that leads to that insurance requirement in the first place.
Why this guide treats a fee table and a fine schedule as genuinely different things
It would be easy to blend licensing fees, permit costs, and actual penalties into one long list and call it "the cost of owning a dog here." This guide deliberately does not do that. Our Bernalillo County dog license guide covers what compliance costs you as a matter of course. This guide covers what non-compliance, or your dog's own behavior, can cost you instead. Keeping the two separate matters because they answer two different questions: what should I budget for this year, versus what am I exposed to if something goes wrong. Our Albuquerque dog rules guide covers the full jurisdictional map both questions ultimately depend on, since which side of the city line you actually live on determines which fee table and which fine schedule genuinely apply to your own household in the first place, before any single one of the specific numbers collected carefully above ever actually becomes genuinely relevant to you or your own household personally in practice, rather than merely in the abstract. Most dog owners who comply with the ordinary rules covered throughout this series never encounter a single one of these figures at all.
Where to find the underlying rules these numbers attach to
Every fine in this guide attaches to a specific rule described elsewhere in this series. Our Albuquerque dog rules guide covers the full jurisdictional map, our where dogs are not allowed in Albuquerque guide covers the leash and confinement rules that trigger the general penalty, and our dangerous dogs in Albuquerque guide covers the full process behind the insurance requirement. Reading a fine figure in isolation tells you less than reading it alongside the rule it actually enforces. Our Albuquerque dog parks guide covers the one place none of these fines apply at all: a properly used off-leash dog park, where a dog complying with the posted rules never triggers the leash-law penalty in the first place. Our New Mexico dog bite law guide covers the one area of exposure that sits entirely outside every fine schedule collected here: civil liability for a bite, which carries no fixed dollar ceiling at all, regardless of what any single fine schedule collected in this guide might otherwise suggest. Our emergency vets in Albuquerque guide is worth knowing too, since the aftermath of an incident serious enough to trigger these fines often involves urgent veterinary care as well.
Frequently asked questions
What is Albuquerque's general fine for a code violation with no specific penalty listed? Up to $500 and/or 90 days imprisonment, with each day of a continuing violation counted as a separate offense.
What is the penalty for keeping an unaltered dog without the required permit in Albuquerque? Up to $500 and/or 90 days in jail, as determined by a Metro Court judge, matching the city's general penalty figure.
How much does an Intact Companion Animal Permit cost? $150 per animal per year.
How much liability insurance does a dangerous dog's owner need in Albuquerque? A minimum of $500,000 in coverage, maintained at all times, the largest figure in this entire batch.
What does it cost to reclaim an unsterilized stray from Bernalillo County? At least $25 for the sterilization deposit plus any impoundment fees, with a signed agreement to sterilize within 30 days or obtain the appropriate permit.
Can New Mexico's Dangerous Dog Act result in a felony charge? Secondary legal sources describe an escalation to a felony for a dangerous or potentially dangerous dog causing serious injury or death without provocation.
