A chow sits in quarantine Friday at the Lied Animal Shelter in Las Vegas. The stray dog, which has bitten someone, has only a few days left before it will be killed. Photo by John Locher.

To pocket a little extra spending money, Ernie Sambrano breeds his two American pit bulls once a year and sells the puppies for about $400 apiece.

He has no fancier's permit and doesn't have to take the puppies to the veterinarian for checkups before their new owners take them home. Sambrano invests little money, and the puppies sell quickly, providing extra cash.

"It's not my only income. I do it to get some extra money to take my children to Disneyland," Sambrano said.

His hobby is legal, for now.

But Clark County's animal police hope to crack down on so-called backyard breeders -- pet owners who breed their cats or dogs and sell litters without the proper permit -- through an ordinance scheduled to be heard Tuesday by county commissioners. Their goal is to reduce the number of animals, about 30,000, that are euthanized in Southern Nevada every year.

If passed, the law will target unlicensed dog and cat breeders as well as pet owners who allow animals that are not spayed or neutered to roam freely through neighborhoods.

Breeders without a pet fancier's license and owners whose unsterilized pets routinely escape could be prosecuted for misdemeanors.

"It's a step toward trying to reduce euthanization in our community," said Joe Boteilho, the county's chief of code enforcement. "There are too many people who don't take sterilization seriously."

Sambrano acknowledged that the ordinance would probably put an end to his hobby. Between his job and caring for his children, he said, he wouldn't have time to take each puppy to the veterinary clinic.

"I wouldn't want to have to deal with it; I'm a pretty busy guy," Sambrano said.

Boteilho said that because these breeders have no oversight, they sometimes sell sick or neglected animals to unsuspecting customers. The county can do nothing when the new pet owners complain about losing their animal after paying hundreds of dollars for them.

"This ordinance provides assurance there was good care of these animals, so the people who get these animals don't bond with animals that may not be there, that may get sick," Boteilho said.

The law would require residents with more than three dogs or three cats older than 3 months to obtain a pet fancier's license from the county for $25. Before the permit is issued, county animal control inspects the applicant's home to determine if the animals are provided proper living conditions. The permitted owners also must have the pets checked by a veterinarian before they are sold.

"People are not breeding to proper standards," Boteilho said. "If you go to a pet shop in Clark County and purchase a pet, that pet shop owner has to meet a good number of standards: care, housing and terms of the sale. Someone doing it out of their home is not having to meet those same criteria."

The law would require pet owners advertising their animals for sale to list their dog fancier's permit number. The permit assures the buyer that the animal was raised in an appropriate environment and has a clean bill of health.

"People will have to invest a little more time and money in the animals they have up for sale," Boteilho said.

Diane Orgill, spokeswoman for the Lied Animal Shelter, the regional pound for the Las Vegas Valley, said the ordinance focuses on the owners who have contributed to the shelter's daily population of about 1,900 animals.

"We're all for this; we think it's a great beginning," Orgill said. The pets that end up at the shelter, she said, are the result of "the people who are breeding in the backyard, either because they want to or because they're indiscriminately allowing their animals to run loose."

The proposed law says owners who have three or fewer unaltered dogs are not forced to have them spayed or neutered.

"We are targeting the people in violation of the code and contributing to the pet overpopulation problem," Boteilho said. "If your animals are loose, breeding, biting neighbors, then you're going to hear from us."

Ken Horn, a member of the Silver State Kennel Club, said breeders who belong to the club, which organizes and supports dog shows, favor the ordinance.

"Most of our reputable breeders don't breed for money; they breed for the sport of it. They want to enhance the breed, keep the breed pure," Horn said. "There are a lot of people in the county that just breed for money like puppy mills."

Horn said professional breeders will interview potential buyers and visit their homes to determine whether their animal will fit in with its new family.

He recalled an incident in which pit bull puppies were advertised on a flier. The seller kept more than 60 puppies in an apartment, Horn said. Existing laws allow pet owners to keep any number of dogs in their house for up to a year.

"If they don't sell those puppies in a year, they'll end up in the shelter or they'll turn them loose in the desert," Horn said. "There are a lot of good points to this ordinance."