Dog Poop Scooping in Santa Teresa, New Mexico

Santa Teresa has grown alongside its port of entry and the industry around it, and many of the people who work there live nearby with their families and dogs. Some homes here sit on larger lots, which gives dogs room to roam and also means more ground where waste can collect. That is the kind of yard where a regular pickup saves the most time.

Santa Teresa is an unincorporated community in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, close to the borders with Texas and Mexico. It is known for the Santa Teresa port of entry, one of the region's crossings for commercial traffic, and for the Doña Ana County International Jetport. The City of Sunland Park's park directory lists the Sunland Park Sports Complex on McNutt Road under a Santa Teresa address, alongside neighborhood parks such as Villa Valencia that a homeowners association manages.

The same directory shows how many kinds of owners share that ground. Tuscan Ridge Villas Park belongs to its homeowners association. Edgemont Parks and Haciendas San Gabriel Park are, like Villa Valencia, owned jointly by the city and an association, which manages them. William Clarke Snow Park on Mason Farms Road belongs to the YMCA, and The Grove Park on Grove Drive belongs to a residential developer. If waste in a neighborhood park bothers you, the owner listed for that park is the one to ask.

The region's weather is forecast from here. The National Weather Service moved its El Paso office from the El Paso airport to the county airport in Santa Teresa in 1995 and put its radar there a year later. Since 1998 that office has issued the forecasts and warnings for southern New Mexico and far West Texas, monsoon storm warnings included. Water and sewer are shared with the next community over: one regional utility, CRRUA, has run both systems for Santa Teresa and Sunland Park since 2009.

Desert landscaping is the norm in Santa Teresa: gravel, rock and native plants, with turf or a small lawn in some backyards. Open ground means dogs spread out, so it helps to tell us where they spend most of their time and whether any areas are off limits. Wind is part of life here in the spring, and dried waste does not stay where it fell. A schedule that keeps up with the dogs keeps the yard pleasant in every season.

Doña Ana County rewrote its animal ordinance in 2022, and the rules for unincorporated areas are specific about waste at home. Dog and cat waste goes into a watertight, fly-tight container that stays covered except when you open it to add more, and the container is emptied often enough that it does not turn into a nuisance or a health hazard. Waste is not supposed to collect anywhere else on the property. Away from home, a dog's waste is picked up and disposed of immediately.

The same ordinance covers the fence. At home, a dog stays in a secure enclosure or under immediate control, and the county's restraint guide asks for sturdy latches on enclosure gates, placed where animals and small children cannot open them. Off the property, a dog stays on a leash or in a carrier, wears an ID tag, and has a working microchip the county can ask to see. On a large lot, check the fence line on the same walk you use to look for waste.

Because some parks with Santa Teresa addresses appear in the City of Sunland Park's directory, not every street that says Santa Teresa may fall under the county. If you need to know which pet and nuisance rules cover your address, ask Doña Ana County or the City of Sunland Park.