T&Cs for Provision of Dog Walking Services

The sales of dogs and other pets in the UK soared during the pandemic, when more people were spending time at home. With a return, or partial return, to the workplace many new pet owners have found that they now have insufficient time to look after their new pet properly. In particular, new dog owners increasingly need to turn to professional dog walkers to ensure that their pets have regular exercise and stimulation.

In view of this increased demand for dog walking services, a new set of terms and conditions for use by professional dog walkers is now available.

Where a self-employed individual or small company offers dog walking services to clients, these Dog Walker’s Terms and Conditions (B2C) can be used by a provider of such services as a template to create a set of standard terms of business. They can then give those terms and conditions to their clients together with a standard registration form to be completed by the client before they book any dog walking sessions.

This new document includes, amongst other things, a booking procedure for dog walking sessions (either a single session or a package of sessions), provisions for cancellation of sessions by the dog walker or client in various circumstances, a model cancellation form which can be used by the client when cancelling a session during the statutory consumers’ “cooling off period”, standard charges for dog walking sessions (varying according to whether the dog is to be walked alone or as part of a group), refunds on cancellation, health and safety matters, rules to be followed by the client, information to be disclosed by the client, scope and practical details of services provided and standards to be adhered to by the dog walker.

This template is compliant with the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

If you use this new template, not only will it save you time and effort when you put together your own dog walking terms and conditions, it will also minimize any potential risk of misunderstandings or disputes by setting out in detail both parties’ obligations and other matters.