Dog day care licence

If you provide short-term daytime only boarding for other people’s dogs, typically whilst the owners are at work, you will need a dog day care licence.

This applies to both registered businesses and individuals – individuals can also be classed as a business depending on the extent of their activities.

Day care operators are responsible for entertaining, feeding and looking after the dogs until they are collected by their owners.

The cost of a licence is £306. We will only ask you to pay the fee once we are satisfied we have all the required documentation.

Dog day care rules

• One member of staff for 10 dogs. For a higher rating, one member of staff for 8 dogs.
• Each dog requires a minimum of 6m². Space alone will not decide on the number of dogs allowed. We will consider other factors during an inspection, for example, outside space and if all dogs want to come inside.
• Appropriate isolation in self-contained facilities must be available for the care of sick, injured or potentially infectious animals. If the isolation facility is at another location, such as a local veterinary practice, you must provide evidence that this is ready to use (for example, a letter from the practice).

Licence conditions

When you apply you will be prompted to upload your procedures or provide information to prove that you can meet the licence conditions. This includes:

• Ofqual level 2 higher, or clear evidence of knowledge and experience
• Written training policy for all staff
• Enrichment plan
• Procedure for dogs under one year of age
• Policy for monitoring the introduction of new dogs coming into the environment
• Cleaning procedures
• Feeding regimes procedure
• Transportation procedure (if applicable)
• The prevention and control of the spread of disease procedure (vaccinations against canine parvovirus, canine distemper, infectious canine hepatitis (adenovirus), leptospirosis and other relevant diseases
• Monitoring and ensuring the health and welfare of all the animal’s procedure
• The death or escape of an animal procedure
• Emergency procedures including but not limited to fire and extreme weather
• Veterinarian details
• Dog screening procedure
• Dog register
• Preventative healthcare plan agreed with appointed veterinarian

This list is not exhaustive and extra documents may be required - read the government’s dog day care conditions in full for details of all documented procedures.

How to apply

Apply online

Read our privacy notice which tells you how we use your data.

What happens next?

We will review your application within 21 days. If you have not provided your procedures or proof that you can meet the licence conditions with your online application, we will ask you to send these to us.

When we are satisfied we have all the required information we will contact you to pay the licence fee in full.

Once you have paid, we will arrange for an inspector to visit your premises to check that you meet the conditions of the licence.

Following this inspection and if all the minimum standards are met, we will issue your licence. This will tell you how long your licence will last and what your star rating is, based on the government criteria. We aim to issue the licence within 10 weeks of receiving the application.

Appeals

If we have made a decision to refuse, vary, suspend or revoke a licence, you can appeal to the General Regulatory Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal.

Star ratings

After inspection, each premise will receive a star rating between 1 and 5, with 5 being the highest rating. To achieve the best possible rating, you will need to have covered all the standard conditions, including all required consents, policies and procedures.

To meet the highest rating, certain higher standards must be met.

Higher standards (required)

• The design and layout of the facility must give the dogs a choice of areas
• There must be a clear plan setting out two walks per dog each day for a minimum of 20 minutes each, or two sessions of access to a secure open area away from the kennel unit. There must be an alternative form of enrichment planned for dogs which cannot be exercised for veterinary reasons for the same periods of time.

Higher standards (optional) 

• There must be at least one full-time member of staff per 8 dogs.
• There must be a member of permanent, full-time staff with an appropriate Ofqual regulated level 3 qualification.
• There must be a structured training programme for staff that specifically addresses canine behaviour in a day care environment.
• Ventilation must be a managed, fixed or portable air system to maintain temperatures in all weathers. This can be an air conditioning unit or removable fans installed safely away from animals.
• Dogs must receive beneficial human interactions throughout the day and these must be documented.

Licence variation

To vary your licence please email Environmental.Health@liverpool.gov.uk with your proposals. We will then contact you to pay the licence variation fee. 

On receipt of payment, we will review your proposals and arrange a site visit if this is required, depending on the variation.

If you need further information, please contact us.