Start a dog walking or pet sitting business

Use this guide if you love animals and want to earn money walking dogs, doing pop-in visits or caring for pets, either alongside a job or as your main work. Have a rough idea of the area you could cover, how many hours a week you have and whether you would care for animals in your own home. This guide is general information for England; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own licensing rules, so check with your council there.

Step by step

1. Choose your services and check which need a licence

   In England, the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 require a council licence for commercial dog or cat boarding, which includes home boarding in your own house, dog day care, and arranging boarding with other people as an agent. Dog walking, pop-in visits to feed pets in the owner's home and house sitting in the owner's home do not currently need this licence. Councils usually decide whether you are a business by looking at HMRC's 'badges of trade' and whether your takings exceed the trading allowance, so taking money regularly from people you did not know before will usually count. Decision rule: if the animal ever sleeps or spends the day at your home or premises for payment, apply for a licence before you start; if you only walk dogs or visit the owner's home, you need no animal activity licence but still need insurance and to follow local dog rules.