Terms of service

Part 1: Everyone

1. What DogBookings is

DogBookings is an online marketplace that connects dog owners with independent providers of dog services: secure field hire, dog walking, home visits, grooming, boarding, day care, training and swim/hydro pool hire. When you book, your contract for the service itself is with the provider. DogBookings acts as the provider's commercial agent to arrange the booking and take payment on their behalf: paying DogBookings discharges your debt to the provider for that booking.

2. Accepting these terms

You accept these terms when you create an account, and again each time you make a booking or publish a listing. If you use DogBookings for a business (as a provider), you confirm you are entitled to bind that business. We may update these terms; when we make material changes we will tell you in the app, and continuing to use the platform after that means you accept the updated terms.

3. Accounts

You sign in with a code emailed to you. Keep access to your email account secure, and tell us straight away (Account → Contact support) if you think someone else has used your account. You must give accurate information about yourself, your household and your dogs, and keep it up to date. One person may belong to one household and may also work for one or more provider businesses.

4. Acceptable use

Don't use DogBookings to break the law, to harass or deceive other users, to take bookings off-platform that started on the platform, or to post content that is unlawful, defamatory or infringes someone else's rights. Reviews must be honest accounts of real bookings. We can remove content, hold listings for checking, suspend accounts or businesses, and record incidents where we reasonably believe these terms have been broken. Suspensions and removals are logged and attributable.

5. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland you may also rely on the consumer protections and courts of your home nation.

Part 2: Households

6. Bookings, payment and the booking fee

Prices are set by providers and shown before you book, including each listing's cancellation policy. In addition to the provider's price, DogBookings charges a small flat booking fee per booking, which varies by service type. The fee is always shown as part of the total before you pay, and is inclusive of any applicable VAT. Payment is taken by card through Stripe at the time of booking. Some listings take a deposit, with the balance charged automatically to your saved card about two days before the service (you'll have agreed to that when booking, and you get a reminder first); the booking fee is collected once, with the first payment. Some bookings need the provider's confirmation; if they can't take you, you are refunded in full automatically, including the booking fee. Where a provider is VAT-registered, your receipt shows their VAT number and the VAT breakdown for the provider's service; the booking fee is itemised separately as a DogBookings charge.

7. Cancellations, reschedules and refunds

Each listing shows its cancellation policy (flexible, moderate or strict) before you pay, and your refund of the provider's price follows it. The booking fee is non-refundable when you cancel a confirmed booking. It IS refunded in full whenever the provider cancels or declines, whenever we cancel, or when you withdraw a booking the provider had not yet confirmed. If a provider cancels or moves a session you haven't agreed to, you are refunded in full including the booking fee. Providers may propose moving a booking; nothing changes unless you accept. Refunds go back to the card you paid with; timing then depends on your bank.

8. Your dogs: your information

You are responsible for the accuracy of what you tell providers about your dogs: breed, size, age, temperament flags (for example reactivity, resource guarding, not neutered), health, diet, medication and handling notes, and vaccination records where a provider requires them. Providers rely on this to keep your dog, other dogs and people safe. Withholding something material may lead to a booking being refused or ended without refund, and you may be liable for harm it causes. When you book a service where the provider cares for the dogs themselves (walking, home visits, grooming, training, boarding, daycare), that provider gains access to your household's dog profiles so they can look after any of your dogs. This is flagged when you book. Field and pool hire share no dog profiles.

9. Meet & greets, trial nights and assessments

Some providers require an introduction before standard bookings: a meet & greet for walkers, a trial night for boarding, an assessment swim for pools. These are real, paid bookings. Until the provider marks you as met, only introduction sessions are bookable with them.

10. Venue and service rules

Follow each provider's stated rules: for example, leaving a hired field clean and tidy, drop-off and pick-up windows for day care, and the swim-safety declaration for pool hire (feeding gap, toileting before the swim, no open wounds or ear/skin infections, no recent sickness, bitches not in season). Where a booking asks you to tick a declaration, you confirm it is true for every dog you bring.

11. Problems and disputes

Most problems are quickest sorted by messaging the provider on the booking. If that fails you can open a formal dispute from the booking within a reasonable time of the service; the provider responds once and the DogBookings team decides the outcome, which can include a partial or full refund. You can also contact support from your Account page. Nothing here removes your statutory rights as a consumer.

Part 3: Providers

12. Your status

Providers are independent businesses, not employees, workers or agents of DogBookings (except that DogBookings acts as your commercial agent for taking household payment). You are responsible for your own tax, employment obligations for your staff, insurance and legal compliance.

13. Licences, insurance and safety

You must hold and maintain everything the law requires for your activities. In England, boarding (home or kennels) and day care are licensed activities under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) Regulations 2018, and the platform will not publish those listings without licence details on file. You must carry appropriate public-liability insurance, keep it current, and deliver your services safely and with reasonable skill and care. Uploaded insurance certificates may be checked by the DogBookings team; the "Verified" badge reflects those checks and is removed automatically when insurance expires.

14. Listings and content

Your listings, photos and prices must be accurate and yours to use. New businesses' listings are checked by the DogBookings team before going live; established ("trusted") businesses publish immediately, and that status can be revoked if content standards slip. You grant DogBookings a licence to display your listing content on the platform.

15. Payments, the booking fee and payouts

You keep your full listed price. DogBookings charges the household a flat booking fee on top of your price; that fee is the platform's revenue and never comes out of your share (Stripe's processing costs are absorbed by the fee, not you). Household payments are collected by Stripe into your connected Stripe account. Bookings you log yourself (phone or walk-in) carry no booking fee and no platform charge at all. Payouts follow your Stripe payout schedule. When you cancel a booking, the household is refunded in full, including their booking fee, from funds already transferred to you where needed. Repeated provider cancellations incur a cancellation charge (currently £5 or the refunded booking fee, whichever is higher, after your first cancellation in any 90 days), collected from your connected Stripe account or otherwise offset against money owed to you, and can affect your listing's standing. You must not solicit off-platform payment for bookings made through the platform.

16. Household information

Booking details, dog care profiles, vaccination documents and contact information are shared with you so you can deliver the service. If you provide a service where you care for the dogs themselves (walking, home visits, grooming, training, boarding, daycare), a booking gives you access to that household's dog profiles as a whole; field and pool bookings share none. Treat them as confidential, use them only for the booking, and delete anything you export when it's no longer needed. For records you keep in your own systems you are an independent data controller under UK GDPR. The broadcast tool messages only households who have actually booked with you, at most once every 24 hours.

17. Standards and suspension

Repeated provider cancellations, safety incidents, review manipulation or breach of these terms can lead to listings being paused or the business being suspended. Suspension hides your listings from search immediately; existing bookings are handled case by case with households refunded where services won't be delivered. All admin actions are logged and attributable.

Part 4: Disclaimers and liability

18. The marketplace, not the services

DogBookings provides the marketplace, not the dog services. We don't supervise providers' work and, to the extent the law allows, we are not liable for the acts or omissions of providers or households, or for loss, injury or damage arising from a service itself. Your remedy for service problems is against the provider, with the dispute process available to help. Verification badges and listing checks are good-faith checks, not guarantees.

19. Dogs are dogs

Activities involving animals carry inherent risk. Owners remain legally responsible for their dogs at all times, including under the Animals Act 1971 and the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. Nothing on the platform is veterinary advice: if your dog is unwell, consult a vet.

20. The platform itself

We aim to keep DogBookings available and accurate but provide it "as is". We are not liable for temporary outages, errors we correct within a reasonable time, or events outside our reasonable control. Payment services are provided by Stripe under Stripe's own terms. Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or anything else that cannot be excluded by law, and nothing affects consumers' statutory rights.