What is a pet boarding and daycare agreement?
Kennels, catteries and doggy daycares take on real responsibility for someone else's animal, often with strangers' pets in the same room. Most problems — a dog that turns out to be reactive, an owner who cannot be reached when a vet is needed, a pet nobody collects — are much easier to handle when the answers were written down and signed in advance.
This template records the pet's details and microchip, the service (overnight boarding, daycare or both), dates, rate, deposit and cancellation notice, and your opening hours for drop-off and pickup. The owner confirms the vaccinations you require and parasite treatment, discloses medical conditions, medication and feeding, and states the pet's temperament, including any history of biting, aggression or escape. You choose whether the pet may join supervised group play. The emergency section names a back-up contact and the owner's usual vet and sets how much vet treatment you may approve if no one can be reached. Pickup rules cover who may collect the pet with ID, late fees, and — optionally — when an uncollected pet may be treated as abandoned under local law.
- Best for
- Dog kennels, catteries, doggy daycares, home boarders and grooming-and-boarding businesses
- Signed by
- The owner and the facility
- Key choices
- Service, rate basis, required vaccinations, group play, emergency vet limit, abandonment period
- Length
- 3 pages, owner initials each page
When to Use a pet boarding and daycare agreement
- Registering a new dog for overnight boarding
- Enrolling a dog in regular doggy daycare, with open-ended dates
- Taking in a cat or small pet while its owners travel
- Home boarders who look after a few dogs in their own house
- Updating paperwork each year when vaccinations are renewed
What You Fill In
31 blanks, then the name and email of each person who signs: owner, facility.
1 The facility
- Facility name*
- Facility address
- Facility phone*
- Drop-off and pickup hours*
2 The owner
- Owner's full name*
- Owner's phone during the stay*
- Owner's address
- Back-up emergency contact
- Other people allowed to collect the pet
3 The pet
- Pet's name*
- Species, breed, age and sex*
- Microchip number
4 The booking
- Service* overnight boarding · daycare · overnight boarding and daycare
- Drop-off date (or first daycare day)*
- Pickup date
- Currency*
- Rate*
- Rate is* per night · per day · per half day · per week · for the whole booking
- Deposit
- Cancellation notice for a refund of the deposit
- Charge for late or out-of-hours pickup
5 Health
- Vaccinations the facility requires*
- Medical conditions, allergies and medication
- Feeding instructions
6 Behaviour
- Temperament* has no known history of biting, aggression or escape · has a history of biting, aggression or escape, as described in the behaviour notes
- Behaviour notes
- Group play* may join supervised group play after a temperament assessment · must be kept separate from other animals · not applicable (cat or other pet)
7 Emergencies
- Owner's usual vet (name and phone)
- Emergency vet spending the facility may approve*
- Days after pickup date before a pet counts as abandoned
- Governing law*
8 Who signs
- Owner signature and date, initials on every page · The pet's owner, or someone the owner has authorised to book and make decisions for the pet.
- Facility signature and date, job title, initials on every page · Someone signing for the kennel, cattery or daycare.
What the pet boarding and daycare agreement Covers
- The Pet and the booking
- Fees
- Vaccinations and parasite control
- Health, feeding and medication
- Temperament
- Veterinary care and emergencies
- Pickup
- Responsibility
- General
Using the pet boarding and daycare agreement, step by step
1 Fill in your facility details once
Your name, address, phone and drop-off and pickup hours go at the top. Set your rate and whether it is per night, per day, per half day, per week or for the whole booking, plus any deposit, cancellation notice and late-pickup charge.
2 Set your vaccination requirements
The default lists the vaccinations many boarding facilities ask for, but use your own requirements — and check any rules from your licence, insurer or local authority. The owner must show proof at or before drop-off, and you may refuse a pet without it.
3 Capture health and temperament
Medication, allergies, feeding instructions and behaviour notes go straight into the agreement. If the owner says the pet has a history of biting, aggression or escape, the details are recorded, and the owner is responsible if they withheld information.
4 Agree the emergency plan
Add a back-up contact, the owner's usual vet and the most you may spend on emergency treatment if nobody can be reached. The agreement also covers the rare, hard case where a vet advises euthanasia to end untreatable suffering.
5 Send before the first stay
Send it with the booking confirmation. The owner initials every page and signs; the signed copy is filed in Files for the next visit.
Tips Before You Send It
- Ask for vaccination certificates as files, not just a tick in a box, and check the dates before drop-off.
- Set the emergency vet limit high enough to cover a real emergency visit in your area — a limit that is too low defeats the purpose.
- If you use an abandonment period, check your local rules first. Many places set what a boarding business must do before rehoming an uncollected animal.
- Run a temperament assessment before any new dog joins group play, even if the owner says it is friendly.
Sign It Online In Minutes
- Fill in the blanks. Names, dates and amounts go straight into the agreement — the preview shows exactly where.
- Name who signs. Tick “This is me” for your own part. VergeHR builds the PDF with every signature, date and initials box on the right line, and you can check or move anything before sending.
- Send it. Each signer gets a secure link and signs from any device — no account needed. The signed PDF, with an audit trail and a Certificate of Completion, is filed in Files and emailed to everyone.
Pet boarding and daycare agreement: frequently asked questions
Does this work for daycare as well as overnight boarding?
Yes. Choose daycare, overnight boarding, or both. For ongoing daycare, leave the pickup date empty and the agreement covers further days booked with you.
What happens if the owner can't be reached in an emergency?
The facility contacts the back-up contact if one is named. If no one can be reached, it may approve vet treatment up to the amount set in the agreement, or more where a vet advises urgent treatment to prevent suffering. The owner pays vet costs unless the facility was negligent.
Does the agreement limit our liability?
It says the facility is not responsible for illness or injury that happens despite reasonable care, but it does not exclude liability for the facility's own negligence or anything that cannot legally be limited. Rules on this differ between countries and states.
Can owners sign on their phone at drop-off?
Yes. Owners sign from any device with no account needed, and electronic signatures are generally valid for ordinary agreements like this in the US (ESIGN and UETA), the UK, the EU (eIDAS) and Canada.