Working as a dog walker is becoming more and more popular because of the unique advantages of the profession; flexible working hours, independence, outdoors working environment, good salary and more importantly, animal care. Although many people are tempted running their own dog walking business on their own or along with some business partners or employees, not many seem to realise the need for both public liability, care, custody and control insurance. It is usually too late when a part-time pet sitter realised the need for all these types of cover, and only after have been involved in some kind of incident.
In the UK alone, there are about 10 million registered dogs and in the big urban centres there are several people that work as dog walkers. However, being considerate about the responsibilities, potential risks and hazards is something not many pet lovers think about. There’s nothing worse than caring for someone else’s dog and having an accident or even accidentally lose the dog!
I had been involved with the profession for nearly 6 months without having insurance when one of the dogs I was walking with attacked a kid in order to eat the kid’s biscuits. The kids’ parents understandably got very angry and wanted to sue me for causing them and their kid so much distress. Lucklily, my aplogies were enough but the same day I went back home, did some reasearch and purchased a cheap dog walking insurance from Insurantz.com
Dog walkers are responsible for the safety of the dogs they are caring for as well as their actions; these actions include an accidental attack on a third person, damages on someone else’s property, all injuries whether caused or suffered by the dog as well as loss, lethal accidents or even death. A typical dog walker’s insurance usually covers public liability, employer’s liability, care custody of animals you care and loss of key cover.
Public liability insurance is needed in case one of the gods you care bites or attacks another person or animal. This type of insurance also covers damage’s to a third person’s property. Employer’s liability insurance is needed when the small business starts growing and need to employ more people as they need to be covered for potential accidents. Care and custody insurance is needed in case a dog gets injured , dies or gets lost accidentally.
