Dog walkers insurance checklist: what a dog walking business should carry

The dog walking business insurance checklist

QUICK ANSWER

Dog walkers usually carry general liability, bailee / customers' property and commercial crime. Dog walking businesses handle several clients' dogs at once on public streets and in parks, with keys to each home, and face the bite, the escape and the dog-on-dog fight as their everyday claims. Your landlord and the permit office ask for proof of each. The checklist below says what every item does, who requires it and how to check it on the policies you already have.

Reviewed by Michael LaBarbera, Licensed property & casualty agent, Provident Financial Group · Reviewed Oct 12, 2026 Updated Oct 14, 2026

Who asks a dog walking business for what

Who	What they usually want to see
Landlords & commercial leases	General liability with the landlord as additional insured, property coverage on tenant improvements and workers' compensation
Cities, counties & permits	General liability, auto and workers' compensation at the limits in the permit or contract
Property managers & HOAs	General liability with the manager and owner as additional insureds, and workers' compensation

Each of them wants a certificate, and most want it again at every renewal. A live certificate link from the wallet shows today's coverage to every holder and tells them when it changes.

How to check what you already have

General liability declarations page. Three liability numbers matter: each occurrence, general aggregate and the products–completed operations aggregate. Then the forms list: blanket additional insured, waiver of subrogation and primary and non-contributory wording satisfy every contract; scheduled forms satisfy one.
Bailee coverage. The limit for customers' property at your premises and in transit, the valuation basis and any exclusions for specific items.
Crime declarations. Employee theft, forgery, funds-transfer fraud and social engineering each have their own limit; third-party coverage if you work in clients' premises.
Hired and non-owned auto. Look for the symbols 8 and 9 or an endorsement by that name on the auto or general liability policy; without it, staff in their own cars are uninsured on company business.
Workers' compensation information page. Item 3.A must list every state you work in, item 4 must carry the right class codes, and the employers' liability limits should meet what contracts ask. Check that the estimated payroll is close to this year's.
Bonds. The obligee (board, municipality or owner), the penal sum and the expiry date; a bond is renewed with the licence or the job, not with the policy year.
Employment practices declarations. Limit and retention, third-party coverage for claims by customers, and whether wage-and-hour claims carry any defence sublimit.

What usually goes wrong for dog walking businesses

Group walks where one dog bites another, and two clients blaming the walker.
Walkers driving dogs to parks in their own cars with no hired and non-owned auto.
Breed exclusions and no coverage for animals in your custody, discovered after the first injury.
A client contract that says "bonded and insured" satisfied with a certificate that shows neither bond nor third-party crime.
Relying on general liability for a damaged item that was in your hands when it happened.
Assuming the delivery platform's policy covers your own drivers; it covers theirs.

What underwriters will ask a dog walking business

Number of walkers and dogs per walk, whether dogs are transported, and how keys are controlled
Number of animals on hand at a time, breeds accepted and overnight staffing
Background checks, key control and whether staff work unsupervised at night
Typical and maximum value of customer property on hand at one time
Who delivers, in whose vehicles, and whether any third-party platform is used
Payroll by class of work, headcount and turnover

Have the answers in the wallet before the renewal and the quote request fills itself in; CoverMatch sends one application to every eligible carrier and lines the quotes up against what you have.

Renewal timing

Workers' compensation is audited on actual payroll and liability on sales, so a busy year ends with a bill unless the estimates were kept honest; pay-as-you-go billing through your payroll company removes most of that. Renewal autopilot starts the comparison sixty days out, prefilled from the wallet.

Questions people actually ask

A dog we were walking bit a stranger. Whose insurance pays?

Yours first, under general liability, because the dog was under your control; the owner's homeowners policy may share. Breed exclusions and limits on the number of dogs per walker are the conditions to check in the policy.

Do we need workers' compensation for part-time walkers?

In most of the licensed states, yes, from the first employee, part-time or not. Bites and falls are the injuries; the policy pays the medical bills and keeps the walker from suing the business.

If a dog is hurt while boarding with us, which policy pays?

Animal bailee coverage, written as part of a pet-care package. General liability excludes property in your care, and the law treats an animal as property, so without the bailee coverage the vet bill and the dispute are yours.

What does "licensed, bonded and insured" actually require from a dog walking business?

A licence only where the state requires one, a fidelity or janitorial bond or third-party crime coverage against theft from the client, and general liability with workers' compensation. Put all three on the live certificate and the question stops coming.

A customer's item was damaged while we had it. Does general liability pay?

Usually not; property in your care, custody or control is excluded. A bailee policy or an endorsement built for your trade pays for it, and it is the coverage customers assume you have.