Kennels & boarding facilities insurance checklist: what a boarding kennel should carry

The boarding kennel insurance checklist

QUICK ANSWER

Kennels & boarding facilities usually carry general liability, bailee / customers' property and workers' compensation. Boarding kennels keep other people's animals overnight in a building full of them, with staff ratios, disease control and fire safety that carriers inspect, and a disaster plan the municipality may require. 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 boarding kennel 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
Banks, lenders & SBA loans	Property or auto physical damage with the lender as loss payee, and liability proof at closing and every renewal

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.
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.
Property section. Limits for building, business personal property and tenant improvements against replacement cost, the coinsurance percentage, the deductible, and whether flood and earthquake are excluded (they usually are).
Auto schedule. Every vehicle listed with the right garaging address and use; symbols that include hired and non-owned auto; physical damage with the lender as loss payee where the vehicle is financed.
Business income. The limit or actual-loss-sustained wording, the waiting period, the period of restoration and whether extra expense is included.
Business owner's policy declarations. Liability limits on the first page, then the property section: building (if you own), business personal property, business income and the named extras such as spoilage, equipment breakdown or employee dishonesty. Confirm the property values are current.
Employment practices declarations. Limit and retention, third-party coverage for claims by customers, and whether wage-and-hour claims carry any defence sublimit.
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.

What usually goes wrong for kennels and boarding facilities

Kennel cough or another outbreak traced to the facility, and a dozen vet bills.
A fire or power failure overnight with animals inside and no staff on site.
Breed exclusions and no coverage for animals in your custody, discovered after the first injury.
Tenant improvements insured by nobody, because the lease says one thing and the policy another.
Property values set when the doors opened and never raised.
A workers' compensation estimate set low in January and settled with a large audit bill in the spring.

What underwriters will ask a boarding kennel

Capacity and overnight staffing, vaccination and isolation protocols, and fire and temperature monitoring
Number of animals on hand at a time, breeds accepted and overnight staffing
Square footage, whether you own or lease, the building's age and sprinklers
Replacement cost of the equipment, fixtures and stock on site
Payroll by class of work, headcount and turnover
Typical and maximum value of customer property on hand at one time

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

Are illnesses spread at the kennel covered?

Animal bailee coverage with a disease provision can respond; many forms exclude it. Vaccination requirements at intake and isolation protocols are what the carrier asks about and what keeps the claim from happening.

What does the carrier want to know about nights?

Whether anyone is on site, how fire and temperature are monitored, and what the evacuation plan is. A kennel with animals alone overnight is rated differently from one with staff; describe it honestly.

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.

Doesn't my landlord's insurance cover my boarding kennel?

It covers the building. The lease almost always makes you responsible for your own improvements, equipment and stock, for injuries inside your space, and for naming the landlord as additional insured on your liability policy. Read the insurance clause; the contract checker in the wallet will pull it out for you.

Can workers' compensation be billed from each payroll run?

Usually, yes. With carriers that offer pay-as-you-go, CoverMatch sets the billing to run through your payroll company, so premium follows actual payroll instead of an annual estimate and there is less to settle at audit. Ask for it on the quote request.