Dog Walking App Terms And Conditions In The UK

Amira is getting ready to launch a pet care app in Manchester. Customers will be able to book local dog walkers, pay through the platform, leave reviews and give key access instructions through the app.

The product is nearly ready, but one question keeps coming up: what happens if a dog is injured, a walker loses a key, a customer cancels 10 minutes before the walk, or two users blame each other for a problem?

If you're building a dog walking or pet care platform, your terms and conditions aren't just website small print. They set the ground rules for your customers, walkers and your marketplace, so everyone knows what they're responsible for from day one.

Do You Need Separate Terms For Customers And Dog Walkers?

Yes, you usually need separate terms for customers and dog walkers because each group has different rights, obligations and risks.

A dog walking app often has at least three legal relationships happening at once:

• Your platform and the customer: the customer uses your app to search, book, pay, message and manage pet care services.
• Your platform and the walker: the walker uses your app to receive bookings, accept jobs, get paid and follow platform rules.
• The customer and the walker: the actual dog walking or pet care service may be supplied by the walker, not by the platform, depending on your model.

Your terms should make this structure clear. If your business is a marketplace, your app may be connecting customers with independent walkers. If your business employs walkers or directly supplies the walking service, your risk profile is different.

This is where many pet care app legal terms fall short. A generic set of app terms may cover account creation and payments, but it often won't deal with pet injury, aggressive dogs, missed handovers, key holding, walker standards or user disputes.

For a typical marketplace, you may need:

• Customer Terms: covering bookings, cancellations, pet information, access, refunds, customer behaviour and use of the app.
• Walker Terms: covering eligibility, vetting, standards, insurance, fees, safety, keys, reporting incidents and when access can be suspended.
• Marketplace Terms: explaining your role as the platform, how payments work, what you do and don't control, and how disputes are handled.
• Privacy Notice: covering how you collect and use personal data under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
• Acceptable Use Or Community Rules: covering messages, reviews, photos, ratings and behaviour on the platform.

The right structure depends on how your app operates. For example, if customers pay you and you subcontract the walker, your terms need to reflect that. If customers contract directly with walkers, your terms shouldn't accidentally make you look like the direct pet care provider unless that's what you intend.

Are Dog Walkers Employees, Workers Or Contractors?

It depends on how the relationship works in practice, not just what your contract says.

If your app uses independent dog walkers, your walker agreement can say they're self-employed contractors. But a label alone won't decide their status under UK employment law. Courts and tribunals look at the reality of the arrangement.

Key factors include:

• How much control you have over when, where and how walkers perform services.
• Whether walkers can reject bookings without penalty.
• Whether walkers can send a suitable substitute.
• Whether they use their own equipment and run their own pet care business.
• Whether they work for other platforms or clients.
• How they're paid and whether they carry financial risk.

This matters because someone who is actually an employee or worker may have rights under the Employment Rights Act 1996 and related employment laws. These can include holiday pay, minimum wage protections, limits on working time, protection from unlawful deductions and other rights depending on their status.

For a dog walking marketplace, you should be careful that your operational rules don't undermine your intended model. For example, if you require every walker to wear your uniform, accept every job, work fixed shifts, follow strict scripts and ask permission to take time off, that may look less like an independent marketplace relationship.

That doesn't mean you can't set quality and safety standards. You can, and you should. The aim is to separate sensible platform standards from day-to-day employer-style control.

Your walker terms might require walkers to:

• Meet eligibility and identity checks.
• Provide accurate experience and qualification details.
• Follow animal welfare and safety rules.
• Keep customers' keys secure.
• Report incidents quickly.
• Maintain appropriate insurance.
• Comply with applicable laws and local rules.

If you're unsure whether your walkers should be employees, workers or contractors, get tailored advice before launch. It's much easier to set the model up carefully at the start than to unwind it after complaints or payment disputes arise.

What Should Your Dog Walker Agreement Cover?

Your dog walker agreement should cover eligibility, vetting, service standards, insurance, safety, payment, confidentiality and what happens if something goes wrong.

For a dog walking app, the walker agreement is one of your most important documents. It sets the standard for the people representing the quality of your platform, even if they're independent contractors.

Walker Vetting And Eligibility

Your terms should explain what checks you carry out and what checks you don't. This helps avoid giving customers a false sense of certainty.

Depending on your model, you might require walkers to provide:

• Proof of identity and right to work in the UK, where relevant to your engagement model.
• Address details and contact information.
• References or evidence of pet care experience.
• Training certificates, if your platform requires them.
• A basic Disclosure and Barring Service check, if appropriate for your service.
• Insurance details and renewal evidence.

DBS checks aren't a blanket legal requirement for ordinary dog walking, but you may choose to use them as part of your risk process. Be careful with higher-level checks, as eligibility depends on the role.

Your terms should also let you reject, suspend or remove walkers if they fail checks, provide inaccurate information, receive serious complaints or breach your safety standards.

Pet Safety And Animal Welfare

Walkers should agree to treat animals safely and humanely. The Animal Welfare Act 2006 can be relevant where a person is responsible for an animal, even temporarily.

Your walker terms can cover:

• Using suitable leads, harnesses and equipment.
• Following customer instructions about food, medication and behaviour.
• Not walking incompatible dogs together unless approved.
• Not leaving dogs unattended in unsafe places.
• Responding to heat, cold, illness, injury or aggressive behaviour.
• Contacting the customer and emergency vet where needed.

If your platform also offers dog boarding, daycare or home sitting, check whether local authority licensing applies. In England, the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 may apply to certain commercial boarding and day care activities. Wales has its own rules. Dog walking on its own is usually treated differently, but mixed services can change the position.

Keys, Access And Home Security

Key holding deserves its own clear wording. Lost keys can quickly become expensive and stressful.

Your walker terms should cover:

• How keys, fobs and access codes must be stored.
• A ban on copying keys or sharing access details.
• What the walker must do if a key is lost or stolen.
• Who pays for locksmiths, replacement keys or lock changes if the walker is at fault.
• Rules for entering homes and staying only as long as needed for the booking.
• Confidentiality around customer addresses, routines and home security details.

For example, if Ben accepts a walk through your app and loses a customer's key on the bus, your terms should explain the reporting process and whether Ben may be responsible for the reasonable cost of replacing locks. Without that wording, you may end up stuck between an angry customer and a walker who says the issue wasn't covered.

What Should Your Customer Terms Say About Pets, Keys And Cancellations?

Your customer terms should explain what customers must tell you, how bookings work, what happens if a pet or walker is injured, and when cancellation fees apply.

Customers often think of dog walking as simple. From a legal and operational perspective, you need accurate information to keep pets, walkers and the platform safe.

Pet Information And Customer Responsibilities

Your customer terms should require customers to provide accurate and up-to-date information about each pet, including:

• Breed, age, size and general health.
• Behaviour around people, children and other animals.
• Any history of biting, bolting, anxiety or aggression.
• Medication, allergies and vet details.
• Walking preferences and restrictions.
• Whether the dog can be walked with other dogs.

If a customer leaves out key information, your terms should let you cancel bookings, suspend the account or recover reasonable costs caused by the omission.

You should also explain when a walker can refuse or stop a walk. For example, if a dog appears unwell, the weather is unsafe, the dog shows unexpected aggression or the property can't be accessed safely, the walker shouldn't feel forced to continue.

Pet Injury, Illness And Emergencies

Your customer terms should deal with pet injury and emergency vet care in practical terms. No set of terms can prevent every incident, but clear wording helps everyone know what to do.

You might cover:

• When walkers can seek urgent veterinary care.
• How the customer will be contacted.
• Who is responsible for vet fees in different situations.
• What happens if the injury is caused by inaccurate customer information.
• What happens if the injury is caused by walker negligence.
• Limits on your platform's role if the walker is an independent provider.

If you're contracting with consumers, your terms must be fair under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. You can't simply exclude all responsibility for everything, especially where your business or a walker acting through your platform has been negligent. You also can't exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence.

Cancellations, Refunds And No-Shows

Your cancellation rules should be specific, fair and easy to find before the customer books.

For example, you might have:

• Free cancellation up to a set cut-off time before the walk.
• A partial fee for late cancellations.
• A full fee if the walker attends and can't access the dog because the customer didn't provide working access details.
• Different rules for subscriptions, recurring walks and one-off urgent bookings.

If customers book through your app, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 may apply. Consumers often have a 14-day cancellation right for distance contracts, but services can be treated differently once the consumer asks for the service to start within that period and accepts that cancellation rights may be affected once the service is completed.

Your booking flow should match your terms. If you rely on customer consent to start a service during the 14-day period, capture that clearly in the app.

How Should A Marketplace App Handle Fees, Payments And Disputes?

Your marketplace terms should explain exactly how fees, payouts, refunds and disputes work, because payment issues are one of the fastest ways to lose trust.

Start by being clear about your commercial model. Are you charging customers a booking fee? Are you taking commission from walkers? Are you charging walkers a subscription? Are tips allowed? Who sets the walk price?

Your terms should cover:

• How prices are displayed before booking.
• Whether VAT is included, where applicable.
• When the customer is charged.
• When the walker is paid.
• Your commission, service fee or platform fee.
• What happens with refunds, chargebacks and failed payments.
• Whether you can set off amounts owed by a walker against future payouts.

If you hold money on behalf of users, get specific advice on payment flows. Many platforms use a third-party payment provider so they don't accidentally step into regulated payment services. Your payment provider's terms also need to align with your customer and walker terms.

User Disputes

Your terms should give you a process for handling disputes without promising that you'll solve every disagreement.

For example, you can say users should raise issues within a set period after a booking, provide evidence such as photos or messages, and cooperate with your review process. You can reserve the right to issue refunds, withhold payouts, suspend accounts or take no action if the evidence doesn't support the complaint.

Common disputes include:

• The walker says the customer wasn't home or the key code didn't work.
• The customer says the walk was shorter than booked.
• A dog returns muddy, injured or distressed.
• A customer posts an unfair review.
• A walker claims they were underpaid.
• A customer asks for a refund after cancelling late.

You should also decide how reviews and ratings work. Your rules can prohibit fake reviews, abusive comments, private information, defamatory content and attempts to move bookings off-platform.

What Privacy And App Compliance Documents Do You Need?

You need privacy and app compliance documents if you collect customer, walker, pet, location, payment or messaging data through your platform.

A dog walking app can collect a surprising amount of sensitive practical information, even if it's not special category data under the UK GDPR. Customer addresses, key locations, access codes, live walk tracking, photos inside homes and messaging records all need careful handling.

Under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, you should be clear about:

• What personal data you collect.
• Why you use it and your lawful basis.
• Who you share it with, including walkers, payment providers and app providers.
• How long you keep it.
• How users can exercise privacy rights.
• How you protect account, location and access information.

You'll usually need a Privacy Notice. If you use cookies, analytics, tracking tools or marketing pixels, you may also need a cookie notice and consent process under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.

App terms should also cover account security, acceptable use, intellectual property, app availability, updates, user content and restrictions on scraping, copying or misusing the platform.

If your company is registered in the UK, remember that your company name, registered number, registered office and other required details should be displayed on business communications and your website. The Companies Act 2006 and the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 are commonly relevant here.

Common Mistakes To Avoid

Avoid treating your terms as a last-minute template, because dog walking apps have risks that generic marketplace terms often miss.

Some common issues to watch for include:

• Blurring your role: if you're a marketplace, say what you do and what the walker does. If you're the direct service provider, don't pretend you're only an introducer.
• Ignoring walker status: your contract and your day-to-day operations should support the model you're using.
• Overpromising vetting: only say walkers are vetted, trained or insured if you can back that up.
• Leaving keys out: key holding, access codes and home security should be covered in plain terms.
• Using unfair exclusions: consumer terms need to be fair under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
• Forgetting insurance: decide what insurance you expect walkers to hold and what insurance your platform needs.
• Missing the booking flow: your app screens should match your legal terms, especially for cancellation rights, fees and consent.

Templates can be useful as a starting point, but pet services terms and conditions work best when they reflect your actual booking flow, risk model and user journey.

Key Takeaways

• Dog walking app terms and conditions in the UK should usually include separate customer terms, walker terms and marketplace terms.
• Your terms should be clear about whether you're a marketplace connecting users or the business directly providing the pet care service.
• Walker vetting, insurance, pet safety, key holding and incident reporting need specific wording.
• Customer terms should cover pet information, access, cancellations, refunds, emergency vet care and fair limits on liability.
• Your privacy documents should deal with location data, addresses, messages, access details, payments and marketing tools.
• The best terms are built around how your app actually works, not around a generic template.

If you'd like help with your customer and walker terms, marketplace terms, privacy documents or app launch contracts, you can reach us at 08081347754 or team@sprintlaw.co.uk for a free, no-obligations chat.