Coverage requirements
Pet Boarding Kennels
Last updated August 2026 · Maintained and reviewed by the Advocate Insurance Consultants coverage research team.
Overview
What an adequately protected Pet Boarding Kennels program looks like
Boarding kennels house pets on a temporary basis under professional staff care while owners are away, providing feeding, exercise, and supervision. Handling animals daily brings the potential for scratches, bites, and injuries to the animals in the facility's care. Many operations also offer related services such as grooming or daycare. This Advocate Standard profile spans Auto Liability, General Liability, Professional Liability, Worker's Compensation, Fidelity Bond among other essential lines, setting limit, deductible, and carrier-quality benchmarks calibrated to the real risk pet boarding kennels carry.
Key takeaways
- Spans 144 published requirements across 43 coverage type-peril pairs.
- Applies to 2 asset types: Personal & Consumer Services, Veterinary Clinic / Animal Hospital.
- Covers 15 coverage types and 16 distinct perils.
At a glance
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Completion score
9 of 43 WIM pairs required
Coverage tower
Required limits by coverage type and peril
Requirements
Full requirement set for Pet Boarding Kennels
Every requirement in the Advocate standard, 144 rows across limits, deductibles, carrier rating, and presence checks. Search and filter to drill in.
Showing 50 of 144 matching · 144 total
Compliance
Who requires Pet Boarding Kennels
- Pet boarding kennel insurance is relied on by the owners, regulators, and lenders tied to a boarding operation.
- Pet owners entrust animals only to kennels that can show liability and animal bailee coverage.
- State and local animal-facility licensing authorities condition permits on proof of insurance.
- Commercial landlords leasing kennel space require additional-insured status, and lenders financing runs, fencing, and climate systems want the collateral insured.
- Carriers and reinsurers underwriting the account weigh staffing, supervision, and bite-prevention protocols, while brokers placing the risk and franchisors and investors backing multi-site kennel brands treat verified coverage as a prerequisite.
Carrier standard. Carrier must have AM Best rating >= A- and size >= VII.
Advocate runs these checks automatically for the brokers who place personal & consumer services coverage.
Exclusions
What Pet Boarding Kennels does not cover
- Even when built on general liability, professional liability, property, and inland marine, pet boarding kennel insurance still leaves gaps.
- General liability generally excludes injury, illness, escape, or death of animals in the kennel's care, custody, or control, so animal bailee coverage is essential to respond.
- Communicable-disease outbreaks among boarded pets may be sublimited or excluded.
- Property forms exclude flood and earthquake and rarely include equipment breakdown for HVAC and climate-control systems without endorsement.
- Care errors in grooming or daycare add-ons may require professional liability, and cyber exposures from booking and payment data fall outside the standard placement.
Risk advisory
Typical coverage gaps in Personal & Consumer Services
Pet boarding kennels carry a defining exposure standard liability excludes: animals in their care.
- Add animal bailee or care, custody, and control coverage so a boarded pet that is injured, becomes ill, escapes, or dies is covered, and set the limit to reflect the number of animals housed at peak.
- Because dog bites, scratches, and attacks drive the leading workers' compensation exposure, confirm limits and maintain handling and bite-prevention training.
- Add equipment breakdown for HVAC and climate control, since a failure endangers boarded animals and revenue.
- Address disease-outbreak sublimits and consider professional liability for grooming or daycare add-ons.
- Where geography warrants, layer in flood and earthquake, add cyber coverage for booking records, and keep documentation of intake screening, supervision, and emergency-vet protocols to strengthen underwriting and claims defense.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What insurance does a boarding kennel need?
Pet boarding kennel insurance typically combines general liability, animal bailee coverage for pets in your care, professional liability for grooming or daycare add-ons, workers' compensation for bite and handling injuries, property, and a fidelity bond. Equipment breakdown for climate-control systems is valuable because kennels depend on stable temperatures for animal safety.
Does kennel insurance cover a pet that is injured or dies while boarding?
Not under general liability, which excludes animals in your care, custody, or control. Boarding kennels need animal bailee coverage, which responds when a boarded pet is injured, becomes ill, escapes, or dies. Match the limit to the number of animals you house at peak capacity to avoid an under-insured loss.
Why is workers' compensation important for boarding kennels?
Handling animals daily exposes kennel staff to bites, scratches, and attacks, making workers' compensation a leading coverage. It pays medical costs and lost wages for injured employees. Maintaining bite-prevention and safe-handling training reduces claim frequency and supports better workers' compensation terms over time.
Do boarding kennels need coverage for disease outbreaks?
Communicable-disease outbreaks among boarded pets can be sublimited or excluded on standard policies. Boarding kennels should confirm how their coverage treats outbreaks and consider endorsements. Strong intake screening, vaccination requirements, and isolation protocols reduce both the risk and the severity of a multi-animal outbreak claim.
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