Do you need a licence to be a dog walker in the UK? Walking, day care and home boarding

Short answer: in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland you don't need a national licence to walk dogs. You do need one to look after dogs at your place, for day care or home boarding, and some councils want a licence before you walk dogs for money in their parks. Here's how it works, nation by nation.

We checked these facts in November 2026 on gov.uk, legislation.gov.uk and the councils' own pages. Rules change, so each section links its source. If the official page ever says something different from this one, go with it.

England

• Dog walking isn't licensed. It isn't one of the activities in the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018. Walkers and sitters who look after a dog in the owner's own home don't need a licence either. Defra's dog day care guidance
• That may change. Defra has said it is thinking about licensing or registration for professional dog walkers as part of its review of the 2018 Regulations. There's no date yet.
• Dog day care needs a licence when you run it as a business, meaning you make a profit or earn a fee. Day care is at a fixed place, and no dog stays overnight.
• Day care in your own home is licensed as home boarding, not as day care.
• Home boarding needs a licence, for dogs staying with you by day or overnight. The licence sets the most dogs your home can take, and Defra's guidance says one person should walk no more than 6 dogs at a time. Defra's home boarding guidance
• Under £1,000 a year, no licence. If your trading income is below the £1,000 trading allowance, you don't need one.

How the licence works

• Your local council issues it and sets the fee, so prices differ from one council to the next.
• Allow 10 weeks. Councils aim to decide a new application within 10 weeks, and you apply to renew at least 10 weeks before yours runs out.
• Stars decide how long it lasts. After the inspection you get from 1 to 5 stars. A low-risk business meeting the minimum standards gets 3 stars and a 2-year licence; higher standards earn 5 stars and 3 years. Minor failings mean 1 star and a 1-year licence.
• Trading without one is an offence. You can appeal a refusal to the First-tier Tribunal within 28 days.

Defra's licensing process guidance

Scotland

• Walking isn't licensed. Scotland's 2021 Regulations license selling pets, rehoming, animal welfare places and breeding, not walking. The 2021 Regulations, Schedule 1
• Boarding and day care come under the Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963, through your council. West Lothian, for example, licenses dog day care and asks commercial walkers to join its voluntary Trusted Trader scheme. West Lothian animal licensing

Wales

• Walking isn't licensed.
• Boarding needs a licence, even for a few dogs in your home. Your council sets the fee, and it renews every year. You keep a register of the dogs. Boarding without one can mean a fine of up to £500, up to 3 months in prison, or both. Animal boarding licence (Wales)

Northern Ireland

• Walking isn't licensed.
• Boarding places are licensed by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), renewed every year. Trading without a licence can mean up to £2,500, up to 3 months in prison, or both. Animal boarding licence (Northern Ireland)

The parks are where walkers need a licence

No nation licenses walking, but some councils and park owners do, for walking dogs for money on their land: the Royal Parks, Hampstead Heath, Wandsworth, Tower Hamlets, Lambeth, Richmond and Bristol among them. Each sets its own limit on how many dogs you can take. We list them one by one in How many dogs can you walk at once in the UK?

Keeping the records an inspector asks for

A boarding or day care inspector wants to see who stayed, when, and with whose permission. BarkBus was built by two people who ran a walking and homestay business for ten years, and it keeps that on your phone:

• Every stay, night by night. Each Homestay shows the dog, the owner and the nights booked, and the going-home day sits on the schedule.
• Every dog on the day's run. Daily run lists each dog and the address you collected it from.
• The whole team sees the same thing. Walkers you add see the run on their own phone.

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