16/10/2024
I JUST FELT I HAD TO SHARE THIS POST - from Kari Self _ Licenced dog boarders group!
It's not often I have a rant on my group, or any network group I manage, where I, we, go out of our way in our own time, to support owners to connect with licenced businesses.... but this evening I'm compelled to deliver this.
I know many of you will skip read it, and others won't bother at all...that's life. But it has to be said...so pull up a chair and grab a cuppa or something stronger.
Licenced home boarders are GREEDY.
The subject or insult I would say is raised a few times through the year by owners who simply do not understand the businesses we run & what we in fact do, and who sadly and stupidly use unlicenced dog sitters/boarders etc, individually or through Rover, Bark, Tailister, Pawshake, Petbacker etc etc....because they have a budget or simply want something cheap, or because the person is nice & trustworthy.
It is an utter insult to refer to licenced businesses as GREEDY...yes, you read it right.
We offer a service where we are insured, trade legally & where your dogs needs are our priority.
The majority of us charge per dog too, so don't be mad at us if you are charged £40x2....
Licenced businesses are allocated a certain number of dogs. One dog takes up one space, etc. Perhaps look at licensed Kennels or pet sitter who comes to you house.
Unlicensed carers on Rover averagely charge £50/dog/night then with Rovers fees on top and their pretend insurance to cover any anomalies or incidents an owner pays around £70/ night!! Now that's expensive & Rover being GREEDY, because as an owner you are NOT PROTECTED, legally or financially.
Firstly each licenced home boarder work for far less than the minimum hourly wage.
Home boarders are limited to the number of dogs per day.
The average number of dogs is 4 (less if we have our own dogs).
If we are lucky we sleep for 6 hrs.
So let's base our hourly rate on 18hrs work / day...at a average of £35/dog/night. Per hour we get paid £7.77 for four dogs !! (4 dogs x £35/night x 18 hrs 🤦🏼♀️)
For one dog it's less than £2/HR. Far less than the minimum wage & then we have to pay all the extras on top. No we are not greedy.
Licenced home boarder businesses generally pay out for:
• Planning applications
• licence applications
• renewal applications
• inspection fees
• awarded licence
• modifying their homes & outdoor spaces
• change of use applications
• mortgage applications
• income tax
• NI class 4
• accountants
• qualifications some of which are compulsory
• first aid training & kits
• business overheads, extra utilities and insurances
• equipment both within and outside of their premises
• printers, laptops, stationery,
• wear & tear on their homes/ premises & vehicles.
• all maintainance costs
• ensuring their premises are safe & secure
• require to be compliant to all regulations set out...which includes replacing height of our fencing outside, erecting double barriers, putting safety gates up in our home
• replace garden ground cover
• replacing flooring, carpets, because someone's dog has decided to use the inside as a toilet!!
• registering their businesses with a vet
• using their vehicles to transport dogs to fulfill exercise & enrichment needs, going to vet.
• extra storage space, fridges, freezers to appropriately and safely store the dogs food in
• extra ventilation & heating equipment. Aircon etc
• all the running bills of extra equipment
• bedding, toys, treats, enrichment equipment, the list is endless...
• replacing furniture & furnishings
• replacing personal items, clothing. ( On average I get through a quality pair of walking boots every 4 months doing this job)
• we monitor their play. Do not think that when the sun is out and we are in our garden lazing in the sunshine getting a tan when we have 4 different dogs from 4 different households, with 4 different personalities, energy levels etc etc. No, our eyes and ears are alert to sounds, body language, movement.
• we heavily monitor your dogs in public spaces too. Always on the look out for risks, random dogs bundling over to say hello when their owner is across the field on their mobile phone, ignoring what their dog is doing, or yelling he's friendly, when we may have dogs who are on leads for a reason, or are lead reactive or do not want to bothered, or elderly, or young.
We look after each dog holistically & ensure their welfare needs are met.
Your dog gets 24/7 human contact.
We are not kennels!!
Under our regulations and for the health and safety of all our dogs we are expected to ensure our homes are disinfected between dogs, multiple times a day if necessary to particularly if there are spillages, leaks. Our washing machines are on several times a day/week. Everything from toys, to bedding, throws, bowls, towels anything a dog uses is cleaned and disinfected
We have to assess each individual dog on their behaviour as one, but as a group to ensure they are all compatible.
We have to be registered with a vet.
The majority of us do not get a full night's sleep.
We have to keep detailed records of each individual dogs visits. Register them all.
On a busy summer holiday week, I have 5 dog welfare reports to write, every evening.
We certainly didn't get into this job to do paper work, we'd rather spend that valuable time playing or enriching your dogs lives whilst you are away enjoying and enriching yourselves. But we have to be compliant, we have to fulfil our duties and obligations of being a licenced home boarder.
We have to have compliant documents, policies and procedures in place written, updated, maintained & ready for any inspection.
Dogs on average get 2 walks a day. An unregulated dog walker gets paid on average £15/HR. For two walks a day it's £30...so if your dog stays with a licenced home boarder you are only paying on average £5 for boarding which is £0.27/ HR/ dog. (If they charge £35/night)
So do you think we are greedy now??
We have high standards, we are held accountable for every aspect of our job 24/7.
As well as all the licensing & insurance costs and other major costs, licenced home boarders look after your dogs, giving up their social and family life, with no staff to come run it for them, to run a legitimate and legal business , where as an unlicenced one will just go out and leave your dog unattended and with other dogs too, in many cases....with no accountability or care for the welfare of your dogs. They may even stay out overnight, and no care if your dog has been in a fight with another boarding, unsupervised by humans. And who do you then get in contact with when your dog is injured or killed in their care? How do you get that business to pay for vets fees etc? There is no one, when it goes wrong because their is no accountability, financially or otherwise.
I, myself am known to give up my valuable days off to support my clients, so that they can go out with their friends or be with family members at times if crisis.
We are passionate about our businesses and we are certainly not in it for the money.
And I can go on....but I won't because by now I'm sure you get the gist.
No one ever questions a trade person who charges £60+/HR, like a plumber to tighten a loose bolt, or a hairdresser to cut and style your hair for 2 hours at £70+, or a nail technician who charges £30/HR!!
We get less than £2/HR for one person's dog & in many cases less than £1.20/hr!!
So no we are not greedy!
You get what you pay for. Quality, professional, licenced, insured businesses who are accountable and responsible, and legal.
Licenced home boarders are not committing a criminal offence.
Unlicensed home boarders, day care or kennels, are committing a criminal offence by not acquiring a licence.
Multiple owners are dropped/ let down by their unlicenced carer last minute leaving them desperate to find someone else.... And I'm sure we will see and approve hundreds of posts over the next few months with people looking for a licensed service, (in this group and others I manage, ) because of such unlicensed people and their lack of care, accountability and responsibility.
A Licenced business has contracts in place to safeguard you and your dog...but rarely will we take an emergency, no matter how desparate an owner is, as new dogs must go through our assessment process to ensure every dog is safe & every dog is compatible....so please don't expect that we will.
This is in many cases the same for solo boarders.
I'm sure many of us can tell you horror stories about unlicenced businesses. Deaths, maulings, serious injuries, missing dogs, not giving dogs back. Those are the most serious of cases.
In May 2024 an owner in the Watford area, came back from her holiday only to find the unlicenced person refused to give her, her dog back, and others to their owners too. The police had to get involved.
May 2024 Mansfield, puppy suffers & dies in the care of an unlicensed home boarder.
June 2023 in Luton, Bedfordshire, a Hitchin couple left their dog with an unlicenced person they found on Rover. The dog jumped out of a first floor window in a panic, desperate to find her owners. Not only did she damage her chest and legs in the fall but went missing for 16 hours in an unfamiliar town. Owners tried to claim against Rover for vets fees and damages, they were unsuccessful because the person wasn't licensed. Instead Rover dropped the unlicensed person. And when I reached out to this said unlicensed person because they were local, informing him that if he was to a board a dog in his home he needs to be licensed by law, he responded "Thank you for your concern and your tip off. I will pass it on to those that need this information" on other words he couldn't give two hoots whether he was breaking the law.
Would you leave your child with an unregulated, unregistered, Unlicensed child minder or child care facility...or get into a car with a person who you knew didn't have a licence or insurance?? We doubt it.
Remember when you pay for your dog to stay with a licenced home boarder our lives for that duration of time revolves round your dog & keeping them, healthy, safe, enriched & loved.
So suggesting that we are greedy & that greed is our motivation for caring then that's simply in a word... insulting.
If you do not value the work we do & how we support and care for animal welfare then may I suggest you leave our groups & go risk your dog under the care of unscrupulous, UNLICENCED, law breaking humans who put money before welfare.
They are the ones who are greedy....not us.
Rant over...for now.
