Guide · Paperwork

Dog Boarding Contract Template (Free, Editable): What Actually Holds Up

By Dave Waggins, 6-year home boarder, founder of Houndtrust

Updated July 2026 · ~7 min read

A waiver keeps you covered when something goes wrong. A contract keeps you from arguing about money and pickup times when everything goes right. After six years of boarding dogs out of our home in Salt Lake City, I can tell you the disputes that actually come up aren’t dramatic. They’re a pickup three hours late, a cancellation the night before a holiday, or a “wait, I thought that was per night.” A clear contract settles all of those before they start. Here’s the template I use and what each part is for.

Read this first. This is a general, fill-in-the-blanks template and general information, not legal advice. Contract and consumer laws vary by state, and how you should word rates, cancellation, and health terms depends on where you operate. Have a licensed attorney in your state review and adapt it before you use it. Houndtrust LLC provides this template for convenience only and accepts no liability for its use.

What a contract covers that a waiver doesn’t

People mix these up, so here’s the clean split. Your waiver handles consent and liability: the owner accepts the risks of care, authorizes emergency vet treatment up to a spend cap, and releases you for what happens despite reasonable care. The contract handles the business of the stay, everything the waiver leaves out:

Your rate, and whether you bill per night or per 24-hour block
Drop-off and pickup windows, and what a late pickup costs
Cancellation and no-show terms, and any deposit
Holiday premiums and their exact dates
Vaccine and health requirements, and your right to decline an unfit dog
Multi-dog household terms for families with more than one dog

Section by section

1. Rates & billing. Your base rate and, the part most sitters leave vague, howyou bill. Per calendar night is what owners expect. Per 24-hour block from drop-off, with a cutoff for the leftover hours, is often fairer to you on odd-shaped stays, because a Friday-evening-to-Sunday-morning trip is closer to two and a half days than two nights. Pick one, write it down, and add your extra-dog rate, holiday premium, and deposit. There’s a full breakdown in how much to charge for dog boarding.

2. Drop-off & pickup windows. Agree the windows in writing and set a late-pickup fee after a grace period. This is the single most common friction point in home boarding, and a number on paper ends the debate. An unscheduled extra night bills at your base rate.

3. Cancellation policy. How much notice earns a full refund, what a late cancel forfeits, and what a no-show forfeits. Be reasonable and be specific. Holidays are exactly when a last-minute cancel hurts most, so many boarders use a longer notice window for peak dates.

4. Health & vaccination requirements.The vaccines you require (a common baseline is rabies, DHPP, and Bordetella, plus flea and tick prevention, but set your own), the owner’s duty to disclose meds and conditions, and your right to decline or send home a dog that shows up visibly ill. That last clause protects every other dog in your home.

5. Multi-dog household. Whether same-family dogs board together, your per-additional-dog rate, and a solo-only option for owners who want their dog to be the only guest. Price the solo-only stay like the exclusive it is, since it turns away every other booking for those dates.

6 & 7. Payment and the waiver link. The total, deposit, and balance, then a short section pointing to the separate signed waiver and emergency-vet authorization so the two documents work together instead of duplicating each other.

The full template

Here’s the whole thing. Copy it, or grab the editable file below and fill in the brackets.

DOG BOARDING SERVICE CONTRACT (TEMPLATE)

Between:              [Your business or your name]  ("Sitter")
And:                  [Owner's full name]           ("Owner")
For the boarding of:  [Dog's name(s)]               ("Dog")
Drop-off: [date and time]   Pickup: [date and time]
Boarding at: [address / "the Sitter's home"]

1. RATES & BILLING
Base rate: $[____] per [ night / 24-hour block ] for one dog.
Billing method (choose one):
   [ ] Per calendar night.
   [ ] Per 24-hour block from drop-off, leftover hours billed as a
       [ half day / full day ] past a [____]-hour cutoff.
Additional dog, same household: $[____] per [ night / block ] each.
Holiday premium: [____]x the base rate on these dates: [____].
Deposit to hold the dates: $[____], [ applied to balance / non-refundable ].

2. DROP-OFF & PICKUP WINDOWS
Drop-off window: [____].   Pickup window: [____].
Late pickup: after a [____] grace period, $[____] per [ hour / day ]. An
unscheduled extra night is billed at the base rate.

3. CANCELLATION POLICY
Cancel with [____] notice for a full deposit refund. Inside [____], the
[ deposit / $____ ] is forfeited. A no-show forfeits [____].

4. HEALTH & VACCINATION REQUIREMENTS
The Dog must be current on [rabies, DHPP, Bordetella / your list] and on flea and
tick prevention. The Owner discloses medications and conditions in advance. The
Sitter may decline a dog that arrives visibly ill or unfit to board safely.

5. MULTI-DOG HOUSEHOLD
Dogs from the same household board together unless the Owner asks otherwise. Each
dog is listed above. A solo-only stay (no other guests) is $[____], subject to
availability.

6. PAYMENT
Total estimate: $[____].  Deposit: $[____].  Balance due: [when].

7. LIABILITY & WAIVER
Boarding, walking, and play carry inherent risks. This contract covers the
business terms; the separate signed Care & Liability Waiver and Emergency
Veterinary Authorization cover consent, the vet spend cap, and the liability
release, and must be signed before drop-off.

Owner signature:  __________________________  Date: __________
Sitter signature: __________________________  Date: __________

Download the editable template (.txt)

Plain text, so it opens in any editor. The same disclaimer travels inside the file.

Making it hold up

A contract that never gets signed, or gets signed after the dog’s already staying, is just a document. Get it agreed before drop-off, alongside the waiver, and keep a copy. You can do that with a printout or a PDF and a signature app. The friction, again, is doing it for every booking on top of collecting the dog’s details and totaling the rate.

That’s the whole reason I built Houndtrust: one intake link that captures the dog’s details, e-signs the waiver and emergency-vet authorization, and totals the stay with per-night or 24-hour billing and holiday premiums baked in, so the terms and the number are settled before the dog arrives.

Common questions

What is the difference between a dog boarding contract and a waiver?

They do different jobs, and a full-service boarder wants both. The waiver is about consent and liability: the owner accepts the normal risks of care, authorizes emergency vet treatment up to a spend cap, and releases you for things that happen despite reasonable care. The contract is about the business of the stay: the rate, how you bill, drop-off and pickup windows, late-pickup and cancellation terms, holiday premiums, vaccine requirements, and multi-dog terms. Keep them as two documents that reference each other so each stays clear.

Should the contract bill per night or per 24 hours?

Both are legitimate and it is a real operator choice, so the template lets you pick. Per-night is what owners expect and the simplest to quote. Billing by 24-hour blocks from drop-off, with a cutoff for the leftover hours, is often fairer to you when drop-off and pickup times are all over the place, because late pickups stop being free. Put whichever you choose in writing with the cutoff spelled out, so there is no argument at pickup. There is a full breakdown in the pricing guide.

What vaccines should a boarding contract require?

The common baseline for dogs boarding around other dogs is rabies, DHPP, and Bordetella (kennel cough), plus flea and tick prevention, but requirements and norms vary, so set your own list and state it plainly. The contract should also let you decline or send home a dog that shows up visibly ill or infested, to protect the other dogs in your care. This is general information, not veterinary or legal advice.

Can I use this contract template as-is?

Treat it as a starting point, not a finished legal document. It is written from real home-boarding experience, but contract and consumer-protection wording, deposit and cancellation rules, and enforceability vary by state. Fill in your rates and policies, then have a licensed attorney in your state review and adapt it before you use it with clients.

How do I send the contract and collect payment without the paperwork mess?

You can print it or send a PDF and chase a signature, and many boarders do. The friction is doing that plus the waiver plus collecting the dog's details for every new booking. Houndtrust bundles the intake, the e-signed waiver and emergency-vet authorization, and the booking into one link, and totals the rate for you with per-night or 24-hour billing and holiday premiums, so the terms and the number are agreed before drop-off.

Terms, waiver, and total in one link

Houndtrust bundles the intake, the e-signed waiver and emergency-vet authorization, and the booking into one link, and totals the rate for you. No cut of your bookings. Free to start, no card.

Start free

This template and page are general information, not legal advice. Laws vary by state. Have a local attorney review any contract before you use it. Houndtrust LLC accepts no liability for its use.