Coverage for veterinary practices
Start by listing every piece of equipment you own, along with the brand, model, purchase date, and what you paid for it. Take photos or video of each item. Keep receipts, invoices, and warranty documents in a digital folder. This inventory serves two purposes: it helps your agent calculate the right coverage limits, and it becomes your proof of ownership if you ever file a claim. Pet Professional Insurance Agency uses intake forms designed specifically for pet businesses, which means you won't waste time explaining what a forced-air dryer is or why a single pair of shears costs $500. Update this inventory at least once a year, or whenever you make a significant purchase.
Every year, the pattern repeats: pet owners book vacations, and boarding facilities scramble to keep up. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, most kennels see occupancy spike by 30 to 50 percent, and the ones that handle it well aren't just lucky. They planned months ahead. If you run a boarding facility, the summer travel season demands more than crossing your fingers and hoping your AC holds up. It requires a deliberate strategy covering staffing, health protocols, insurance, and client communication. The facilities that thrive during the summer rush treat preparation like a project with deadlines, budgets, and checklists. The ones that wing it? They end up dealing with preventable injuries, disease outbreaks, angry clients, and insurance claims that could have been avoided. This guide breaks down exactly what you need to address before the first wave of summer boarders arrives, from mechanical systems to policy paperwork. Whether you've been through a dozen peak seasons or this is your first, a structured approach to prepping your boarding facility for summer will save you real money and real headaches.
Preparing Your Facility for the Summer Surge
The weeks between mid-April and late May are your window. Once June hits, you're already behind. Start with a physical walkthrough of every space an animal will occupy: kennels, outdoor runs, play yards, grooming stations, reception areas. Look for wear and tear that worsened over winter. Cracked flooring traps bacteria. Rusted fencing creates escape risks. Drainage issues in outdoor areas become serious problems when summer storms roll through.
Think about flow, too. How do dogs move from check-in to their kennels? Where do high-energy and low-energy animals separate? Bottlenecks during drop-off and pick-up create stress for animals and staff alike. If you handled 40 dogs a day last summer and you're expecting 55 this year, your physical layout needs to accommodate that increase without compromising safety.
Staffing and Capacity Management
Hiring seasonal staff in May for a June start is too late. By then, the candidates with animal-handling experience are already taken. Smart facility owners begin recruiting in March, targeting veterinary technician students, animal science majors, and experienced pet sitters looking for consistent summer work.
Set a hard cap on capacity. This sounds obvious, but I've seen facilities push past their safe limits because turning away revenue feels painful. A good rule: staff one handler for every 10 to 15 dogs during active play periods. If you can't maintain that ratio, you've exceeded capacity regardless of how many empty kennels you have. Cross-train every employee on feeding protocols, medication administration, and emergency procedures. A team member who can only clean kennels but can't handle a dog fight is a liability during peak season.
HVAC and Ventilation System Maintenance
Your HVAC system is the single most important piece of equipment in your facility during summer. A breakdown in July with 60 dogs in-house isn't an inconvenience: it's a veterinary emergency. Schedule professional maintenance no later than April. Technicians should inspect refrigerant levels, clean coils, check ductwork for leaks, and test thermostats in every zone.
Ventilation matters just as much as cooling. Proper air exchange reduces airborne pathogens, controls odor, and keeps humidity in check. The target is 10 to 15 air changes per hour in occupied spaces. If your system can't hit that number, consider supplemental ventilation like exhaust fans or portable HEPA units. Keep backup portable AC units on hand. A $400 portable unit is cheap insurance against a $15,000 claim from heat-related illness.
Health and Safety Protocols for High Occupancy
Higher occupancy means higher disease transmission risk. Period. The math is simple: more animals in shared spaces equals more opportunities for contagious illness to spread. Your protocols need to be tighter during summer than any other time of year, and every staff member should know them cold before the first boarder checks in.
Document everything. Every feeding, every medication dose, every behavioral observation. If a dog develops symptoms 48 hours after leaving your facility, your documentation is what protects you in a dispute or claim. Digital logs with timestamps are far more defensible than scribbled notes on a whiteboard.
Updating Vaccination Verification Records
Require proof of current vaccinations before confirming any reservation: no exceptions, no "I'll bring it on drop-off day." The core requirements for most boarding facilities include rabies, DHPP (distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza, parvovirus), and bordetella. Many facilities in 2026 are also requiring canine influenza (H3N2/H3N8) vaccination, especially after regional outbreaks in the Southeast and Midwest over the past two years.
Build vaccination verification into your booking software so reservations can't be confirmed without uploaded records. Call veterinary offices to verify any documentation that looks altered or unclear. One unvaccinated dog slipping through can trigger an outbreak that shuts down your facility for days and costs thousands in veterinary bills, refunds, and reputation damage.
Sanitization Routines to Prevent Kennel Cough
Kennel cough (infectious tracheobronchitis) is the most common disease risk in boarding environments, and it spreads fastest when facilities are full. Your sanitization routine should include disinfecting all hard surfaces between occupants using an EPA-registered veterinary disinfectant with a contact time of at least 10 minutes. Accelerated hydrogen peroxide products are popular because they're effective and relatively safe for animals.
- Disinfect water and food bowls after every meal, not just between boarders
- Wash bedding daily during peak occupancy, using hot water above 140°F
- Clean and disinfect shared play equipment at least twice daily
- Replace air filters monthly instead of quarterly during summer months
Isolation protocols matter too. Have a designated quarantine area for any animal showing respiratory symptoms: coughing, nasal discharge, lethargy. Staff handling isolated animals should change gloves and outerwear before returning to the general population.
Reviewing Your Insurance Coverage Before Peak Season
Here's where most facility owners make a critical mistake: they assume the policy they bought when they opened still covers what they're doing today. If you've added services, increased capacity, hired more staff, or expanded your physical space, your coverage may have gaps you don't know about until a claim gets denied.
Review your policy at least 60 days before summer. That gives you time to make changes without rushing. Pet Professional Insurance Agency works with multiple specialty insurance markets focused specifically on boarding and kennel operations, and their intake forms are tailored to capture the risks unique to your business type. That specificity matters because a generic business policy often misses animal-specific exposures.
General Liability vs. Animal Bailee Coverage
General liability covers third-party bodily injury and property damage. If a client trips over a leash in your lobby and breaks a wrist, that's a general liability claim. But here's the gap most people miss: general liability typically does not cover injury or death to animals in your care.
That's where animal bailee coverage comes in. Bailee coverage protects you when an animal is injured, becomes ill, or dies while under your custody and control. Without it, you're personally responsible for veterinary bills, the animal's value, and potentially emotional distress claims depending on your state. Some states have expanded pet owner rights in recent years, making this coverage even more critical. If you're boarding 50+ animals during peak season, operating without bailee coverage is a financial risk that could end your business with a single incident.
Comparison of Essential Boarding Coverages
| Coverage Type | What It Covers | Why It Matters in Summer |
|---|---|---|
| General Liability | Client injuries on your property, property damage | More foot traffic during drop-off/pick-up increases slip-and-fall risk |
| Animal Bailee | Injury, illness, or death of animals in your care | Higher occupancy means more animals at risk simultaneously |
| Professional Liability | Claims of negligence in care decisions | Disputes over medication errors or missed health symptoms rise with volume |
| Workers' Compensation | Employee injuries on the job | Seasonal staff are often less experienced and more prone to bite injuries |
| Commercial Property | Damage to your building and equipment | HVAC failures, storm damage, and fire risk increase in summer heat |
| Business Interruption | Lost income if you must close temporarily | A disease outbreak during peak season can cost weeks of revenue |
This isn't an exhaustive list, but it covers the exposures that spike most dramatically during summer. If you're unsure whether your current policy addresses all of these, a conversation with a specialist like Pet Professional Insurance Agency can identify gaps quickly: most clients hear back within 24 to 48 hours.
Managing Client Expectations and Communication
The number one source of complaints during summer isn't animal care. It's communication. Clients are anxious about leaving their pets, and that anxiety multiplies when they can't reach you, don't get updates, or feel surprised by charges. Set expectations before the pet ever arrives at your facility.
Send a pre-boarding email or text at least one week before the reservation. Include check-in and check-out times, what to bring (food, medications, comfort items), and what not to bring (treats from home that could cause resource guarding, retractable leashes). Spell out your policies clearly so there's no ambiguity.
Emergency Contact Procedures
Every boarding agreement should include at least two emergency contacts and a signed authorization for veterinary treatment up to a specified dollar amount. Without that authorization, you may face a situation where a dog needs immediate care and you can't reach the owner because they're on a flight to Lisbon.
Specify your emergency veterinary partner by name in your intake paperwork. Clients should know which clinic their pet will be taken to and what costs they're responsible for. Keep a printed emergency contact sheet for each boarded animal in a centralized location: don't rely solely on digital records, because systems crash at the worst possible times.
Clear Cancellation and Deposit Policies
Summer no-shows are expensive. An empty kennel during peak season represents lost revenue you can't recover because you turned away other clients to hold that spot. Require a non-refundable deposit of 25 to 50 percent at booking, with the balance due at drop-off.
Your cancellation policy should be specific: full refund if cancelled 14+ days out, 50 percent refund for 7 to 13 days, no refund within 7 days. Post this policy on your website, include it in confirmation emails, and have clients sign it during booking. Disputes over cancellation fees are common, and having a signed acknowledgment makes them much easier to resolve. Laws around deposits and cancellations vary by state, so consult a local attorney to make sure your policy complies with consumer protection regulations in your jurisdiction.
Summer Boarding Frequently Asked Questions
How far in advance should I start preparing my facility for summer? Begin infrastructure and staffing preparations by March. HVAC maintenance, hiring, and policy updates should all be complete by mid-May at the latest.
Do I need separate insurance for seasonal employees? Yes. Workers' compensation is required in most states regardless of whether employees are full-time or seasonal. Bite injuries are among the most common claims for kennel staff.
What's the most common insurance claim during summer boarding season? Animal injury during group play and kennel cough outbreaks are the two most frequent claim types. Both are largely preventable with proper protocols.
Should I require canine influenza vaccination? It depends on your region and risk tolerance, but an increasing number of facilities are making it mandatory. Check with your local veterinary community for current outbreak data.
How do I handle a client who shows up without vaccination records? Turn them away. It's uncomfortable, but admitting one unvaccinated animal puts every other boarder at risk and exposes you to significant liability.
Can I be held liable if a dog gets sick after boarding? Potentially, yes. Thorough documentation of health checks at intake and during the stay is your strongest defense. Animal bailee coverage provides financial protection if a claim is filed.
Your Next Steps for a Successful Season
Prepping a boarding facility for the summer travel season isn't glamorous work, but it's the difference between a profitable summer and a disastrous one. Start with your physical plant and HVAC. Lock in your staffing by April. Tighten health protocols and vaccination requirements before you confirm a single reservation. And review your insurance coverage with someone who actually understands boarding facility risks: Pet Professional Insurance Agency specializes in exactly this, with agents who know the difference between a general liability gap and a bailee coverage gap.
About the author
Barnaby Joyce
Founder, Pet Professional Insurance Agency · Licensed Insurance Producer
I started Pet Professional Insurance Agency because I watched pet businesses get handed generic policies that never fit. After years of placing coverage for veterinary practices, grooming salons, doggy daycares, and kennels through a generalist agency, I saw the same gaps over and over — and the same blank stares when an owner tried to explain care, custody, and control to an agent who had never insured an animal in their life.
So I built an agency that does one thing. I work directly with specialty carriers who actually want pet-industry risk, and I sit down with every client personally. You will not get a call center or a chatbot. You will get someone who already speaks your language and shops the market on your behalf. That is the whole idea.
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