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Do dog walkers need a licence in England?

DDuncanPublished 21 September 2026Every figure checked against its source on

Short answer

Not nationally. Dog walking is not a licensable activity under the 2018 Regulations, and the dog day care guidance excludes dog walkers and dog sitters by name. A few councils run their own walker licence, such as Tower Hamlets. A walker is still bound by the Animal Welfare Act's duty of care and by any council public space order that caps the number of dogs one person may have in a park. The six-dog limit people quote applies to licensed daycares and boarders when they take dogs off the premises, not to independent walkers.

There is no national licence for dog walking

The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 list every activity that needs a licence. Dog walking is not on the list.

The licensable activities, Schedule 1 of the 2018 Regulations
ActivityLicensed?
Selling animals as petsYes
Providing or arranging boarding for cats or dogs (kennels, home boarding, day care)Yes
Hiring out horsesYes
Dog breedingYes
Keeping or training animals for exhibitionYes
Dog walkingNo
Dog sitting in the owner's homeNo
Hiring out a field for dogsNo
GroomingNo
The day care guidance excludes “businesses that look after dogs in their owner’s homes, such as, dog sitters and dog walkers”.
Dog day care licensing: statutory guidance, introduction
So a walker is left out of the national scheme twice: not in the Schedule, and named as an exclusion in the guidance for the nearest licence. A few councils run a walker licence of their own, which is covered below. Full text at legislation.gov.uk.

What does apply to a walker

A person commits an offence if he does not take such steps as are reasonable in all the circumstances to ensure that the needs of an animal for which he is responsible are met to the extent required by good practice.
Animal Welfare Act 2006, section 9(1)
The duty of care applies to anyone responsible for a dog, anywhere, including a walker with the lead in their hand. It sets no number of dogs, no ratio and no inspection. It is enforced after something goes wrong, not before.
no person shall oversee more than four dogs in any Public Place
London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Public Spaces Protection Order (dog control), Part 5, made 30 April 2025
Some councils cap dogs per person in their parks with a public spaces protection order. Tower Hamlets sets four in its restricted area, or six for a walker who holds the council’s professional dog walker licence, which costs £240 from 1 April 2026 and asks for evidence of insurance and experience. A PSPO covers public places in that borough only. Check your own council’s public spaces protection orders.

Insurance is not required by any law. Public liability cover is a commercial decision, and most owners, and the landlords of most hired fields, ask for it.

Where the six-dog limit comes from

A dog walker may walk no more than 6 dogs at the same time. The owner must consent to their dog being walked with others. Dogs must be familiarised with each other beforehand.
Dog day care licensing: statutory guidance, under condition 7.2
This is the line people quote as “the law says six”. It is in the statutory guidance under condition 7.2, which councils apply to licensed daycares and boarders. It holds a licensed business to six when it takes dogs off the premises for a walk, and an inspector checks it. It does not reach an independent walker, because an independent walker holds no national licence for it to apply to.
A licensed daycare carries two numbers from the guidance: ten dogs to one member of staff on its own premises (under condition 4.1) and six to one person on a walk (under condition 7.2). An independent walker carries neither nationally, unless their council sets a number in its parks.

Vans, hired fields and public parks

The day care licence covers “daytime housing” at a fixed premises. A business that collects dogs in a van and runs them in a hired field has no premises for the licence to attach to. Hiring out a field is not a licensable activity either. And a hired field is private land, so a council’s park PSPO does not reach it.

None of that makes a field business illegal or unsafe. Some councils license them anyway, some field businesses hold a licence, and some have better fencing than a licensed building. What is missing is a ratio, a licence and an inspector, because nobody wrote one for them. The licence conditions a building has to meet are in the dog daycare licence in England.

Will this change?

The government has been asked to look at it. Defra’s Responsible Dog Ownership taskforce reported on 24 September 2026. Its eighth recommendation is to “consider potential legal requirements for professional dog walkers”. Most members agreed more regulation could help, but saw it as a longer-term aim. The government has not yet responded to it.

Parliament petitions are asking too. 776716, the Pet Care Regulations Bill (opened 24 August 2026) asks for dog walkers, sitters, groomers and trainers to be licensed, and 773056 (opened 13 July 2026) asks for a licence for pet sitters and dog walkers. 770225, Molly’s Law (opened 19 June 2026) asks for a review of paid pet care standards and enforcement. On 28 October 2026 776716 had 1,790 signatures, 773056 had 105 and 770225 had 1,185. Each needs 10,000 for a government response. An earlier petition asking for dog professionals to be licensed opened in September 2025 and closed in March 2026 with 2,302.

Until that changes, the honest answer to “how many dogs is your walker allowed?” is that there is no national number, only whatever your council sets in its parks. How often the rules that do exist get enforced is in how often unlicensed dog boarding gets prosecuted.

Questions people ask

QIs there a legal limit on how many dogs a dog walker can walk in the UK?
Not nationally. Some councils cap dogs per person in public places with a public spaces protection order; Tower Hamlets sets four in its restricted area unless the walker holds the council's professional dog walker licence, which allows six. Check your own council's public spaces protection orders. Licensed day care and boarding businesses are held to six dogs per walker by the statutory guidance under condition 7.2.
QDo dog walkers need insurance by law?
No law requires it. Public liability insurance is a commercial decision, and most owners and many landlords of hired fields ask for it.
QDoes a hired dog field need a licence?
Hiring out a field for dogs is not one of the licensable activities in Schedule 1 of the 2018 Regulations. A hired field is private land, so council public space orders for parks do not reach it either.
QAre dog walkers going to be licensed in future?
It is being looked at, with no decision yet. Defra's Responsible Dog Ownership taskforce, reporting on 24 September 2026, recommended that the government consider legal requirements for professional dog walkers, and called it a longer-term aim. The government has not yet responded to that recommendation. Petition 776716 asks Parliament to license dog walkers, sitters, groomers and trainers, and petition 770225 (Molly's Law) asks for a review of paid pet care standards. On 28 October 2026 they had 1,790 and 1,185 signatures; each needs 10,000 for a government response.

Sources

Everything above comes from one of these. Each was read on 28 October 2026. If a figure has moved since, email info@generasoftware.com and the page is corrected, not appended.

  1. The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, Schedule 1The licensable activities: selling animals as pets, providing or arranging boarding for cats or dogs, hiring out horses, dog breeding, keeping or training animals for exhibition.
  2. Dog day care licensing: statutory guidance for local authorities (Defra, updated 1 June 2026)Exclusion of dog sitters and dog walkers; the guidance under condition 7.2, no more than six dogs walked at the same time.
  3. Animal Welfare Act 2006, section 9Duty of a person responsible for an animal to ensure its welfare.
  4. London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Public Spaces Protection Order (dog control), Part 5Made 30 April 2025 for three years. Part 5: no person shall oversee more than four dogs within the restricted area unless they hold the council's professional dog walker licence.
  5. London Borough of Tower Hamlets, professional dog walkers licence FAQsThe licence allows up to six dogs and costs £240 from 1 April 2026.
  6. Defra, Responsible Dog Ownership taskforce report (24 September 2026)Recommendation 8: consider potential legal requirements for professional dog walkers, and take forward best options. Most members saw further regulation as a longer-term aim.
  7. Petition 770225, Review regulation of animal boarding and licensing conditions (Molly's Law)1,185 signatures on 28 October 2026.
  8. Petition 776716, Introduce stronger welfare regulations for pet care services1,790 signatures on 28 October 2026.
  9. Petition 773056, Introduce license requirement for pet sitters and dog walkersOpened 13 July 2026. 105 signatures on 28 October 2026.
  10. Petition 737845, Review practice and introduce licensing and regulation for dog professionalsOpened 15 September 2025, closed 15 March 2026 with 2,302 signatures.
D

Duncan

Founder of Genera and owner of Duncan's Dog Co

Duncan has run Duncan's Dog Co, a licensed dog daycare in Surrey, since 2011. Genera is the software he built to run it, shaped by what actually works day to day, not theory.

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Where Genera comes in

Genera is the booking and invoicing software Duncan built to run his own licensed daycare. It holds you to the daily numbers on your licence, keeps every dog's vaccination dates where an inspector can see them, and invoices the month from the bookings you actually took.

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