Guidance for local authority inspectors in England on licensing activities involving animals. The guidance explains the conditions that businesses need to meet in order to receive an animal activities licence.

This guidance covers:

dog breeding
pet selling
hiring out horses
boarding for dogs and cats
home boarding for dogs
dog day care
keeping or training animals for exhibition

Published 6 December 2018
Last updated 8 March 2022 + show all updates

8 March 2022
We have updated the dog breeding licensing: statutory guidance for local authorities.
16 February 2022
Update to guidance on hiring horses - updated optional higher standard for diet from weekly to monthly body condition scoring.
1 February 2022
Updated to clarify drafting errors in guidance notes and to replace PDFs with HTML documents.
20 April 2020
Updated the guidance for selling animals as pets and dog breeding.
6 December 2018
First published.

Update history

2024-04-02 16:54
Updated ‘Animal activity licensing process: statutory guidance for local authorities’. Added a link to the reporting form and details of the current reporting period.

2023-10-01 09:30
Updated the attachment ‘Animal activity licensing process: statutory guidance for local authorities’. Removed a bullet point under ‘Appoint an inspector’ about completing a course before 1 October 2023. This is now out of date.

2023-06-01 00:01
Updated the attachment ‘Animal activity licensing process: statutory guidance for local authorities’ as the 2022 to 2023 reporting period is now closed.

2023-04-06 16:41
Updated the ‘Report animal activity licences and fees to the Secretary of State’ in the attachment ‘Animal activity licensing process’. Added a link to the reporting form and added details of the current reporting period.

2023-03-20 09:23
Updated ‘Appoint an inspector’ in ‘Animal activity licensing process: statutory guidance for local authorities’. A Level 3 certificate qualification or equivalent must be completed by 1 October 2023.

2023-01-17 14:06
Updated the section ‘Appoint an inspector’ in ‘Animal activity licensing process: statutory guidance for local authorities’. A Level 3 certificate qualification or equivalent must be completed and granted by 1 April 2023.

2022-09-28 12:40
Updated ‘Animal activity licensing process: statutory guidance for local authorities’ to remove the date for enrolling on a course leading to a Level 3 certificate qualification or equivalent. Inspectors do not need to complete a training course by 1 October 2022.

2022-06-01 00:15
The 2021 to 2022 reporting period for animal activity licences has closed.

2022-04-26 16:11
Clarified the exercise and toileting requirements for dog kennel boarding licensing, conditions 5.4 and 7.6.

2022-04-01 17:05
We’ve updated the dog day care licensing guidance to specify sleeping and rest area requirements (section 5.2). We’ve updated the dog breeding licensing guidance relating to pet shop keepers in Wales (part B, section 1.1).

2022-04-01 08:00
Updated the statutory guidance for local authorities. They must report animal activity licences and fees to the Secretary of State by 31 May 2022.

2022-03-10 09:17
Clarification of regulation that an inspector must be appointed under.

2022-03-08 11:56
We have updated the dog breeding licensing: statutory guidance for local authorities.