Start a dog walking and pet sitting business in Canada: city permits, insurance, group limits, client intake, and how walking and sitting fit together.
Applies in: across Canada
Dog walking and pet sitting look like the easiest business in Canada to start, and the start is easy — the hard part is the city rulebook and the trust. There is no federal or provincial dog-walker licence, so anyone can print cards and walk a neighbour's dog. But the moment you walk groups in a city park, hold a client's house key, or stay overnight with their animals, you are inside municipal permits, insurance conditions, leash and off-leash rules, and a level of trust that one lost dog or one unlocked door destroys. This guide is distinct from pet grooming: grooming cuts and bathes dogs at a premises, while walking and sitting care for dogs in motion and in their own homes. Start solo, learn dogs, clear your city's permit rules, insure the work, and build a route of regulars before you add group walks or overnight sitting.
Walking and sitting are four different jobs, and each carries its own risk:
Pick the mix you can actually staff and insure. A solo walker who adds group walks before learning group handling is taking a risk with other people's dogs. A sitter who takes overnight bookings without a key routine and an emergency plan is taking a risk with other people's homes. Start with solo walks and drop-in visits, add groups once you can control them, and add sitting once your routines are written down.
Dog walking rules are written city by city, not province by province, and the permit is usually tied to group size and park use. The cities that publish their rules show the pattern:
Your city may have no permit at all, or a permit you have not found yet. Check the city's business licensing page, its animal services page, and its parks page, in that order, and get the answer in writing before you take group clients. Off-leash rules, leash rules, and dog licensing for the dogs themselves are separate rules: a permit to walk dogs does not excuse an unlicensed dog in an off-leash area, and a client's dog licence is the owner's job, not yours, but a good intake form asks about it.
Boarding is the line to watch. Keeping dogs at your own home or premises is a different business in most cities, with kennel, zoning, and animal-establishment rules of its own. Do not offer boarding on the strength of a dog-walking permit. Check the kennel and zoning rules first, and keep walking and sitting in the client's home until you have cleared boarding separately.
The paperwork is the same as for any Canadian service business:
Insurance is where a dog-walking business proves it is a business. Commercial general liability insurance is the baseline, and in permit cities it is a condition of the permit, not a choice: Toronto requires $2,000,000 for the full term of the permit, with the City as an additional insured, and West Vancouver requires $2,000,000 naming the District as an additional insured. Ask a broker about three more covers: bonding for key holding, coverage for animals in your care, and coverage for staff if you hire walkers. A walker who works alone still needs the first two, because a lost key and an injured dog are the two claims that end uninsured businesses.
Key handling deserves its own routine, written down before your first sitting client:
Clients hand you their home. Treat the key routine as seriously as the dog routine, because clients do.
The intake form is the document that protects the dog, the client, and you. Take it in writing before the first walk:
The emergency routine is short and worth rehearsing: stop the walk, secure the dogs, call the owner, call the veterinarian if needed, and write down what happened the same day. The written record is what your insurer asks for first. For group walks, add the group routine: test every new dog solo before it joins a group, keep the group size below the legal maximum and below your own comfort limit, carry a spare leash, and know the route, the water, the shade, and the exit points before you start.
The business steadies when the week fills itself. Regular weekday walks are the base: the same dogs, the same times, the same route, week after week. Price by the walk and by the package: solo walks, group walks, drop-in visits, and overnight sitting are different prices because they cost you different amounts of time and carry different risks. Quote the price before the first walk, and charge for the extra dog, the extra visit, and the holiday booking with the owner's agreement, rather than absorbing them and resenting the client.
Sitting fills the gaps walks leave: weekends, holidays, and school breaks, when owners travel and regular walk clients need extra cover. Keep a sitting calendar separate from the walking route, and never double-book a sitting night against a walking route you cannot cover. Track the numbers from day one: revenue per walk, walks per day, no-shows, cancellations, and cost per walk including transport, supplies, insurance, and your own time. A walker who knows the cost per walk prices with confidence; one who does not drifts into working long days for pocket money.
Grow by referral, not by discount. A regular client who trusts you with their key refers the neighbour who trusts them. Veterinarians, groomers, and pet stores in your service area are the other referral source, and they refer walkers who show up, communicate, and write things down. Send a short update after each walk or visit, with a photo where the client wants one, and keep a record of each dog's temperament, triggers, and owner preferences so the second walk is better than the first.
| Toronto commercial dog walker permit, one year | $305.99 |
|---|---|
| Toronto commercial dog walker permit, six months | $153.00 |
| Toronto commercial dog walker permit, three months | $76.50 |
| Metro Vancouver dog walker permit, application (first-time only) | $200 plus GST |
| Metro Vancouver dog walker permit, per dog walker | $275 plus GST |
| Metro Vancouver dog walker vest, per handler | $50 |
| Ontario sole proprietorship registration | $60, five years |
| BC name request plus registration | $30 plus $40 |
There is no federal or provincial dog-walker licence. The rules sit with the city, and they bite hardest on group walks. Toronto issues a commercial dog walker permit for individuals walking four to six dogs on a commercial basis. Its conditions include commercial general liability insurance of $2,000,000 for the full term, with the City named as an additional insured. In West Vancouver the package is different: a business licence application, a commercial dog walker park use permit application, and liability insurance of $2,000,000 naming the District as an additional insured, with each walker limited to six dogs at a time. Metro Vancouver's regional parks add a third permit — a commercial use permit for dog walking there. Check your own city's animal and parks pages before you take group clients, because the rule follows the city, not the province.
It depends on the city, and the permit sets the number where a permit exists. Toronto's permits cover four to six dogs walked on a commercial basis, while in West Vancouver each walker is limited to six dogs at a time. For Metro Vancouver regional parks, the permit is the gate itself, and it also requires proof of comprehensive general liability insurance of at least $5,000,000 per occurrence. Outside a permit system, the limit is your own judgment and your insurance. A walker who can control two large, reactive dogs is safer than a walker who cannot control six calm ones, so set your own group cap below the legal maximum, test new dogs solo first, and never add a dog to a group walk to fill a slot.
Dog walking takes the dog out for a set time and brings it home. Pet sitting covers the animal in its own home while the owner is away — feeding, walks, litter or yard routines, medications, and overnight stays. Boarding is the third job, and a different business in most cities: it keeps animals at your home or premises, under kennel, zoning, and animal-establishment rules of its own. This guide covers walking and in-home sitting. If you want to board dogs at your place, check your city's kennel and zoning rules before you offer it, and do not assume a dog-walking permit covers boarding.
Start with commercial general liability insurance. Several cities make it a permit condition rather than a suggestion: Toronto requires $2,000,000 in commercial general liability coverage for the full term of the permit, including the City as an additional insured, and West Vancouver requires $2,000,000 in liability insurance naming the District as an additional insured. Then ask a broker about bonding for key holding. Also ask about coverage for animals in your care, and about coverage for staff if you hire walkers. A client who hands you a house key is trusting you with more than their dog, and the policy should match that trust.
No city named here requires a dog-walking certificate as a permit condition, but the skill still matters: group walks punish inexperience fast. Learn to read canine body language, practise leash handling for groups, and work on recall. Know what stress and overstimulation look like, and take a pet first aid course. Walk new dogs solo before adding them to a group, learn each dog's triggers, and keep a written record of bite history, reactivity, and medical needs. Clients cannot tell a trained walker from an untrained one until a dog bolts, fights, or gets loose, and by then the lesson is expensive.
You must register for a GST/HST account once your taxable supplies exceed $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, and you can register voluntarily before that. Your service revenue counts toward the threshold because walking and sitting are taxable supplies. Registration is free through the Canada Revenue Agency. Once registered you charge GST/HST on your services and claim input tax credits on business expenses such as transport, supplies, and insurance.