Barbee Jackson Insurance — Property & Casualty Division
Reviewed by: Krystal Jackson, President
Last updated: August 5, 2026

Pet Business Insurance: Coverage Built for the Animals in Your Care

When a family hands you their dog’s leash, they’re trusting you with a member of the family. Your insurance should be built for exactly that — and here’s the problem: for most pet businesses, it isn’t. The standard general liability policy most owners carry doesn’t cover the one thing that matters most: the animals in your care.

We’re Barbee Jackson Insurance, an independent agency licensed in 30+ states, and our Personal & Commercial team builds pet-services programs around how your business actually runs — boarding and kennels, grooming salons and mobile groomers, doggy daycares, trainers, pet sitters and dog walkers, pet-transport operations, and veterinary practices.

The coverage most pet businesses are missing: animal bailee

Standard general liability carries a care, custody, and control exclusion. In plain English: injury, illness, or death of an animal in your care is not a GL claim. The boarded dog hurt overnight, the cat that gets sick in your kennel, the dog that slips off a grooming table — a standard GL policy treats those animals as your responsibility to keep safe, not as a covered claim.

Animal bailee coverage is the specialty piece built for exactly this gap. If a pet in your custody is injured, becomes ill, dies, or goes missing while you’re responsible for it, animal bailee is the coverage designed to respond. If you board, groom, daycare, train, transport, or pet-sit, we consider it the core of your program — and we recommend every pet business confirm it’s actually carried, not assume it’s baked in.

What a complete pet business program includes

General liability. Your foundation — bodily injury to people and damage to their property. The client who slips in your lobby, the boarded dog that gets loose and nips a visitor. Essential, but only the start.

Animal bailee. The animals in your care, custody, and control — see above. This is the conversation to have first.

Professional liability. When your service or judgment is questioned: veterinary malpractice for practices, a clipper injury claim against a groomer, a client blaming a trainer’s advice. Separate from the slip-and-fall world of GL.

Workers’ compensation. Animal handling is physical — bites, scratches, the back strain from lifting a ninety-pound retriever. If you have employees, workers’ comp covers work-related injuries and is legally required in most states. This is also where employers’ liability lives.

Commercial property / BOP. The building, kennel runs, grooming stations, cages, and equipment. Many smaller pet businesses package property and GL together in a Business Owner’s Policy (BOP) — whether that fits depends on your setup, and we’ll walk through it with you.

Commercial auto. Mobile groomers and pet-transport vans need commercial auto — a personal auto policy likely won’t respond to a loss on the job. We also confirm hired and non-owned auto coverage for employee errands and rented vans. Owned, hired, and non-owned: all three addressed, not assumed.

Business interruption. If a kennel-cough-type outbreak forces you to close and clear the facility, income stops but bills don’t. Business interruption coverage is designed to help replace lost income when a covered event forces a closure.

Our pet services program

• Animal bailee coverage available — the piece built for the pets in your custody
• Programs for every pet business — boarding, grooming, daycare, training, sitting, walking, transport, veterinary
• Solo operators welcome — home-based sitters and one-van mobile groomers included
• BOP packaging available to bundle property and liability where it fits
• Independent agency — we shop the market and work for you, not one carrier

Pet business insurance FAQs

Doesn’t my general liability cover the pets I board or groom?

No — and this is the most important answer on this page. Standard GL has a care, custody, and control exclusion, so injury, illness, or death of an animal in your care isn’t a covered GL claim. Animal bailee coverage is what’s built for that. We recommend confirming it’s actually on your policy, not assuming.

What is animal bailee coverage?

A specialty coverage for animals in your care, custody, and control. If a pet in your custody is injured, becomes ill, dies, or goes missing while you’re responsible for it, animal bailee is the coverage designed to respond.

I’m a solo pet sitter or dog walker. Do I really need business insurance?

Probably more than you think — even a solo sitter has animals in their care and drives for work. We’ll review your actual setup and quote what fits it, not a stack you don’t need.

Do mobile groomers need commercial auto?

If you drive for the business, a personal auto policy likely won’t cover a loss on the job. Mobile grooming and pet-transport operations should carry commercial auto, and we confirm hired and non-owned coverage too.

What does pet business insurance cost?

It depends on your services, payroll, property, vehicles, and limits — a home-based sitter and a 40-run boarding facility are different worlds. Tell us how your business runs and we’ll shop it across the market and quote it for real: (850) 389-2001.

Tell us how your pet business runs — we’ll review it line by line

We’re an independent agency — we work for you, not one carrier — with 400+ five-star Google reviews and a team that treats the animals in your care like the family members they are. Tell us how your pet business runs, and we’ll review your coverage line by line, confirm animal bailee is actually carried, and flag any gap worth closing before it becomes a claim.