Dog day care centre licensing is approved
Members of the licensing committee voted in favour of the measures at a meeting on Thursday night.
It means those businesses offering day kennelling – caring for dogs while their owners are at work – will now be subject to similar rules to overnight boarding establishments.
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Hide AdThe ruling applies to large scale commercial premises and businesses run out of people’s homes.
Under the proposed conditions day care businesses must provide seperated rest areas for at least 50 per cent of the total number of dogs covered by their licence.
License holders must also pre-screen all dogs to ensure they are suitable to join the group and continual supervision of the dogs will be required.
The setting for the day care must provide dogs with varied activities including exercise and socialisation.
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Hide AdA Wyre Council spokesman said: “The purpose of the licencing conditions is to ensure satisfactory animal health and welfare at the premises.
“The standard licence conditions for traditional kennels were not drawn up with dog day care centre in mind.”
The new conditions have been drawn up based on guidelines provided by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health in conjunction with the British Veterinary Association and the Pet Care Trust.
Wyre is only the second authority in Lancashire to be approached to introduce a licence scheme specifically for dog day care operations.
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Hide AdSeveral similar schemes do exist elsewhere in the UK and Wyre Council said it researched their approach to the issue in formulating its own proposals.
The first application to Wyre has already been made.