Dog Daycare Lobbying Group aims to overhaul daycare licensing
London-based training daycare Hairy Hounds in Hackney (HHH) has formed the Dog Daycare Lobbying Group to campaign to change Defra regulations around licensing and space restrictions in the dog daycare industry.
The newly-launched group is calling for businesses working in the canine sector to join the campaign in time for the planned review, due in late 2023.
Among the main focus of the campaign is:
- Establishing a fairer star-rating system which focuses on all key aspects of animal welfare
- Addressing the current guidance that requires 6 square metres per dog, “making it very difficult for urban day-cares to be commercially viable”
- The lack of distinction between daycares with an urban model and those with a rural model
- Tackling the difficulties in obtaining licences for commercial daycares
- Addressing the challenges surrounding the change of use and planning permission for daycares.
The group aims to play a long-term active role in the legislative process, lobbying the government for the changes its members wish to see.
Hairy Hounds in Hackney notes it has already received traction from policymakers and the government, having gained support from Meg Hillier, the MP for Hackney South & Shoreditch.
Hillier has already spoken to a Defra minister to express her concerns that current regulations took “no account of the environment in which inner-city daycares operate, and that many urban daycares are forced out of business when faced with impossible demands to provide larger spaces in urban settings”.
Hairy Hounds in Hackney Manager-Trainer, Edita Sykora, said: “Urban dog carers may be operating from peoples’ homes, shops, light industrial sites, or purpose-built sites like ours.
“We are developing a system that will allow everyone to trade and operate safely and profitably, that will enable licensing authorities to inspect and licence them in a way that is transparent, and provides dog owners with the information they need when making decisions about where to send their pets.
“Ultimately we are putting the welfare and the needs of the dog first within a sustainable progressive model that makes a distinction between urban and rural settings. Most importantly, our system will incentivise providers to raise standards, it will promote responsible dog ownership, and will be easy for licensing authorities to regulate.”
Interested parties can join the lobbying group by emailing dogdaycarelobbygroup@gmail.com
[Image Credit: Dog Daycare Lobby Group / Caption: L-R Edita Sykora, Cllr Rob Chapman, Dan Conn, Dame Meg Hillier MP]
