Care, custody and control cover vs general liability for Canadian pet sitters

What to take away

Why one policy is not enough

Your risks split in two. One set involves people and their property: a client slips on your icy step, or your van backs into a garage door. The other set involves the animals you have taken in.

Commercial general liability handles the first set. It says almost nothing about the second, because most wordings exclude property in your care, custody or control. A boarded dog is exactly that.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada lists care, custody and control as its own commercial cover category for pet care operators, beside general liability rather than inside it.

So a new operator buys two policies, or one policy with two clearly separate insuring agreements. A general liability certificate with no animal cover leaves your largest exposure uninsured.

Get the business itself in order first. Our pet sitting compliance checklist covers registration, contracts and records, and insurers ask about all three.

What general liability actually pays

Commercial general liability pays third parties when your business causes bodily injury or property damage. It also covers personal injury claims such as libel, and it funds your defence when a claim is groundless.

The named insured is your business. Employees, and usually contractors working under your direction, can be added. The policy responds at client homes, at your premises, and in transit between them.

Canadian limits commonly run from $1 million to $5 million per occurrence. Municipal licensing bylaws sometimes set a floor, and landlords and condo corporations often want $2 million before a tenant moves in.

What it does not do is pay for the pet. A dog in your care bites a passerby: general liability. That same dog is hit by a car on your watch: not general liability.

Premiums move with province, revenue, payroll and claims history. Our breakdown of pet sitting business insurance shows how premiums are built and which exclusions catch new owners.

What care, custody and control pays

Care, custody and control insures property of others while it is in your hands. For a sitter the property is a living animal, which makes the cover both necessary and awkward.

It pays when a client's pet is injured, falls ill, is lost or dies in your custody. It can respond to veterinary bills, replacement value for a lost pet, and the owner's related costs.

It does not pay for illness unrelated to your care. If a dog develops an infection you had nothing to do with, that is a veterinary matter, not a liability claim.

Intentional acts, neglect, and work outside your described services are also excluded. A certificate that says dog walking will not answer a boarding claim.

Valuation is the hard part. Insurers may pay market value, a stated limit, or reasonable veterinary costs, and a purebred puppy can pass a modest limit quickly. Ask how your policy values a pet before a claim, not after.

Where the two covers meet and where the gap sits

A dog you are walking bites a stranger: general liability. The same dog slips its collar and is struck by a car: care, custody and control. A client's fence is damaged during a visit: general liability.

Three gaps matter. Animals in your care are excluded from general liability, so nothing pays without CCC. CCC rarely covers injury to people. Neither replaces the owner's own pet health insurance.

Read the two wordings side by side. Where one ends the other should begin, and any overlap is premium you could spend on a higher limit instead.

What provincial workers' compensation boards require

Workers' compensation in Canada is provincial. A sitter with staff in Ontario, Alberta and Nova Scotia deals with three boards and three sets of rules.

Coverage is generally mandatory once you employ workers in a covered industry. Voluntary coverage is often available for the owner. Rates are set per $100 of insurable payroll by classification unit.

Animal care and boarding usually falls into a specific rate group, not a generic retail class. Misclassifying staff lowers the premium and raises the risk of a retroactive assessment and penalties at audit.

Boards also set return to work duties, injury reporting deadlines, and penalties for late reporting. One part time walker still creates obligations, and the paperwork does not shrink with the headcount.

Payroll is a separate file. Our guide to pet sitting employee pay covers wages, source deductions, and the CRA business number that ties payroll and GST/HST filings together.

WorkSafeBC registration and clearance letters in BC

British Columbia is the clearest example. WorkSafeBC requires most employers in the province to register and pay premiums, and pet sitting, boarding and animal care businesses with employees fall inside that requirement. The board's guidance on coverage requirements explains who must register and what happens if you do not.

Registration is online. You apply, declare your payroll, and receive an account and a classification unit. The steps on applying for coverage walk an employer through what the board needs about your operations.

Your premium depends on your classification unit and rate. Look up the unit that fits animal care and see the rate per $100 of payroll in the board's classification and rate lookup.

If you subcontract walks or boarding, ask for a clearance letter. A clearance letter confirms a contractor is registered and in good standing, and it protects you from their unpaid premiums.

As an employer you also carry occupational health and safety duties. The searchable OHS Regulation sets out the general duties, and for a sitter these touch on lone work, aggressive animals, and driving between clients.

Outside BC the pattern repeats under different names: WSIB in Ontario, WCB Alberta, CNESST in Quebec, the Workers' Compensation Board of Nova Scotia. Each sets its own registration threshold and clearance process.

Choosing limits and documenting a claim

Set limits against the worst realistic claim, not the cheapest premium. A $2 million general liability limit covers most sitter exposures and is the figure landlords and commercial clients ask to see on a certificate.

For care, custody and control, think about the animals you actually handle. A walker with mixed breed rescues needs less per animal cover than someone boarding show dogs. Ask whether the limit applies per animal, per claim or per policy year.

Documentation decides claims. Work through this before anything goes wrong:

When a claim arrives, report it to your broker in writing the same day and keep the original records. Insurers can decline late reported claims, and a pet's condition can change fast.

A worked week with two policies

A Halifax sitter walks a client's dog, which slips its collar and is struck by a car. The veterinary bill reaches $4,000. The general liability policy is silent, because the animal was in the sitter's care.

The care, custody and control policy responds, subject to its per animal limit and deductible. Two days later the same sitter's van scrapes a client's parked car. That claim goes to general liability and the CCC policy is not involved.

Growth adds obligations. A first employee brings payroll, training and supervision duties, and our guide to pet sitting hiring covers what to put in place. A new municipality brings licensing and zoning rules, which our overview of pet sitting licensing requirements sets out province by province.

Common questions

Does general liability cover a dog that bites someone during a walk?

Usually yes, when the claim is against your business for the injured person's medical costs and your legal defence. Check that your policy does not exclude certain breeds or aggressive animals.

Is care, custody and control cover legally required in Canada?

No province mandates it the way it mandates workers' compensation. Clients, landlords and commercial contracts often require it in practice, and it covers the exposure general liability excludes.

Do I need WorkSafeBC coverage as a sole proprietor with no employees?

Many sole proprietors are not automatically covered and can apply for optional personal coverage. Hire anyone, even part time, and registration generally becomes mandatory.

What is a clearance letter and who asks for one?

It is a WorkSafeBC document confirming a contractor is registered and has paid premiums. Commercial clients, and operators who subcontract walking or boarding work, commonly request one before signing.