Terms and conditions

1. Who we are, and what you are buying

“We”, “us” and “The K9 Bus” mean The K9 Bus, of Settle, North Yorkshire. “You” means the person who books an adventure, and “your dog” means each dog named on that booking.

An adventure is one dog, collected from an agreed address or an agreed K9 Bus stop inside a published window, carried by us to a private, fully fenced field for around two hours of supervised play with other dogs, and returned to the same address. It normally takes four to five hours door to door, of which about two are in the field, and no dog is normally on the bus for more than about ninety minutes at a stretch.

Published times are planned times. Your ticket carries your own window, and we narrow it in a message the evening before. Traffic, weather and other people's doors move them, and we will tell you when they do.

A booking is made when you complete payment and we send you a confirmation. The confirmation email is your receipt and your durable copy of these terms.

2. Your dog, and what it needs to travel

Before a dog's first adventure it must be:

• at least 6 months old;
• up to date with core vaccinations (DHP and leptospirosis), with the primary course complete at least two weeks beforehand, and we must have seen the certificate;
• treated for fleas, ticks and worms on a regular programme;
• microchipped, which is a legal requirement, and wearing a collar with an identity tag;
• not in season, and not showing signs of an infectious illness;
• approved by us after a profile, a call and a meet-and-greet, as described in clause 5.

Kennel cough vaccination is strongly recommended for a group setting. We cannot currently accept dogs subject to a Dangerous Dogs Act exemption: our group, transport and insurance arrangements have not been designed to meet the individual legal and handling conditions those dogs need, and we would rather say so than get it wrong.

3. Keeping your dog’s profile right

You confirm that what you have told us about your dog is accurate and complete, including any bite history, medical condition, medication, allergy or fear, and that you will tell us promptly if any of it changes. We plan the day around that information; a gap in it is a safety problem rather than a paperwork one.

4. Off lead, and recall

Dogs are off lead in the field, which is private and fully fenced, once the gate is shut. They are on a lead between the bus and the gate every time. If your dog's recall is unreliable, tell us: a fenced field is exactly where that is manageable, but we need to know.

5. When we can refuse or return a dog

Every dog is approved before it travels: a complete profile, a fifteen-minute call and a free meet-and-greet including a stationary boarding test. We may approve a dog with conditions — for example that it sits with a handler, has no group treats, uses a meeting point rather than a door, or starts on quieter days.

We may decline a dog at approval, or on the day, if it is unwell, in season, distressed, or behaving in a way that is not safe for the group. If we decline a dog on the day, that adventure is refunded in full. If a dog cannot continue during the day it is secured safely and separately, we call you immediately, and your emergency contact collects it by the arrangement agreed at approval. We do not promise that the bus turns round; either way, that adventure is refunded in full.

6. Vet treatment, and who pays

You authorise us to seek veterinary treatment for your dog if we reasonably believe it needs it. We will try your own vet first and use the nearest practice if that is not possible, and we will call you as soon as it is safe to do so.

You are responsible for veterinary fees unless the injury or illness was caused by our negligence, in which case our care, custody and control insurance responds. Keep your own pet insurance details on your dog's profile.

7. Getting there: transport and welfare

Each dog travels in its own secured space. No dog is left unattended in the vehicle at any time. The interior temperature is logged, water is carried, and there are two trained handlers on every run with never more than six dogs each.

We follow the Countryside Code, keep dogs on leads near livestock, and comply with local dog control orders. In warm weather we apply the published policy: shorter field time and shade from around 20°C, morning-only running from around 24°C, and cancellation with a full refund at 27°C or on a heat-health alert.

8. Cancelling, moving and not being in

Bookings for a day close at 18:00 the evening before.

• More than 48 hours before the day: cancel in your account for a full refund to your card, or move to another day at no cost.
• Between 48 hours and 18:00 the evening before: a free move to another day within 8 weeks. There is no cash refund, because there is no longer time to offer the seat to somebody else, and nothing expires.
• After 18:00 the evening before: the seat is charged. If we fill it from the waiting list we refund you in full automatically, without you having to ask.
• Your dog is unwell on the morning: tell us before the bus leaves and we will move it free, up to once per dog in a rolling six months. We will not ask for a vet's note for ordinary illness.
• If we cancel — for weather, a road closure, the vehicle, staff illness, an unusable field, or too few dogs to run the day properly — you get a full refund to your card, initiated automatically, or a free move if you prefer.

No access. If nobody answers at an agreed door, we wait two minutes from arrival, call you once and text you once, and then move on, because eleven other dogs and a field booking depend on the timetable. The seat is charged. Three no-access events in a rolling twelve weeks and we will ask you to move to a meeting point or agree key holding.

Fair use. Repeated late cancellations may mean we can no longer hold a standing seat for you. We will talk to you before doing anything about it.

Your statutory right. Booking online is a distance contract, so you have fourteen days from making it in which to cancel. Where an adventure falls inside those fourteen days you are asked, at the checkout, to request expressly that we begin within the period and to acknowledge that the right is lost once the service has been fully performed. Our own policy above is more generous than the statutory minimum in every branch. The model cancellation form is at the bottom of this page.

9. Liability, and when one dog hurts another

We will carry out the service with reasonable care and skill. We are liable for loss or damage caused by our negligence or by our failing to do that. Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.

If one dog injures another in our care, our care, custody and control insurance responds for dogs in our care, and each owner's own insurance sits behind that. We will tell both owners the same day, log it, and cover the treatment our cover applies to. We strongly recommend that you hold your own third-party pet liability cover: you remain responsible under the Animals Act for injury or damage your dog causes where it is not the result of our negligence.

We are not liable for pre-existing conditions, for the ordinary consequences of a dog running about in a field — a strain, a cut pad, a sore paw — or for events outside our reasonable control.

10. Photographs and video

We take photographs and short clips through the day. There are three separate permissions on your dog's profile and you control all of them: the private album for that day (on by default, because it is part of what you have bought), using your dog on our social media (off unless you switch it on), and using your dog's name (a separate switch).

We use photographs only within the permission you have given, and you can withdraw any of them at any time in your account. Withdrawal stops all future use and we remove what we can from our own accounts; a photograph already published and shared onward cannot reliably be recalled, and we would rather say that than imply otherwise. Day albums are kept for ninety days and then deleted. We do not photograph people at pick-ups or drop-offs, and never house numbers, street names or number plates.

11. Keys and access

Every address is agreed in advance as one of: somebody at home, a key safe, a key we hold, or a K9 Bus stop. Where we hold a key you sign a separate key-holding authority. Keys are recorded in a key register, tagged with a code and never with an address, never left in the vehicle overnight, and returned to you on request or when you stop booking. Tell us straight away if your access arrangement changes.

12. Your data

We hold your contact details, your address and access arrangement, your dog's health and behaviour information, your vet and your emergency contact, and the record of your bookings. Booking and dog records are kept for three years after your last booking; day albums for ninety days; sign-in codes for minutes. The privacy notice sets out the purposes, the lawful bases, every processor and your rights, including how to export or delete everything.

13. Complaints, and the law that applies

Tell us. The contact page reaches a person, and we will acknowledge a complaint within one working day and answer it within five. If we cannot resolve it between us, you can approach Citizens Advice or your local Trading Standards service. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction.

14. Changing these terms and the price

We may change these terms or the price. A change never affects a booking you have already made: it applies to new bookings from the date it takes effect. If you are on a weekly plan we will email you before a change reaches it, and you can stop the plan at any time with no fee.

15. The weekly plan

A weekly plan holds the same seat on the same weekday for the next 8 weeks, rolling forward. Each adventure costs £26, the same as a single booking. We email you 10 days before every charge, with a one-tap skip in the message, and take the payment 7 days before that adventure using the card you saved.

There is no term, no minimum and no cancellation fee. You can skip a week, pause with a return date, change your day or cancel the plan at any time in your account, and cancelling stops every future charge immediately. If a charge fails we will send you a link that fixes that specific payment; nothing is lost until 18:00 the evening before, which is the same deadline everybody else has. If we cancel a day, that week skips and you are refunded in full. The exact wording you agree to when you save a card is version plan-mandate-2026-09-03, shown at the time and stored with your agreement.

A note on the first adventure

Each dog's first adventure is £23.40, which is 10 per cent off £26. It is applied automatically at the checkout, once per dog, and the meet-and-greet before it is free whatever the outcome.

Model cancellation form

You do not have to use this form — cancelling in your account or emailing us is enough — but it is here because the Consumer Contracts Regulations say it must be.

To The K9 Bus, Settle, North Yorkshire:

I hereby give notice that I cancel my contract for the supply of the following service:

Booking reference: ____________
Ordered on: ____________
Name of consumer: ____________
Address of consumer: ____________
Signature (only if this form is notified on paper): ____________
Date: ____________

Last updated with version 2026-09-03.