Policies

Meet and Greets

For new clients who are ‘weekly waggers’ (book regular walks and/or pop-in visits) or new clients who are booking more than one overnight stay and/or holiday drop-in visit, we offer a complimentary meet and greet.

The purpose of our meet and greets are to help ensure that you are comfortable with the team member who is entering your home and caring for your pets. It’s also an opportunity for us to familiarise ourselves with your home, and go through all the nitty gritty details about your pet(s).

Meet and greets are complimentary for new clients when booking regular services or more than one overnight stay or holiday drop-in visit.

If you’re booking services on a temporary basis, require a single overnight service; or perhaps you just require a second meet and greet as an existing client, we offer these in three ways:

  1. Complimentary Virtual Meet and Greet via Zoom or Facetime

  2. $30 + GST 15 minute Meet and Greet

  3. Book a dog walk or pop in visit during which you can be present to meet one of our team.

DOG WALKING

  • Walks and Pop-In Visits are provided within a 2 to 3 hour timeframe surrounding your requested preferred service time. Should your pet require a time-specific walk due to medical or other requirements, kindly let us know at booking and we will be happy to arrange a solution.

  • To ensure the safety of your four-legged family members, we only walk 1-2 dogs at any given time.

  • Our dogs are always walked on-leash, unless in a safe and enclosed dog park and only with your pre-approval, as the dog’s owner. Dog walks are usually around your local neighbourhood.

  • Dog waste bags and dog treats are provided by the Happy Hounds team.

  • Happy Hounds team members can supply their own dog leads, but we encourage you to supply your dog’s harness, if they wear one. We do not use retractable dog leads.

  • If your dog has displayed previous anti-social or aggressive behaviour, you must  inform the Happy Hounds team so future incidents are avoided.

  • The safety of your pet is of the highest importance. We monitor all types of severe weather and will immediately inform you to reschedule a walk, if we believe the weather is too hot or too wet for dog walking.

IN-HOME PET CARE

  • The Happy Hounds team is very aware of the trust you place in us to care for your pets and home. We can assure you that your pets, home and belongings will be treated with the utmost respect, and will remain in the same condition as they were when you left.

  • We guarantee that only qualified Happy Hounds team members will be accessing or entering your home to provide services.

  • As with any of our services, we assign a primary pet minder to each pet; in the event that your regular pet minder is not available, another member of our team will be happy to step in to ensure services are provided as scheduled.

KEYS

  • We highly recommend that pet owners provide a key lockbox or safe if booking regular dog walking or daily drop-in visits. This minimises the risk of misplacing a key and ensures it is always in the same location. It also always allows us or a family / friend access to your home, should there be an emergency in the home wherein the pet must be immediately removed.

  • House keys should be provided, rather than garage remotes. This will allow us to still have access to your home, in the case of a power outage.

  • We  recommend pet owners provide two keys, with one acting as a backup that is kept on file.

  • In the event that Happy Hounds is required to make an additional trip to your home at your request, for example to return keys or to collect a key for only one booked service or overnight stay, this additional trip will carry a fee of $30.00 to cover time and travel costs.

FEES AND PAYMENT

  • Happy Hounds requires payment for all Services before the time of commencement.

  • All Holiday Drop-In Visits and Hourly Pet Care services require a 40% Deposit to be paid upon making the Booking. The balance of 60% is payable at least 1 hour before the commencement of Services. 

  • In order to confirm Overnight Stay bookings, you will be required to pay a 40% non-refundable deposit to secure the booking.

  • If you make payment in full and seek a refund, Happy Hounds will refund the payment less the Deposit. Credits to be used for future services may also be made available instead of refunds. All credits must be used within three (3) months of the date of issue.

  • Please note that there will be some changes to overnight stay fees from Jan 2024. Multi-night discount will no longer apply.

CANCELLATION POLICY

  • Happy Hounds requires a minimum 24 hours cancellation notice for all services.

  • For all Holiday Drop-In Visits, Pet Taxi and Hourly Pet Care services, 20% of the booking fee is non-refundable where these services are cancelled prior to the 24 hour cut off.

  • For all services listed above including our dog walking and pop-in visit service, if the service is cancelled within 24 hours prior to its commencement, you will be charged 40% of the total Booking Fee. If the service is cancelled within 12 hours prior to its commencement, you will be charged the full booking fee. Overnight stay services require a 40% non-refundable deposit to secure the booking, regardless of the time frame in which they may need to be cancelled. If cancelled within 24 hours, you will be charged the full booking fee. 

  • For all Pet Wedding Attendant Services, 50% of the booking fee is non-refundable where these services are cancelled prior to the 24 hour cut off.

  • Should part of a Visit, Hourly Pet Care or Overnight Stay service booking be cancelled prematurely i.e. you return home early, and the service has already commenced, you will still be charged the full booking fee. These costs are attributable to the opportunity cost associated with the booking.

  • If a Dog Walk concludes early due to improper equipment being provided, dog behavioural issues or a client being home and no longer needing a walk, payment is still required in full.

  • Where either Happy Hounds or you are required to cancel the booking due to current travel or border restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Happy Hounds will provide an 80% refund of the total booking fee. You may be asked to provide evidence of these restrictions preventing your travel.

WET WEATHER POLICY

  • In the event of light rain, all dog walking services will continue. In the event of extreme wet weather i.e. very heavy rain or storming, we may be forced to reduce the time of your pet’s walk. This time will be spent playing and interacting with your pet indoors or undercover, or it can be added onto a future service. We will also towel dry your pet after their walk if they become wet.

  • We understand that the weather can be unpredictable, so if you prefer that your dog not be walked in wet weather and you cannot provide 24 hours notice, we will do our best to reschedule the booking for another suitable day and time within the week. This is not to replace another booked walk.

  • If you would like to cancel the walk entirely, please do so out of the 24 hour period in order to avoid a cancellation fee.

PUBLIC HOLIDAY SURCHARGE

(INCLUDING CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR 2024/25) 

  • A 50% holiday surcharge is applied for all services that fall on the following dates: 26 January, 29 March - 01 April, 25 April, 6 May, 14 August (Brisbane), 30 August (GC) and 7 October.  Please see below for the Christmas and New Year public holiday fees. 

  • A 50% holiday surcharge is applied for holiday drop-in visits, pop-in and play visits, dog walking, pet taxi and pet wedding attendant service bookings that fall on the 24 – 26 Dec and 31 Dec – 1 Jan 2023/24. 

  • There is be a 4-night minimum overnight stay booking required for some public holiday dates (location dependent).

  • An $185.00 + GST flat fee is applied for overnight stay bookings that fall on 24 and 25 Dec and 31 Dec (excludes other Happy Hounds services). A 50% public holiday surcharge is applied for the 26 Dec and 1 Jan. Extra pet rates (3 or more) still apply.

  • All overnight stay bookings that run across the Christmas period, other than those dates listed above, will be $105 + GST per night.

  • Overnight stays commence latest 7:30pm each night, concluding at earliest 5am the following day across these public holiday dates.