Terms & Conditions

Booking, payment & cancellation policy

A meet & greet is required for all new clients before a booking can be accepted.
Stays during Bank Holidays, Christmas, New Year and Easter may incur additional fees, of which you will be advised at the time of booking.
Full payment is required at the time of booking for stays of 5 days or less, or stays starting within 30 days of the booking date. Stays commencing 30 days after the booking date can either be paid in full or a 50% deposit with the remaining balance paid a minimum of 7 days before the arrival date.
Requested booking dates are not secured until payment of the total fees or the deposit – whichever is applicable to the stay – have been paid. We are not able to keep booking dates open for any longer than 72 hours from the booking request without payment of the total fees or deposit.
Dog walking & daycare services will be invoiced on a weekly or monthly basis as agreed.
Upon confirmation of a booking you agree to provide a completed Registration Form, and its submission confirms the owner’s acceptance of the Terms and Conditions. This is only required once for new clients but please remember to update us if anything changes.
Payment can be made by bank transfer, Paypal, cash or cheque (payable to Mr M Vines)
Notice of cancellation given up to 7 days prior to the arrival date will receive a full refund. Any cancellations thereafter will receive a 50% refund. Alternatively, any fees paid can be held over for future bookings.
If you wish to collect your dog before the confirmed end date of their stay you will not be entitled to a refund or partial refund.
If Ruffles is unable to provide the service agreed we will do our best to make alternative care arrangements, except in extreme, unforeseen circumstances where we will endeavour to give you as much notice as possible.

About your dog

You agree to provide full, detailed and honest information in the Registration Form about your dog and to keep us informed of any changes.
We cannot accept any breed of dog listed under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 including Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro and Wolf hybrids.
We are unable to accept dogs who are aggressive, destructive, unruly, not fully house trained or have any known behavioural problems. Please be honest about any behavioural concerns. Failure to disclose something could put other dogs and people at serious risk.
Should any dog show aggressive tendencies to people or other dogs, or behaviour which is beyond reasonable acceptance, you or your nominated emergency contact will be informed. We will place the dog in a separate area of the house away from any other dog guests until your dog is collected.
You are responsible for all costs (including but not limited to medical care, legal fees, etc.) if your dog should attack, bite or injure another animal or person.
We are unable to accept bitches who are, or due to be, in season during the boarding dates or for daycare.
You are required to provide sufficient food for the duration of your dog’s stay. If insufficient food is provided we will aim to source additional food of the same type or similar for which you agree to reimburse the costs.
You are responsible to provide a secure collar, harness and lead. You agree for us to attach our own ID tag to your dog’s collar, harness or lead for the duration of the stay.

Health & medications

All dogs must be up to date with their vaccinations and you must provide a copy of your dog’s valid vaccination record prior to boarding. Any new vaccinations must have been given at least 4 weeks prior to the arrival date of boarding.
All dogs must be on regular worming, tick and flea treatments. In the event of tick or flea infestation your dog will be treated and you agree to reimburse any costs.
Dogs must be in good general health and show no signs of contagious illness on the arrival date.
Any medications will be administered strictly as directed but we cannot be held responsible for any complications that may arise as a result.
You are required to sign the Consent Form if you give permission for your dog to receive first aid from us (including emergency CPR), should your dog fall ill or have an emergency while in our care.
You must provide the name and contact number of someone authorised to make a decision on your behalf about your dog in an emergency, in the event we are unable to make contact with you first. We will always endeavour to take your dog to its usual vet, however, depending on the circumstances, we may need to go to the nearest one available. You agree that you are responsible for any veterinary fees incurred during the stay and these must be reimbursed when you collect your dog at the end of the stay.

Unforeseen costs or purchases

You agree to be responsible for any reasonable costs incurred, including but not limited to, payment for any damage caused, vet fees and any additional food required. These must be paid on collection of your dog.
You are encouraged to bring your dog’s bed, blankets, food bowls and toys and any other familiar belongings which will make them feel comfortable, however we cannot be held responsible for any damage to or loss of these items.

Insurance & License

Our £5m Public Liability insurance is with Pet Business Insurance and details of the policy schedule can be seen on request. We also recommend that your dog has its own insurance for sickness, accident or injury and for third party liability prior to boarding.
We are licensed for home dog boarding & daycare by Dartford Borough Council and a copy of the license can be seen on request.
We are DBS checked and the certificate can be seen on request.

Photography

In order to receive the ‘pupdates’ you agree to your dog being photographed during the stay. Ownership and copyright of the photos and videos remain with Ruffles and may be used on our website, in marketing materials or shared on our social media.
Should you wish for your dog’s photo not to be used in this way, please inform us before the stay.

Privacy policy: personal information about you and your dog

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), enforced from May 25th, 2018, aims to protect the fundamental right to privacy and the protection of personal data of European Union (EU) citizens. At Ruffles we take your right to privacy seriously and provide this privacy policy for transparency in how we collect, store and use your personal information.

All the information you share about you and your dog on the Registration Form is not only a legal condition of the boarding license, but also essential to provide the best care of your dog during the stay. All information provided will be kept private and confidential and stored on a computer database located at the premises. The computer is protected by high quality anti-virus and scanning software and backed up hourly.

We receive, collect and store any information you enter on our website through the ‘Contact Us’ webform, or provide us in any other way, eg. by enquiry email or phone call. This includes personally identifiable information in the form of your name, email address, phone number and your enquiry message.

This information will be used to reply to your enquiry and stored on our client database for future communications for the following purposes:

To provide and operate the Services (eg. response to enquiries, booking confirmations, requests for payment, requests for reviews etc.);
To provide our Users with ongoing customer assistance (eg. assistance with or about a booking, arrangements for drop off/collection etc.);
To be able to contact our Visitors and Users with general or personalised service-related notices and promotional messages (eg. the ‘Pupdates’ service to keep you updated during your dog’s stay, special offers, seasonal greetings);
To comply with any applicable laws and regulations (eg. any changes to your personal information, updates to your dog’s vaccination record etc.).

Our website is hosted on the Wix.com platform. Wix.com provides us with the online platform that allows us to sell our products and services to you. Your data may be stored through Wix.com’s data storage, databases and the general Wix.com applications on secure servers behind a firewall.

We may use software tools – including cookies - to measure and collect session information, including page response times, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information, and methods used to browse away from the page. For a list of cookies used by the Wix.com platform please click here.

If you don’t want us to process or store your data anymore, or if you would like to access, correct, amend or delete any personal information we have about you please contact us at matt@rufflesdogs.com.

We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time, so please review it frequently. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon their posting on the website. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated, so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.