Texas kennel law, and what we tell you anyway

In 2023 Texas passed HB 2063, now Chapter 824 of the Health and Safety Code. It was written after a boarding facility fire in Williamson County in 2021 killed 75 pets. The building had no fire suppression system and nobody on site overnight.

What the law requires

Chapter 824 says a kennel must give you written notice before it takes your dog if the dog will be left unattended without an employee present, and it must tell you whether the building has a fire sprinkler system. You have to sign that notice before you leave your animal. The penalty for skipping it is $500 per animal, per day.

Whether it applies to us

As we operate today, it does not. Section 824.002 exempts a kennel that boards not more than three dogs or cats at any time, and we board 3. We are telling you this rather than quietly claiming compliance with a law we are not subject to, because a boarding page that implies state oversight it does not have is exactly the kind of thing you should be suspicious of.

Worth being precise about, since the number you see elsewhere on this site is 4: we cap the house at 4 dogs, and one of those is Penny, who lives here rather than boarding here. So 4 dogs are in the house and 3 of them are guests. If we ever boarded more than three at once, Chapter 824 would apply to us in full, and this page would become a signed form rather than an explanation.

The disclosures, either way

The two facts the law cares about are the two facts you actually want to know, so here they are regardless of whether we are required to publish them.

Will my dog be left unattended?

We both work from home, so the dogs almost always have company. We are not going to tell you your dog is never alone, because that would mean nobody in this house ever runs an errand or does a school run. What is true is that both of us work from home, so an empty house is the exception here rather than the daily default, and dogs are never left overnight without us.

Is there a fire sprinkler system?

This answer is not published yet, and it should be before anyone books. Most single family homes in Texas do not have sprinkler systems, and saying so plainly is better than leaving you to assume. We will state the real answer here rather than guess at it.

Sources

• HB 2063, 88th Texas Legislature, full text
• Texas Health and Safety Code, Title 10, Chapter 824. Definitions in 824.001, exemptions in 824.002, notice requirement in 824.003, civil penalty in 824.004.