Terms of Service

Effective September 21, 2026 · Last updated September 21, 2026

These terms are the agreement between you and Housley Happy Paws when you book pet care with us. Please read them — especially the sections on cancellation, emergency veterinary care, and what we're responsible for. By requesting a booking, you agree to them.

Who we are and what we do

Housley Happy Paws is a pet-care business owned and operated by Rachel Housley in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We provide dog walking, drop-in visits for dogs and cats, and in-home house sitting. We serve Lancaster, Lititz, Manheim, Mountville, and Willow Street, Pennsylvania.

Services are carried out by Rachel or by a member of the Housley Happy Paws team. When a team member is assigned to your pet, Rachel remains responsible for the service and oversees the visit.

We are a pet-care service. We are not a veterinary practice, a boarding kennel, a training service, or a grooming service, and nothing we tell you is veterinary advice.

Booking a service

When you submit a booking through our website, you are making a request, not a confirmed appointment. A booking is confirmed only when we accept it — you'll see the status change in your client portal and you'll get an email. Please don't assume a date is held until you see that confirmation.

We may need to decline a request if we're already booked, if it falls outside our service area, or if it isn't a good fit for your pet's needs. If we do, we'll tell you why.

For new clients and for house sitting, we may ask for a Meet & Greet before the first service, so we can meet your pet, see your home, and go through entry, feeding and routine with you in person. Meet & Greets are free.

Pricing

Current rates for every service are published on our website and shown in the booking form. Rather than repeat them here, where they could fall out of date, the rate you agree to is the total shown to you in the booking form when you submit your request, and repeated in your confirmation.

That total is built from:

• the base rate for the service and length you chose;
• an additional-pet fee for each pet beyond the first;
• a puppy surcharge, where it applies;
• a holiday surcharge for visits on the holiday dates we publish. For house sitting, a stay that includes any published holiday date is treated as a holiday stay; and
• any discount you qualify for, shown as its own line.

The booking form shows your exact total before you submit. If a service runs materially longer than booked, or your pet's needs change in a way that changes the price, we'll tell you and agree it with you before charging anything extra.

We may change our rates at any time. A change never applies to a booking we've already confirmed.

Payment

Payments are processed by Stripe, Inc. We do not see or store your card number — you enter it on a page hosted by Stripe.

• One-off bookings are paid by card through our checkout, or by an invoice link we send you.
• Saved cards. You may choose to save a card so future visits can be charged without you re-entering it. Saving a card authorizes us to charge it for services you've booked. You can remove a saved card at any time in your client portal.
• Recurring and weekly bookings are charged on a regular schedule for the visits in that period. Your confirmation tells you when.
• Tips are entirely optional and always go to the person who cared for your pet.

If a payment fails, we'll let you know and try again. If it stays unpaid, we may pause future bookings until the balance is settled.

Cancellations and refunds

The 48-hour window is measured from the scheduled start of the service. For a house sit, it's measured from the start of the stay.

You can cancel from your client portal, or by calling, texting or emailing us. The time we receive your cancellation is the time that counts.

If we cancel

If we have to cancel a confirmed service — illness, weather, a vehicle problem, anything on our side — you are not charged, and anything you've already paid for that service is refunded in full. We will always try to offer an alternative time or, where we can, another member of our team.

Refunds

Refunds are made back to the original card through Stripe. Once we issue one, it usually reaches your account within 5–10 business days, depending on your bank.

If something goes wrong

If a visit didn't happen, was cut short, or wasn't what you booked, contact us first — call, text or email using the details at the bottom of this page. We will look into it and, where we got it wrong, refund or credit you. We'd much rather fix it directly than have you open a dispute with your bank, which takes far longer for both of us.

Your responsibilities

Our care is only as good as the information you give us. You agree to:

• Give us accurate and complete information about your pet — including medications, allergies, medical conditions, and any history of biting, aggression, escaping, or fear-based reactivity. You must tell us about a bite history. This is a safety matter for whoever walks into your home.
• Keep your pet's vaccinations current, including rabies as required by Pennsylvania law, and have your pet licensed where the law requires it.
• Keep your contact details and emergency contact up to date, and be reachable during a booked service.
• Provide everything your pet needs for the booked period — food, medication, litter, waste bags, leash and collar or harness with current ID.
• Tell us promptly if anything changes — your pet's health, your travel dates, your entry code, your return time.
• Make sure your home is safe to work in and free of hazards we haven't been warned about.

If your pet becomes ill or injures someone as a result of information you didn't give us, that is your responsibility, not ours.

Access to your home

You are responsible for giving us reliable entry — a key, a lockbox, a door code, or a smart lock. Please test it before your service starts.

If we arrive for a confirmed service and cannot get in, we will try to reach you and your emergency contact. If we still can't get in, the visit is treated as a late cancellation and the full fee applies — we've reserved that time and traveled to you. We'd far rather this never happened, so please check your entry method in advance.

Entry details are stored with your account and are visible only to Rachel and to the team member assigned to your visits.

Veterinary emergencies

We will always try to reach you first, then your emergency contact. Where we can, we'll take your pet to the veterinarian listed on their profile; if that isn't possible or it's an emergency, we'll go to the nearest available emergency veterinary hospital.

You are responsible for the cost of any veterinary treatment, including transport, and you agree to reimburse us for any veterinary cost we pay on your behalf. Please keep your pet's veterinarian details accurate in your profile.

When we may decline or end a service

We may decline a booking, or end a service that has already started, if:

• a pet behaves aggressively or in a way that we reasonably believe puts anyone's safety at risk;
• a pet appears seriously ill or injured and needs care beyond what we provide;
• your home is unsafe, or conditions are materially different from what you described;
• the care needed is materially different from what was booked; or
• anyone at the property is abusive toward our team.

If we end a service for one of these reasons, we'll contact you and your emergency contact immediately and make sure your pet is safe before we leave. Fees for the portion already performed still apply.

Photos and social media

We take photos during visits and include them in your visit report — that's part of the service and they're for you.

Using a photo of your pet publicly, on our website or social media, is separate and is your choice. Each pet profile has a setting for it, and it's yours to change at any time. If it's off, we don't post.

Whatever that setting says, we never post anything that identifies where you live — no house, no exterior, no street, no house number, no neighborhood — and we never post during an active house sit, while you're away.

Our responsibility and its limits

We take the care of your pet and your home seriously, and we carry insurance for our work. We will perform our services with reasonable skill and care.

That said, animals are unpredictable and some things are outside anyone's control. To the fullest extent Pennsylvania law allows:

• We are not liable for illness, injury, escape, or death of a pet that happens without negligence on our part — including from a pre-existing condition, an illness or injury you didn't disclose, or a pet's own behavior.
• We are not liable for damage caused by your pet to your home or to anyone else's property.
• We are not liable for loss or damage caused by anyone else with access to your home during a booked period.
• We are not liable for indirect or consequential losses.
• Except where the law does not permit it to be limited, our total liability for any one booking will not exceed the amount you paid for that booking.

Nothing here limits our liability for anything that cannot lawfully be limited.

Your account

You are responsible for keeping your sign-in details private and for what happens under your account. Tell us right away if you think someone else has access to it. We may suspend or close an account that is being misused, or where fees stay unpaid. You can ask us to close your account at any time.

How we handle the information in your account is set out in our Privacy Policy.

Disputes and governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute that can't be resolved between us will be brought in the state or federal courts serving Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and we both agree to that jurisdiction.

Before that, please talk to us. Most things are fixable with a phone call.

If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in force.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. The version in force for your booking is the one published when we confirmed it. If we make a significant change, we'll tell you rather than relying on you to check this page.

How to reach us

See also our Privacy Policy and our Accessibility Statement.