tERMS AND CONDITIONS

To comply with EU GDPR Data legislation effective May 2018, replacing the Data Protection Act 1998, I am compliant with the policy of transparency regarding your information. Click HERE for my privacy policy on how I use your information.

You will be deemed to have accepted and understood these Terms & Conditions upon proceeding with your booking. Once you have signed up as a client, both you and I are bound by the terms within.

As a professional, I strive to ensure the well being of staff, clients and pets at all times. I am insured through Protectivity for third party liability and professional indemnity, to protect you in the unlikely event of my negligence. I take reasonable precautions and make reasonable adjustments to minimize risk of stress or injury to pets or people while in my care. Accidents can and do happen, more so when working with another species, you agree to accepting this risk when making your inquiry and signing as a client. This does not affect your Statutory Rights.

Clients must inform their consultant of any known behavioural issues, including but not limited to aggression towards people which could affect the safety and welfare of the consultant, public and other animals. Service could be refused immediately should aggressive behaviours occur that were not forewarned about, and you could risk criminal and civil charges. Safety is paramount, risk assessments will be required where appropriate and I may ask you to remove your pet if I feel necessary. Please do not be offended by this, I need to maintain my own health and safety to help you, and others and for my own family and pets.

Should I be unable to attend appointment in the event of circumstances beyond MY reasonable control, I will make every attempt to rearrange the appointment with you. I reserve the right to apply personal judgment and cannot be held responsible or accountable for including but not limited to lightning storms, inclement or hot weather, floods, drought, traffic, road works, fireworks, riots, acts of God, loss of Wifi, telephone or internet signal etc, therefore appointments may be shortened or adapted as a result to protect the safety of the consultant, you and your pet.

Please choose your appointment dates and times carefully; to keep caseloads small for personalised attention to you and your case and to help achieve the best results together, I am unable to provide refunds should you change your mind and appreciate your understanding and note that I work for you outside my full time role as a clinical animal behaviourist for an international animal welfare charity.

All consultations to be paid for in advance at the time of booking in full. It is unfair to expect me to give my professional time and expertise for free.

Fees - All professional fees including remote consults are non-refundable. Fees, form and referral not received at the time of booking will result in your appointment being offered elsewhere due to high demand.

No guarantees are made regarding training and behaviour results (either during the time of the package or after) or your satisfaction; it is unethical and unprofessional to do so. I have studied behaviour and counselling for many years, working with a wide range of animal professionals gaining vast experience. This is to provide you with the most accurate and up-to-date advice and modification of behaviour possible and I promise to continue to develop professionally by attending courses and seminars when and where possible.

What to expect - When working with owners, there is a certain level of participation expected from the client to implement behaviour modification plans as you live with the pet, therefore I cannot be held responsible for the outcome of any work undertaken with you the client or with other professionals involved in your case. You may be asked to video training specifically for analysis or keep a record of behaviour. I do strive to help you and your pet to the best of my ability, knowledge, skillset and qualifications and as such if I feel I cannot I will refer you onwards or advise another course of action.

In your consultation I’ll expect you to help me gather information needed to best advise you, as well as keeping me updated afterwards as to how things are going. Each case is worked as a ‘study of one’ meaning each pet is treated individually so please be prepared to be flexible with how the consults are undertaken and for questions that may evoke emotions. This is not intended to offend, but to make sure my advice is as accurate as possible, you are paying for my expertise.

I reserve the right to reasonably increase or decrease fees and make alterations to these Terms and Conditions without prior notification, I will of course notify you of any change to fees if you make a repeat booking. You reserve the right to take your custom elsewhere should these changes be unacceptable.

The consultations are flexible as I deem appropriate individual to each case and reflect the time spent working on and researching your case both before and after your consultations, expenses and other costs involved in creating the support you need to resolve your case and pride myself in my efforts to do so, when you become a client you agree to me sending you any relevant supporting material, links or information to help resolve your case. There may be cases where the outcomes are not as expected, for instance it might be recommended to rehome or euthanise your pet and will be discussed with you; I’m honest and want my clients to make informed decisions about anything to do with their pets. Some consults may need to be shorter or halted for safety.

The client must have legal rights of the pets the consultation of provided for and be registered with veterinarian. The pet should be up to date with vaccinations, flea, worming and other preventatives needed for the species to reduce zoonotic transmission, I will maintain similar with my own pets.

Client confidentiality is a priority. I will not disclose details to other parties without prior consent and maintain systems to keep sensitive information secure, and said information is dealt with for the duration and only in relevance to your case, according to guidelines set by the Data Protection Act 1998 and the new GDPR protocols that came into effect May 2018 and once your case is closed the data is destroyed. I will only maintain records of the case study which cannot be traced back to you or reveal your personal data. I also use Nord VPN (virtual private network) to protect you when we work remotely together.

I operate a zero tolerance behaviour policy. Unreasonable behaviour, violence or abuse of any type in person, written or howsoever served or directed at anyone including the consultant or anyone present including animals during consultations will not be tolerated and may result in criminal or civil charges, termination of the consultation, and / or support at any stage in the process. In the rare instance you feel aggrieved, contact me and let’s see if we can resolve issues.

Covid Policy - Current guidelines will be adhered to and I may ask you to change your appointment if anyone has symptoms or tested positive with 5 days of your appointment. I have asthma so as a vulnerable group I need to be as fit and healthy to provide service to you and others and take care of my own pets and family. I of course will update you on any positive tests I have should it affect our booking.

I very occasionally video and take photos during service with your verbal permission for educational purposes only and do not share publicly or elsewhere without your express and written permission. To be honest, I am rubbish at photo’s and social media and usually forget to take them but you might be lucky and I remember.

Any questions, please do get in touch with me.

Katie Scott-Dyer ABTC-CAB

Clinical Animal Behaviourist