Facility Opening & Closing: the full procedure

Open and close the facility so every animal is counted and secured, every enclosure and gate is verified, and the building is monitored overnight.

• Applies to: Opening & closing kennel attendant on shift.
• Frequency: Every day, at open and at close.
• Scope: Covers the open/close safety routine for the building, enclosures, and headcount. Animal-welfare and health monitoring follows the facility’s veterinary/health plan, not this SOP.

What you need

• Daily headcount roster (boarding list)
• Opening / closing checklist
• Two-person sign-off sheet
• Alarm / keys
• Thermometer

The procedure, step by step

1. Pull the roster & count heads — Before anything else, print the day’s boarding list and physically count every animal against it, confirming each is in its assigned run.
2. Inspect every enclosure, latch & gate — Walk each run, kennel door, play-yard gate, and perimeter fence; confirm self-latching hardware closes fully with no gaps, and tag out any damaged panel.
3. Check food & water — Confirm each animal has clean potable water and that feeding stations and bowls are filled per the feeding chart.
4. Verify systems & temperature — Confirm HVAC, lighting, and ventilation run and read the kennel thermometer to ensure the room sits in the safe comfort range.
5. Open or run business — Once the count, enclosures, water, and systems all check out, sign the opening sheet and begin the day — or at close, begin final rounds.
6. Final rounds & re-count (close) — At close, walk every run a second time, re-count every animal against the roster, and confirm each is secured for the night.
7. Lock the perimeter (close) — Latch and lock all gates, doors, double-door entries, and the perimeter fence so no animal can escape overnight.
8. Arm overnight monitoring & alarm (close) — Set overnight monitoring/cameras, arm the alarm, and complete the two-person sign-off confirming the headcount matched.

Quality check before you finish

• Headcount matches the roster at open AND at close.
• Every latch, gate, and fence section closes fully with no gaps.
• Every animal has clean potable water.
• Thermometer reads inside the safe comfort range.
• All gates, doors, and perimeter locked at close.
• Overnight monitoring active and alarm armed.
• Both opening and closing sheets signed by two people.

This is a free, source-anchored standard operating procedure (SOP) you can print and hand to staff. It documents the work sequence for a Pet Boarding & Daycare business — not safety or regulatory rulings, which defer to the cited authorities, the applicable code, and your own health-and-safety plan. Open the tool above to print it, toggle ink-saver, or (with a free ToolFluency Business account) edit it to match your own workflow.

Sources

• IBPSA — Facility Safety & Monitoring (ibpsa.com)
• Gingr — Daily Kennel Staff Checklist & Security (gingrapp.com)
• California Pet Boarding Facilities Act — Water & Containment (animallaw.info)