Can I Get a Refund from a Florida Dog Trainer Who Ignored My Instructions?
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Reviewed & verified by A. Jason Velez, Esq.*
Managing Attorney, 1LAW · Last reviewed January 1, 2026
Legal Inquiry
Consumer Legal Issue
We recently hired a dog trainer who boarded and trained our dog for three weeks. Our dog came back sick with a UTI, and when we took her to the vet, they said it may have been because she was left in unsanitary conditions. The trainer was also feeding her food we explicitly asked him not to give her. We sent her with her own food, but he fed her hot dogs and a brand of food we had asked him to stop using, which caused minor to mild allergic reactions. We paid over $2,000 to train her. She came home not only ill but with no progress, and today she attacked a person and another dog. We want a refund. How can we move forward?
Attorney Answer
You have a solid basis for a refund claim here, built on two legal ideas: breach of contract and a boarding provider's duty of care. When you pay someone to board and train your dog, Florida law treats that as a bailment, meaning the trainer took temporary custody of your property (in this case, a living animal) and owed a duty to take reasonable care of her. Leaving her in unsanitary conditions that a vet believes caused a UTI, and ignoring your specific written feeding instructions, both point to a failure of that duty.
If you had a signed contract or written instructions about her food and care, and the trainer did not follow them, that is also a straightforward breach of contract. You paid over $2,000 for a service with specific terms, and those terms were not honored.
Concrete next steps: 1. Gather your evidence now, while it is fresh. This includes the written care and feeding instructions, any texts or emails with the trainer, the vet's diagnosis and their statement about unsanitary conditions, and receipts for what you paid and any vet bills. 2. Send a written demand letter to the trainer. State plainly what was agreed to, what happened instead, and that you are requesting a full refund plus reimbursement for the vet visit, with a deadline, such as 14 days, to respond. 3. If the trainer refuses or ignores you, file in small claims court. Florida's small claims process is built for disputes like this one and does not require a lawyer, though you are welcome to have one help you prepare. 4. If the boarding conditions were genuinely unsanitary or unsafe, consider also filing a complaint with your local animal control agency, since they can investigate care conditions at boarding and training facilities.
One note of caution: connecting today's attack on a person and another dog directly to the trainer's conduct will be harder to prove than the refund and vet bill claims, since a court will want evidence tying the behavior change to something the trainer did. Keep it in mind as a secondary issue, not your main claim.
This is general legal information, not legal advice. A Florida consumer or contract attorney, or the small claims clerk's office, can help you evaluate the strength of your specific documentation and walk you through filing.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a lawyer to sue in small claims court?
No, Florida's small claims court is designed to let people represent themselves, though you can hire an attorney if you prefer. Bring your evidence, contract, and receipts to your hearing.
What if the trainer never gave us anything in writing?
You can still have a case based on an oral agreement and the trainer's duty of reasonable care as a bailee, but written proof, like texts confirming your feeding instructions, makes your claim much stronger.
Can I get the vet bills covered along with a refund?
Yes, you can generally ask for both the refund of the training fee and reimbursement for the vet visit caused by the unsanitary conditions, as long as you can connect the UTI to how she was cared for during boarding.
