About All Things Dog

We check, so you don't have to guess

All Things Dog is a New Zealand certification body and directory for the people who breed, train, groom, board and care for dogs – and for the owners trying to find the good ones.

Why we exist

Buying a puppy or booking care for a dog is one of the least transparent purchases a New Zealander makes. Listings look identical. Claims are easy to make and almost impossible to check. The people doing it properly – health testing, socialisation, honest paperwork – compete against people who simply say they do. All Things Dog closes that gap. Every business in our directory has been assessed against a published benchmark before it appears, and the assessment is repeated rather than issued once and forgotten. When you see **The Tailmark**, someone has actually looked.

A mark that means something specific

The Tailmark is not a paid membership. It indicates that a business has been assessed against the published All Things Dog standards for its category. The full requirements and assessment guidance are available for anyone to read. Assessment considers the evidence and practices relevant to the service, rather than one identical checklist for every business. Certification is reassessed yearly, and concerns raised at any time can prompt an earlier review. If the standards are no longer met, certification can be suspended or withdrawn.

What we do

• Certify

  We assess breeders and dog businesses against the ATD benchmarks – documentation, references and premises – before they are listed.

• Connect

  Our directory, breed match quiz and ancestry records help owners find the right dog and the right people to care for it.

• Hold to account

  Applications sit on a public notice board while anyone can raise a concern, and certification can be withdrawn.

How certification works

• 1. Apply

  Apply first, then prepare the evidence required by your category's standards. Applying alone does not award a Tailmark.

• 2. Assess

  When ready within the first 12 months, ask our team about the initial inspection. An assessor checks the applicable standards, references and premises.

• 3. Publish for challenge

  The application goes on our public notice board so anyone who knows the business can raise something before we certify.

• 4. Certify and re-check

  The Tailmark is awarded after assessment and reassessed yearly – or sooner if a concern is upheld.

Why we started All Things Dog

All Things Dog began with a frustration we could not ignore: families were being told they were buying a puppy from a responsible breeder, only to find themselves facing health or temperament problems they had not been prepared for. When health testing was missing or unclear, the consequences could be heartbreaking for the dog and the family, with unexpected vet bills running into the thousands. Choosing someone to care for a dog can feel just as uncertain. Whether it is a breeder, daycare, boarding kennel, groomer or dog walker, families deserve a clearer way to understand what responsible practice looks like. So we created All Things Dog to set clear, practical standards that put dog welfare first and reflect how these businesses actually operate. By publishing those standards and assessing businesses against them, we want to help families make informed choices and recognise the people doing right by dogs.

What we stand for

• Independent of the money

  The people who assess a business are not the people who sell to it. A partner cannot buy a Tailmark, upgrade their way to one, or pay to keep it after a failed review.

• Published, not proprietary

  Our benchmarks are on this site in full. If we hold a business to a standard, you get to read that standard and judge whether it is a good one.

• Welfare before commerce

  Where a welfare concern and a commercial relationship pull in opposite directions, the dog comes first. A partner who stops meeting the benchmark loses certification, whatever they pay us.

• Answerable to challenge

  Every application is publicly visible before it is approved, and anyone can raise a concern about any partner at any time. Certification you cannot question is not worth much.

How we pay for it

Owners never pay to search, take the quiz or read the notice board. All Things Dog is funded by the businesses we certify, through their partner subscriptions and marketplace listings. That is exactly why the assessment has to be independent of the money: a partner cannot buy a Tailmark, and paying more does not change an assessment outcome. Promoted placements are always labelled as advertising.

Questions we get asked

• Are you a government body?

  No. All Things Dog is a private certification body. We do not replace your obligations under the Animal Welfare Act 1999 or your local council's requirements – certification sits on top of the law, not instead of it.

• Do you rank or recommend individual partners?

  No, and we will not. Every certified partner has met the same published benchmark, and ordering them by preference would turn an objective standard into an opinion. Use the directory filters and the breed match quiz to narrow the field yourself.

• Can a business pay to be certified?

  Partners pay a subscription to be listed once they are certified. They cannot pay to pass. Assessment outcomes are decided before any commercial arrangement is discussed, and a failed review ends the listing regardless of what has been paid.

• What happens if a certified partner does something wrong?

  Tell us. Concerns are acknowledged within one working day and investigated against the benchmark the partner was certified under. Outcomes range from a corrective action plan to certification being withdrawn and the listing removed.

• Do you cover anything other than dogs?

  Not today. The benchmarks were written for canine breeding and care, and we would rather do one species properly than several vaguely.

Run a dog business?

You have 12 months from your application date to meet the applicable standards and can ask for your initial inspection as soon as you are ready within that window. The Tailmark follows a successful assessment, not the application.