Kennel Technician Job Description: Duties, Responsibilities, Template & Pay (2026)
A kennel technician feeds, cleans, exercises and watches animals — and is usually the first person to notice that one of them is not right. It is physically demanding, emotionally heavier than the pay band suggests, and the most common way people enter veterinary work. This page has a kennel technician job description template you can copy, what the role pays, and the two things an honest posting has to say.
What a kennel technician does
O*NET describes animal caretakers as feeding and watering animals to schedule, examining and observing them to detect signs of illness, performing grooming duties such as washing, brushing, clipping and trimming, maintaining the facility, keeping records, and advising owners on animal care.
In a veterinary practice, boarding facility or shelter, that comes out as five things.
Husbandry. Feeding to individual diets, fresh water, medications given as directed by a technician or veterinarian, and knowing which animal eats what and when.
Sanitation. Cleaning and disinfecting runs, kennels, cages, bedding and common areas to a protocol that exists because disease spreads fast in a building full of animals. This is most of the shift and the posting should say so.
Observation. Watching intake, output, appetite, gait, breathing and behaviour, and reporting a change to the right person quickly. A kennel technician who notices a dog has not eaten since yesterday is doing clinical work whether or not the title says so.
Handling and exercise. Safe restraint, walking, play groups, and reading an animal that is frightened, painful or reactive. The safety of everybody in the building runs through this skill.
Support. Laundry, dishes, stocking, assisting technicians, and in many practices helping with euthanasia appointments and aftercare.
Kennel technician job description template
Copy this into your ATS or job board, replace the bracketed fields, and delete what does not apply. It is written for a veterinary practice or boarding facility; the customization section covers shelters, day care, grooming, research and emergency hospitals.
Job title
Kennel Technician [/ Kennel Assistant / Animal Care Attendant] — [Practice or facility], [City, ST]
Summary
[Facility name] is hiring a kennel technician for our [practice type] in [city]. We care for about [00] animals at a time across [00] runs and [00] cages, with a team of [0] on shift. Shift is [days and exact hours], [00] hours a week, including [weekends and holidays on a rotation] — animals need care every day and we share that fairly. Pay is [$00.00–$00.00] an hour, paid [weekly]. [No experience needed — we train. Many of our veterinary assistants and technicians started here, and we support people through credentialing.]
Responsibilities
- Feed and water animals to individual diets and schedules, and record intake
- Administer medications as directed by [the veterinary technician or veterinarian] and record them
- Clean and disinfect runs, kennels, cages, bedding and common areas to protocol
- Observe animals for changes in appetite, output, behaviour, gait and breathing, and report promptly
- Walk, exercise and provide enrichment; manage play groups safely where used
- Handle and restrain animals safely, including anxious, painful or reactive ones
- Do laundry, dishes, restocking and facility upkeep
- Assist [veterinary technicians] with treatments, restraint and patient movement
- [Support euthanasia appointments and aftercare with care and discretion]
- Keep accurate records for every animal in your care
Requirements
- Able to work [the shift], including [weekends and holidays on a rotation]
- Able to stand, walk, bend, lift [50] lbs and be on your feet for a full shift
- Comfortable around animals of all sizes and temperaments, including ones that are frightened or unwell
- Able to work around noise, odours and cleaning chemicals
- Reliable — the animals do not have another option if the shift is not covered
Preferred
- Previous kennel, shelter, grooming, veterinary or animal care experience
- [Fear Free or low-stress handling certification — we will pay for it]
- Experience with [practice software]
- Interest in training as a [veterinary assistant or credentialed technician] — we support that
- [Spanish and English]
Pay and benefits
- [$00.00–$00.00] an hour, reviewed at [90] days and [12] months
- [Weekend and holiday differential]
- [Health, dental and vision at [00] hours a week], [401(k) with match], [PTO]
- [Pet care discount and staff pet allowance], [uniforms provided]
- [We pay for Fear Free certification and support people through veterinary assistant training]
- [Scheduled breaks and staffing levels that let you take them]
How to apply
[Apply here / text KENNEL to 00000 / come in and ask for [name]]. We reply within [24] hours and you are welcome to shadow a shift, paid, before deciding.
Requirements: what is required, what is preferred, and what costs you applicants
Animal caretaking is growing fast — 7% or more through 2034 with about 74,600 openings a year — and it draws people who want the work rather than people who want any job. That changes what the posting should emphasise.
| Requirement | What to know |
|---|---|
| Experience | Rarely necessary. O*NET reports 64% of entrants with a high school diploma or equivalent, and the practical skills are trainable. What is not trainable in a fortnight is calmness around animals, which you assess in a working trial rather than on a résumé. |
| Physical requirements | State them plainly: lifting up to 50 lbs of dog, standing all shift, bending, wet floors, noise and odour. Also state the scratch-and-bite reality — animals that are frightened or in pain sometimes react, and a posting that acknowledges it reads as honest rather than off-putting. |
| Weekend and holiday work | Non-negotiable in this field, because the animals are there every day. Say it early and say how the rotation is shared. Candidates who want this work already know; hiding it just delays the conversation. |
| The emotional side | The part almost every posting omits. Kennel technicians deal with sick animals, neglect cases and euthanasia. Saying so, and saying what support exists, is one of the few genuine differentiators available and it filters for people who will cope. |
| Certification | Fear Free and low-stress handling are real, inexpensive and valued. Offer to pay. |
| Progression | The strongest card. This is the standard route into veterinary assisting and then credentialing as a technician — a $22.78 median and a different career. Name it, and name whether you support the training. |
| Reliability | Worth stating as a requirement with a reason attached, because in this job a no-show means animals are not fed on time. Candidates respond to the reason better than to the demand. |
Kennel technician duties, written for a posting
Give the facts of the building: how many animals, how many runs and cages, how many staff on a shift, whether there are play groups, and whether the facility is boarding, medical or both. An experienced kennel worker reads those and knows whether the workload is survivable.
Say what proportion of the shift is cleaning. It is usually most of it, and understating that is the leading cause of a two-week tenure. Say it and pair it with the observation work, which is what makes the job more than sanitation.
Keep the list to nine or ten lines, ordered by how much of the shift each takes, and include medication administration and record-keeping if they are part of the role — they carry real responsibility and they are what the job leads on from.
How to customize it by facility
Veterinary practice
Say the practice size, the doctors, whether there are inpatients overnight, and how the kennel role supports the technicians. Lead with the progression into veterinary assisting — see the veterinary assistant and veterinary technician job descriptions for where the path goes and what it pays.
Boarding and day care
Higher animal counts, play group management and owner interaction. Say the group sizes and the supervision ratios, because that is both a safety question and a workload one. Peak periods around holidays are the reality of this segment — disclose them.
Animal shelter and rescue
Be honest about intake volume, length of stay, medical and behavioural cases, and euthanasia. Shelters recruit people who want the mission; they lose them to burnout when the posting oversold the work. Say what support and supervision exist.
Emergency and specialty hospital
Overnight shifts, critical patients, higher acuity and more medical support work. Pay and differentials are usually better — say them. This suits people heading toward credentialing.
Grooming facilities
If bathing and prep for groomers is part of the role, say so; it is a different skill and a different pace, and it can be a route into grooming as a trade.
What it costs to reach kennel technicians on social
Hourly customer-facing roles are the cheapest audience in our 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark: across 181 retail and corporate campaigns the median cost per applicant was $8.58, with a volume-blended figure of $3.66 and a 26% apply rate — the highest of any sector. Across all 891 managed campaigns the median was $13.88 and the cheapest decile $2.91.
At those numbers the media cost is almost never what stops the role being filled. Across the benchmark, campaigns converting over 20% of clicks paid a median $4.41 an applicant and those under 10% paid $53.77 — a twelvefold difference driven by the posting and the application form, not the auction. Three questions on the form and a same-day callback is the whole optimisation. One practical note for this role: the audience self-selects on the animals, so a real photograph of the facility and the team outperforms stock imagery by a wide margin.
Hiring across the practice? See the veterinary assistant and veterinary technician job descriptions for the roles this one leads to, and frontline recruiting for the hiring side.
Writing the ad version
The description is the document. The advertisement is read on a phone by somebody who has other options at a similar rate. It needs the rate, the exact shift including the weekend rotation, that no experience is needed, and where the job leads — in the first three lines. Our campaign data puts the best-converting length at 201–400 words, and for a role like this the shorter end works.
Three or four questions on the form, then call the same day. Every extra field costs completions, and the candidate you want has applied somewhere else this morning.
What kennel technicians earn
Animal caretakers had a median of $17.00 an hour, $35,360 a year in 2025, across about 392,100 people, with roughly 74,600 openings a year and projected growth of 7% or more — much faster than average.
| Role | Median pay (2025) | Employed | Openings per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Veterinary technologists and technicians | $22.78/hr · $47,380 | 131,400 | ~13,400 |
| Stockers and order fillers | $17.95/hr · $37,330 | 2,764,800 | ~472,300 |
| Animal caretakers (kennel technicians) | $17.00/hr · $35,360 | 392,100 | ~74,600 |
The first row is the argument. A credentialed veterinary technician earns about $5.78 an hour more — roughly $12,000 a year — and the standard route there runs through exactly this job. A practice that supports people into veterinary assisting and then credentialing is offering a career rather than a shift, and it should say so with the numbers attached.
Against that, the immediate competition is stocking and retail at about a dollar more for work that is cleaner and less emotionally demanding. That is the honest position. What this role has instead is growth — 7% or more, one of the faster rates in this library — the animals themselves, and a ladder into a credentialed profession. Those are the terms to compete on.
Frequently asked questions
What does a kennel technician do?
A kennel technician feeds and waters animals to individual diets and schedules, administers medications as directed, cleans and disinfects runs, kennels and cages to protocol, observes animals for changes in appetite, output, behaviour and breathing and reports them, walks and exercises animals, handles and restrains them safely, does laundry and facility upkeep, and assists veterinary technicians with treatments and patient movement.
How much do kennel technicians make?
Animal caretakers had a median of $17.00 an hour, or $35,360 a year, in 2025. For comparison, credentialed veterinary technicians earn a median of $22.78 an hour — about $12,000 a year more — and the usual route there starts in a kennel role, which is the progression worth naming in a posting.
What qualifications does a kennel technician need?
None formally — O*NET reports 64% of entrants with a high school diploma or equivalent, and the practical skills are trained on the job. What matters is calmness and confidence around animals of all temperaments, physical capacity for a full shift, and reliability, since animals depend on the shift being covered.
Is kennel work mostly cleaning?
Yes, for most of the shift, and a posting that says so gets better hires. Cleaning and disinfecting runs, kennels, bedding and common areas to protocol is the core of the job, because disease spreads quickly in a building full of animals. The other part — observing animals and catching a change early — is what makes the role more than sanitation.
Do kennel technicians work weekends and holidays?
Almost always, because animals need care every day of the year. The best approach in a posting is to state it early and explain how the rotation is shared fairly, rather than burying it. Candidates drawn to this work already expect it; hiding it only delays the conversation.
What should a kennel technician job description include?
Animal capacity, number of runs and cages, staff on a shift, whether the facility is boarding, medical or both, the exact shift with the weekend and holiday rotation, the hourly rate, the physical demands including lifting weight, an honest statement of how much of the shift is cleaning, whether the role involves euthanasia support, and the progression into veterinary assisting.
Is kennel technician a good way to get into veterinary work?
It is the most common route. Kennel work teaches animal handling, observation and clinic rhythm, and practices frequently promote from it into veterinary assisting and then support people through credentialing as a technician — an occupation growing 9% with a $22.78 median. A practice that funds that path should make it the centrepiece of the posting.
Why is it hard to hire kennel technicians?
Because the rate sits about a dollar below stocking and retail work that is cleaner and less emotionally demanding, and because many postings oversell the job as playing with animals. The facilities that fill reliably are honest about the cleaning and the difficult parts, state the weekend rotation up front, and name the route into veterinary assisting with the pay attached.
Grooming as well as boarding? The dog groomer job description covers the commission arithmetic and the equipment question that decide every grooming application — and the bather route that builds a bench when experienced groomers cannot be hired.
Other job description templates
Hiring kennel technicians?
The description is the document. Reaching the people who want this work rather than any work is the job. That is what we run.
Wage, employment, projection and task descriptions for animal caretakers (SOC 39-2021): O*NET OnLine, republishing U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 OEWS wage data and BLS employment projections. Veterinary technician comparison: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Veterinary Technologists and Technicians. Cost-per-applicant and apply-rate figures: Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark, 891 campaigns and 1,334 campaign-months.