Home boarding or kennels in Basildon?
Of the 19 dog boarding, day-care and home-boarding businesses listed for Basildon, nine run boarding kennels and nine are home boarders, licensed to keep dogs in their own house rather than on a purpose-built site. The remaining business, Lucky Pups Essex, is a day care with its own premises rather than either of the two.
What a boarding kennels gives you
A boarding kennels means your dog has its own kennel and run on a site built for it, with set feeding and exercise times and more than one household's dogs on site at once. Basildon's nine kennels are Isadene Boarding Kennels & Cattery in Pitsea (also a cattery, trading since 1986), Kingstown Kennels & Cattery near Billericay (individually heated kennels, more than 30 years), Tudor Lodge Luxury Boarding Kennels & Cattery in Wickford (licensed for up to 60 dogs), Pawfection Dog Boarding in Basildon town centre (10 climate-controlled kennels), Kristie Boarding & Grooming near Billericay (capped at 12 dogs), Bullyview in Wickford (family-run, more than 30 years), Essex Pooch Palace and Essex Luxury Dog Boarding, both based at Smilers Farm in Wickford but run as two separate businesses, and Oatcakes Pet Lodge off the A127 in Wickford (single and double kennels, with a published price list).
What a home boarder gives you
A home boarder means your dog lives in somebody's house instead, usually alongside only one household's own dogs at a time; the address is given once you book, not published here. Basildon's nine home boarders are Purrfection Pets and Pawfect Pals Essex in Bowers Gifford, Small Paws Playdates & Home Boarding and George's Doggy Daycare in Wickford, The Daisy Hotel for Dachshunds in Laindon (Dachshunds only), Helen's Home Boarding for Dogs, Holly's Hounds and The Little Doggy Inn in Billericay, and Paw Prints in Vange.
Which suits your dog
A kennels tends to suit a dog that is happy with its own space and a set routine, and there is often more room left during a busy school-holiday week simply because a kennels takes more dogs at once. A home boarder tends to suit a dog that finds a group of strange dogs stressful, or one that is used to living in a house rather than a run; The Daisy Hotel for Dachshunds is a further example of a home boarder specialising in a single breed. Neither type is licensed to a higher standard than the other by default: Basildon Borough Council licenses both boarding kennels and home boarding under the same regulations, and asking to see the certificate is the same question either way.
Specialist care
A couple of Basildon's listed businesses focus on a particular kind of dog rather than taking any breed: The Daisy Hotel for Dachshunds takes only Dachshunds, and Small Paws Playdates & Home Boarding specialises in small-breed dogs. If your dog is a specific breed or size that you think needs particular handling, a specialist may suit better than a general kennels or home boarder, but ask what that specialism means in practice for that business.