How to choose dog boarding or day care in Basingstoke

Twenty-six dog boarders are listed for Basingstoke, spread across six of the town's eight defined areas: fourteen in Basingstoke centre, four in Tadley, three in Chineham, two each in Oakley and Overton, and one in Whitchurch. Every one of them is a home boarder: your dog stays in the boarder's own house, alongside their family, rather than in a kennel block or a dedicated day-care building. No boarding kennels or stand-alone day-care premises was found licensed within the town's own postcode districts. Two of the 26, Trusted Pet Carers Basingstoke and We Love Pets Basingstoke, are local branches of national franchises, each with a named local operator rather than a template page.

What a home boarder means for your dog

A home boarder usually takes far fewer dogs at a time than a kennels would, and several Basingstoke listings also offer day care, dog walking or dog training alongside boarding. As with any home boarder, only the area and town are published on the listing; the exact address is given once you book. Ask how many other dogs will be in the house during your dates, and whether they are from one household or several.

The council licence

Home boarding is a licensed activity in England, and every business listed here is licensed by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, whose own register and its animal-licensing.uk mirror cover Basingstoke centre, Chineham, Oakley, Overton, Tadley and Whitchurch. This authority's registers do not publish a star rating field, so no Basingstoke listing shows a council star, whatever a business may say about its own licence on its own site. A licence number is shown on the listing only where the register itself gives one; Holly's Boarding, Hilltop Dogs and WhiteWalks are the three where a number was found. Ask any business for its licence number and check it yourself on the council's register rather than taking a website's word for it.

Hook and Odiham: no listing yet

Hook and Odiham are two of the town's eight defined areas, and both currently have no business listed. They fall under Hart District Council rather than Basingstoke and Deane, and Hart's own licence list records only the name of the person it licenses, with no trading name, address or phone number attached, so none of its entries could be matched to a specific business serving either area. This is a gap in what the register publishes, not a sign that no licensed home boarder exists in Hook or Odiham; check with Hart District Council directly if you are searching in either area.

Questions to ask before you book

• Ask what vaccinations it requires before a stay, and how far in advance it needs to see proof; this varies between boarders, so do not assume one answer applies everywhere.
• Ask about its policy on kennel cough, which also varies from one boarder to the next.
• Ask how many other dogs will be boarded at the same time, and from how many households.
• Ask what happens if your dog needs a vet while it is in the boarder's care, and who decides and pays.
• Ask about any breed policies, including for an XL Bully with a valid exemption certificate.
• Ask for the licence number and look it up yourself on Basingstoke and Deane's register, or Hart District Council's for Hook and Odiham.