How to choose dog boarding or day care in Bedford

Nine dog boarders, day cares and kennels are listed for Bedford, licensed by three different local authorities: Bedford Borough Council for Bedford town centre, Kempston and Brickhill; Central Bedfordshire Council for Ampthill and Flitwick; and Huntingdonshire District Council for St Neots and the Huntingdon and St Ives area. Four are home boarders, four run day care and one runs boarding kennels alongside a cattery. Two of this page's areas, Biggleswade & Sandy and Leighton Buzzard & Linslade, have no published business at the moment: licensed operators were found in both during research, but none had a phone number that could be independently confirmed, so none is listed; check back later, or ask a nearby area's business whether it also covers your postcode.

Home boarding, day care or kennels

Four businesses board dogs in the boarder's own home: Chihuahua Country Club & Small Dogs Boarding and RoLo Home From Home Dog Boarding, both in the Kempston area; Fetch Club, in Bedford centre; and PetStay Cambridge, Huntingdon & Royston, in the St Neots area. Chihuahua Country Club takes toy and small breeds only; Fetch Club runs a residential board-and-train programme rather than ordinary overnight stays; RoLo was running a waiting list at the time of checking; and PetStay is the local branch of a national home-boarding network, run by a named branch coordinator based in St Neots. A home boarder takes far fewer dogs at a time than a kennel and its address is given only once you book, so ask how many other dogs, and from how many households, will be in the house during your dates. Howlies Doggy Daycare, in Kempston Rural, and The K9 Klub, at Cardington in the Brickhill area, run day care from a dedicated site; Woofstop runs day care from a four-acre site between Ampthill and Flitwick; and Hayley's Active Paws & Stays, in the Huntingdon and St Ives area, is licensed for day care but also offers weekend home-from-home boarding. Alconbury Hill Kennels & Cattery, near Huntingdon, is the only boarding kennels on this list, with 25 heated dog kennels alongside a separate cattery.

What the council licence means

Every business listed holds a current licence from Bedford Borough Council, Central Bedfordshire Council or Huntingdonshire District Council: a licence is a legal requirement in England for dog boarding, home boarding and day care, not an optional extra. For this page, the licence number, licence type and expiry date shown on each listing come from a third-party mirror of the council's register rather than a page hosted by the council itself, so no star rating is shown here even on entries where the mirror displays one. Ask the business to show you its current licence certificate if you would like to see its own inspection score, and ask what the maximum number of dogs the licence covers, since this can be lower than what the site or house could otherwise hold.

Questions worth asking about vaccinations, breed rules and insurance

None of these are things this directory can answer on a business's behalf; they are worth putting to the business directly before you book.

• What vaccinations do you require, and how long before the stay do you need to see proof of them?
• Do you have a policy on kennel cough, and what is it?
• Do you have any breed restrictions or conditions, including for an XL Bully with a valid exemption certificate?
• Are you insured, and can you show evidence of current cover?
• How many other dogs, and from how many other households, will be there during my dates?
• How is medication given during a stay, and is there an extra charge for it?
• What happens if my dog needs a vet while in your care?

None of the businesses listed here publish a vaccination schedule or a stated insurance position beyond what appears on their own website, so ask rather than assume an answer either way. Three of the nine businesses listed publish a price for at least part of what they do; see our Bedford prices guide for the published figures and what they cover.