Home boarding or kennels in Bedford?
Of the nine dog boarding, day-care and home-boarding businesses listed for Bedford, four are home boarders, licensed to keep dogs in their own house: Chihuahua Country Club & Small Dogs Boarding and Fetch Club in the Bedford area, RoLo Home From Home Dog Boarding in Kempston, and PetStay Cambridge, Huntingdon & Royston, a franchise branch based in St Neots. One, Alconbury Hill Kennels & Cattery near Huntingdon, runs purpose-built boarding kennels rather than a home. The remaining four are day-care premises rather than either: Howlies Doggy Daycare, The K9 Klub and Woofstop take dogs for the day only, and Hayley's Active Paws & Stays is licensed for day care but also advertises weekend home-from-home boarding on its own site.
What a boarding kennels gives you
A boarding kennels means your dog has its own space on a site built for it, with set feeding and exercise times. Alconbury Hill Kennels & Cattery, near Alconbury Weston, is Bedford's one boarding kennels on this page, with 25 heated dog kennels and 19 heated cat chalets, on-call vet support and set drop-off windows across the week.
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. Chihuahua Country Club & Small Dogs Boarding takes toy and miniature breeds only, from a fenced and gated site in Kempston. Fetch Club runs a residential board-and-train programme lasting a minimum of three weeks rather than an ordinary stay. RoLo Home From Home Dog Boarding, also in Kempston, prices an overnight stay at £30 for one dog, though it was running a waiting list at the time of checking. PetStay Cambridge, Huntingdon & Royston is the local branch of a national home-boarding network, run by a branch coordinator from St Neots who matches dogs with a host rather than boarding at one fixed address.
The day-care premises in between
Howlies Doggy Daycare, on a countryside site in Kempston Rural, and The K9 Klub, in converted barns at Cardington, both take dogs for the day in a group setting rather than overnight in a home or kennels. Woofstop runs a purpose-built day-care centre on a four-acre site between Ampthill and Flitwick. Hayley's Active Paws & Stays, in St Ives, sits between the two categories: Huntingdonshire District Council's confirmed licence covers day care, but the business's own site also advertises weekend home-from-home boarding, so ask it directly which activities its current licence covers before booking an overnight stay.
Which suits your dog
A kennels tends to suit a dog that is happy with its own space and a set routine; a home boarder tends to suit a dog that finds a kennels environment stressful, or one that is used to living in a house rather than a run. Neither type is licensed to a higher standard than the other by default: all three of Bedford's licensing councils licence both kennels and home boarding under the same regulations, so asking to see the certificate is the same question either way. See our council licences guide for which of the nine have a licence confirmed directly.