How to choose dog boarding or day care in Bolton

Thirteen dog boarders, day cares and kennels are listed for Bolton, spread mainly across Bolton Council's own licensing area with two further councils at the edges: Wigan Council covers the Leigh & Atherton side of the page, and Bury Council covers the Radcliffe side of Little Lever & Radcliffe. Five of the thirteen are home boarders, four run day care (one of those, The Dawg House, holds both a day care and a home boarding licence) and five hold a boarding kennels licence, including one, Scotson Fold Pet Care Centre, whose licence could not be checked against a register this round.

Home boarding, day care or kennels

Five businesses board dogs in the boarder's own home rather than a kennel block: Puddles & Cuddles Pet Care in Farnworth & Kearsley, Wendy's Wags in Bromley Cross & Egerton, The Dogmother in the Little Lever & Radcliffe area, WOOF! Dog Services in Leigh & Atherton, and The Dawg House Daycare & Boarding in Horwich, which also runs day care from its own premises. A home boarder usually takes far fewer dogs at a time than a kennel, so ask how many other dogs will be in the house during your dates, and whether they are all from one family or several. Paws & Play Doggy Day Care Ltd in Bolton centre, Pooches Play House and Paws Doggy Day Care Leigh Ltd, both in the Leigh & Atherton area, run day care from a dedicated site. Copperbeech Boarding Kennels & Cattery in Horwich & Blackrod, Mosstop Dog Boarding and Ladyshore Grange Boarding Kennels and Cattery, both in effect near Egerton and Little Lever, and Astley Farm Boarding Kennels in Atherton run boarding kennels for overnight stays; Copperbeech and Ladyshore Grange also run a cattery alongside the dog kennels, as does Scotson Fold Pet Care Centre in Radcliffe.

Westhoughton and Bolton centre are thin

Two of Bolton's seven areas have very little listed here. Westhoughton has no business published at all: two home boarders were found on Bolton Council's own register for the area, but neither had a phone number that could be confirmed from the business's own site or page this round, so neither is listed. Bolton centre and Farnworth & Kearsley each have only one listed business, Paws & Play Doggy Day Care Ltd and Puddles & Cuddles Pet Care respectively, even though Bolton Council's home boarder register lists several further names in both areas that could not be matched to a working phone number in this pass. If your area shows little or nothing, it is worth calling Bolton Council directly and asking for its current list of licensed boarders, since a genuinely active, small operator can take time to appear in research like this.

What the council licence means

Every business here needs a licence to operate in England: it is a legal requirement, not an optional extra. Seven of the thirteen are licensed by Bolton Council, whose own register is a set of web-table pages split by licence type rather than a single searchable database, and which does not publish a licence number for any business. Four more, in the Leigh & Atherton area, are licensed by Wigan Council, whose own PDF register gives a licence number, star rating and expiry for each one. The remaining two, Scotson Fold Pet Care Centre and The Dogmother, sit in Radcliffe under Bury Council, whose own register could not be queried this round; both have a real trading presence on their own site or Facebook page, but their licence status is not independently confirmed here, and The Dogmother's self-reported licence number has not been checked against a register. Where a star rating is shown, it runs from 1 to 5 and is the council's own inspection score, not a customer review, so treat it the way you would a food hygiene rating rather than a Google star. Among the confirmed ratings, Paws & Play, Astley Farm and Pooches Play House sit at 2 stars, Copperbeech at 3 stars, and the rest at 5 stars. Ask to see the current licence certificate, and ask what the maximum number of dogs it covers is.

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 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 licence or website, so ask rather than assume an answer either way. See our Bolton prices guide for what the three businesses that publish a price charge, and what to ask everyone else.