How Bolton's councils license dog boarders
Dog boarding, home boarding and day care are licensed activities under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, and Bolton's page spans three separate licensing authorities: Bolton Council, Wigan Council and Bury Council. Two of the three run a register this directory could read directly; the third could not be queried successfully this round.
Bolton Council's own register
Bolton Council publishes its own web-table register, split by licence type across several sub-pages: home boarders, day care, and kennels and catteries together on the main page. It gives a star rating and a licence expiry date for each business, though no licence number. Seven of Bolton's thirteen listed businesses are licensed here: Paws & Play Doggy Day Care Ltd (2 stars), Copperbeech Boarding Kennels & Cattery (3 stars), The Dawg House Daycare & Boarding (5 stars), Puddles & Cuddles Pet Care (5 stars), Wendy's Wags (5 stars), Mosstop Dog Boarding (5 stars) and Ladyshore Grange Boarding Kennels and Cattery (5 stars).
Wigan Council's own register
Wigan Council publishes a PDF register covering the whole borough, giving a licence number, ward, licence type, star rating and expiry for every entry. Four of Bolton's businesses fall inside Wigan's area, around Leigh and Atherton: Astley Farm Boarding Kennels (2 stars), WOOF! Dog Services (5 stars), Pooches Play House (2 stars) and Paws Doggy Day Care Leigh Ltd (5 stars).
Bury Council: a register that could not be read this round
Bury Council does run its own online register, unlike a council with no public register at all, but the version checked for this page returned no results to a search by name, ward or postcode this round. Two Bolton-page businesses sit in Bury's area, both in Radcliffe: Scotson Fold Pet Care Centre and The Dogmother. Neither could be matched to a confirmed licence or star rating this round, so no licence details are shown for either of them here; ask to see a current licence certificate when you call.
Where a business's own claim goes further than the register
A handful of businesses on this page quote a licence number or star rating on their own site: Ladyshore Grange names its licence number and describes itself as DEFRA-licensed, and Astley Farm and WOOF! Dog Services both quote a licence reference that matches Wigan's own register exactly. Where a business's self-reported figure matches the confirmed register entry, both are consistent; where a licence could not be matched to any register at all, as with The Dogmother's self-reported number on its own Facebook page, that figure is noted but not shown as confirmed.
What to check yourself
Because Bury's register could not be read this round, the most direct check for either Radcliffe business is to ask for its licence number and contact Bury Council's licensing team directly rather than relying on a claim made on a business's own page. For the eleven businesses confirmed against Bolton's or Wigan's own registers, the star rating shown here is a council licence rating, not a customer review, and reflects a risk-based inspection rather than anything this directory measured itself.