Home boarding or kennels in Bolton?
Of the thirteen dog boarding, day-care and home-boarding businesses listed for Bolton, five are home boarders, licensed to keep dogs in their own house: The Dawg House Daycare & Boarding in Horwich, Puddles & Cuddles Pet Care in Kearsley, Wendy's Wags in Egerton, The Dogmother in Radcliffe, and WOOF! Dog Services near Leigh. Another five run boarding kennels instead: Copperbeech Boarding Kennels & Cattery in Blackrod, Mosstop Dog Boarding near Egerton, Scotson Fold Pet Care Centre in Radcliffe, Ladyshore Grange Boarding Kennels and Cattery in Little Lever, and Astley Farm Boarding Kennels in Atherton. The remaining three run day care only, from premises rather than either a home or a kennels block: Paws & Play Doggy Day Care Ltd, Pooches Play House and Paws Doggy Day Care Leigh Ltd.
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 and more dogs on site at once than a home boarder would take. Ladyshore Grange has six kennels for dogs and shared pens for up to two cats, publishing prices from £22 a day for one dog. Scotson Fold Pet Care Centre, the largest on this page, states 57 indoor kennels across four blocks. Copperbeech and Astley Farm both run more conventional smaller kennels sites, in Blackrod and Atherton respectively, and Mosstop Dog Boarding, near Egerton, also runs a separate bookable secure field for dog exercise.
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. The Dawg House Daycare & Boarding also runs a day-care side of the same business in Horwich. Puddles & Cuddles Pet Care and Wendy's Wags both also offer dog walking and pet sitting alongside home boarding. The Dogmother, in Radcliffe, is licensed by Bury Council rather than Bolton's, and that council's own register could not be checked this round. WOOF! Dog Services, near Leigh, is run by two people, Lisa and Matt, and says on its own site it was recently at capacity for new enquiries.
The day-care-only premises
Paws & Play Doggy Day Care Ltd, in Bolton centre, and Paws Doggy Day Care Leigh Ltd both pair day care with an indoor activity park or an enclosed paddock rather than boarding dogs overnight at all. Pooches Play House, in Atherton, runs day care only from Coal Pit Lane, Monday to Friday, 7am to 7pm.
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: Bolton, Bury and Wigan councils all 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 thirteen have a star rating confirmed directly.