A first stay at a Chesterfield boarder or day care
Whether your dog is booked into Divine Dog Care's home in Old Whittington, High Farm's kennels on Unstone Road, or one of Chesterfield's other seventeen boarders and day cares, a first stay is worth treating as its own step rather than diving straight into a full booking.
Ask for a trial or a viewing first
Divine Dog Care states on its own site that a complimentary meet-and-greet is required before any booking is confirmed, and both High Farm Boarding Kennels & Doggie Day Care and C Four Paws invite prospective customers to view the kennels before booking, with C Four Paws setting specific viewing windows of 10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm each day. None of the other sixteen businesses listed here state a trial or viewing policy on their own site, but it is common practice across this kind of business, so ask even where nothing is written down.
What to pack
Take your dog's usual food for the length of the stay, any medication with clear written instructions, a bed or item that smells of home, and a lead and collar with an up-to-date tag. If your dog is booked with a home boarder such as Spire Boarding for Dogs or The Old Dog House, ask in advance whether the household has its own pets, since several of Chesterfield's home boarders describe resident cats or other animals living in the house.
Handover on the day
Give whoever is taking your dog a clear account of feeding times, any health issues and how your dog behaves around other dogs and people, since this is the point where a boarder or kennels can adjust its plan for your dog specifically. ADK9, at Breck Farm, runs a licensed boarding kennels alongside its dog training business and says it takes dogs with behavioural challenges, so a fuller handover conversation is worth having there in particular.
Collection and any extra charges
Ask what happens if you are early or late for collection, and whether a bank holiday, Christmas or a second dog from a different household changes the price; none of Chesterfield's nineteen businesses state a bank-holiday or collection policy on their own site, so this needs asking directly rather than assumed from the base price shown in our prices guide.
Meeting a home boarder first
Eight of the nineteen businesses listed here board dogs in their own home rather than a kennel block, so only their area and town are shown on this site; the address itself is given once you book. Use a first visit or phone call to ask how many other dogs might be there at the same time, whether they are all from one household, and what a typical day in the house looks like, rather than relying on a written description alone.