How to choose dog boarding or day care in Derby

Twenty-four dog boarders, day cares and kennels are listed for Derby, spread across the licensing areas of four separate councils: Derby City Council, South Derbyshire District Council, Erewash Borough Council and Amber Valley Borough Council. Eleven are home boarders, licensed to board dogs in the operator's own home; the other thirteen are kennels, cattery or day-care premises businesses. Two further businesses, We Love Paws and Barking Mad Derby, are franchise-style arrangers that match dogs with individual host families rather than holding a single licensed premises themselves, so neither carries a council licence of its own.

Home boarding, day care or kennels

Home boarders here include Furbelicious Paws in Alvaston & Boulton, Pretty Paws Parlour in Allestree, One Paw Ahead in Littleover, Melmo Home Boarding and Imperial Canine in Belper, and Hound Dog Haven, Pet Walk N Stay and K9 Doggy Daycare UK in the Ilkeston area, alongside Poochie Play Centre in Chaddesden, which also runs day care. A home boarder usually takes far fewer dogs at a time than a kennels: One Paw Ahead and Furbelicious Paws are both licensed for home boarding and day care together, so ask which service applies on the day you need. Dedicated day-care premises include Doggy Daycare/Play Centre Derby and Barker's Retreat, both in the derby-centre and chaddesden areas. Boarding kennels and cattery premises make up the rest: End Cottage Kennels, Longcroft Boarding Kennels & Cattery, Brookfield Farm Kennels & Cattery, Kilburn K9's, Dogs R Us, Columbine Farm Kennels, Barkingham Palace Animal Hotel, Castlefield Kennels, Covert Canine Centre, Coppice Kennels and Cattery, and Ash Farm Boarding Kennels and Daycare, several of which also hold a cat-boarding licence.

Four councils, four registers

Which council licenses a business, and how much its register shows, depends on where in Derby it sits. Derby City Council, covering derby-centre, allestree, chaddesden, littleover and spondon, keeps a spreadsheet register that gives a licence number, exact expiry date and star rating for each of its eight matched businesses here. South Derbyshire District Council, covering chellaston-melbourne and a licence in mickleover, publishes a Word-document register organised by activity that gives a star rating for each of its four matched businesses, but no licence numbers or expiry dates. Erewash Borough Council, covering ilkeston, publishes a plain web-page register giving a star rating for most of its seven matched businesses, again with no licence numbers or expiry dates as standard. Amber Valley Borough Council, covering belper, publishes a PDF register giving a star rating for each of its three matched businesses, with the same gap on numbers and dates. Two Derby-based businesses, Doggy Daycare/Play Centre Derby and Poochie Play Centre, state a Derby City Council licence number on their own sites that could not be found on the council's register checked for this listing, so both are shown here as unconfirmed rather than licensed; ask either business to show its current certificate before booking. K9 Doggy Daycare UK's own site was confirmed live and trading, though a related limited company shows as dissolved on Companies House, so it is worth confirming by phone that it is still operating as described before you visit.

Thin areas

Allestree and Mickleover each have only one listed business — Pretty Paws Parlour and Longcroft Boarding Kennels & Cattery respectively — so a search of either area alone will look sparse; it reflects what could be independently confirmed with a phone number during research, not necessarily everything operating there. Widening a search to include Derby centre or a neighbouring area may turn up more choice.

Questions to ask before you book

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 many other dogs, and from how many other households, will be there during my dates?
• What happens if my dog needs a vet while in your care?

See our Derby prices guide for what the five businesses that publish a figure charge, and ask every other business what a stay or a day costs, plus whether bank holidays, collection or a second dog are charged extra.