How to choose dog boarding or day care in Eastleigh, Hedge End and Romsey

Twelve dog boarders, home boarders and day cares are listed across the five areas of Eastleigh, Chandler's Ford, Hedge End & Bursledon, Romsey and North Baddesley: two councils license the area between them, Eastleigh Borough Council and Test Valley Borough Council, and the market here is almost entirely home boarding rather than kennels or a dedicated day-care site. What matters most when choosing depends on which of the two you need and where you are looking.

Home boarding or day care

Ten of the twelve businesses board dogs in the boarder's own home rather than at a separate premises: Paws for a While and Woof and Meow Pet Services in Eastleigh; Let Fi Take the Lead, Able Canines and Pet Carers in Chandler's Ford; All the B's Pet Services in Hedge End & Bursledon; Wags with Willow, Paw Prints Pet Care and The Dog Listener in Romsey; and Pet Carers in North Baddesley. A home boarder usually takes far fewer dogs at a time than a kennel or a day-care site, so ask how many other dogs will be in the house during your dates and whether they are all from one family or several. Country Pooch Dog Daycare and Training Centre, near Ower on the edge of Romsey, is the only business here run from a dedicated day-care site rather than a home, with an outdoor garden, an indoor barn and a running paddock; it does not offer overnight boarding. Wags with Willow, also in Romsey, is licensed for both home boarding and day care, so it can cover either need.

The council licence in this area

Every business listed holds a current dog home boarding or day care licence: a legal requirement in England, not an optional extra. Romsey, North Baddesley and part of Chandler's Ford (Able Canines, Wags with Willow, Country Pooch, Paw Prints Pet Care, The Dog Listener and both Pet Carers listings) are licensed by Test Valley Borough Council from its own published register, which records the licence number, activity and dates but carries no star-rating column at all, so no council rating is shown for any of these six. Eastleigh, the rest of Chandler's Ford, and Hedge End & Bursledon (Paws for a While, Woof and Meow Pet Services, Let Fi Take the Lead, Pet Carers in Chandler's Ford, All the B's Pet Services and Purdys Paws) are licensed by Eastleigh Borough Council, whose own site could not be reached directly; the record checked here is a third-party mirror of that council's register, so, in line with how this site treats an unadopted mirror, no star rating is shown for these six either, whatever the mirror itself displays. Three of the Eastleigh-licensed businesses — Paws for a While, Woof and Meow Pet Services and Let Fi Take the Lead — currently show a licence expiry date on the register that has already passed, with no renewal yet visible on the mirror; that does not necessarily mean the licence has lapsed, since councils do not always update a mirror the day a licence is renewed, but it is worth asking each one directly about its current licensed status before you book.

North Baddesley

North Baddesley has only one listed business, Pet Carers, a home boarding carer licensed separately from the company's Chandler's Ford carer. This is a genuinely thin area rather than a complete picture of what is licensed locally, so if you are specifically based in North Baddesley it is worth widening your search to the neighbouring Romsey and Chandler's Ford listings too.

Questions to ask before you book

• Is my dog boarding in a family home, alongside the family's own pets and possibly other dogs, or at a dedicated site?
• How many other dogs will be there at the same time, and are they usually from one household or several?
• What does the price include, and how are the first and last day of a stay counted?
• What vaccinations does the business require before a stay, and how far in advance do they need to be up to date?
• Does the business have any breed policies I should know about, including for a restricted breed such as an XL Bully?
• How is exercise structured during the day, and is there an enclosed garden or paddock on site?
• Is the licence shown on the council register still current, and has it been renewed if the expiry date has passed?