How Eastleigh, Hedge End and Romsey's councils license dog boarders
Every one of the twelve dog day cares and home boarders listed for Eastleigh, Hedge End and Romsey needs a council licence to operate: it is a legal requirement in England, not something a business can opt out of. Two councils cover this page's five areas between them, and neither is shown here with a council star rating.
Eastleigh Borough Council: Eastleigh, part of Chandler's Ford and Hedge End & Bursledon
Six listed businesses are licensed by Eastleigh Borough Council: Paws for a While and Woof and Meow Pet Services in Eastleigh; Let Fi Take the Lead and Pet Carers, Chandler's Ford in Chandler's Ford; and All the B's Pet Services and Purdys Paws in Hedge End & Bursledon. The council's own site could not be reached directly for this research; the register checked here is a third-party mirror rather than the council's own page. This site only shows a council star rating where the council itself, not a mirror, has been checked directly, so none of these six carry a star rating here, whatever a mirror might otherwise display. Three of the six — Paws for a While, Woof and Meow Pet Services and Let Fi Take the Lead — currently show a licence expiry date that has already passed on the register, most likely a renewal not yet reflected there; ask any of the three to show you its current certificate.
Test Valley Borough Council: Romsey, North Baddesley and part of Chandler's Ford
The other six are licensed by Test Valley Borough Council, whose own published register was used directly for this research: Able Canines in Chandler's Ford; Wags with Willow, Country Pooch, Paw Prints Pet Care and The Dog Listener in Romsey; and Pet Carers, North Baddesley. Test Valley's own register format has no star-rating column at all, so none is shown for any of these six either, even where a business's own site quotes an older star figure it was awarded when its licence was first issued.
What a council licence rating would mean, where one exists
Where this site does show a council licence rating, it is the council's own inspection score for the premises, not a customer review, and it is worth reading the way you would a food hygiene rating rather than a Google star. None of Eastleigh, Hedge End or Romsey's twelve listed businesses currently carry one here, for the reasons set out above, so ask each business directly to see its current licence certificate rather than relying on any star figure quoted on its own website.
Why no licence carries a star here
England's licensing regulations do give every boarding, home boarding and day-care licence a 1-to-5 star rating from a risk-based inspection, and several businesses listed here quote an older star figure on their own site from when their licence was first issued. This site only publishes that figure where it has been checked directly against the council's own register rather than a third-party mirror, because a mirror can lag behind a renewal or a re-inspection. Since Eastleigh's own site could not be reached directly and Test Valley's own register does not carry a star column at all, no business licensed by either council appears with one here, whatever an older claim on a business's own site might say.