A first stay at a Kettering, Corby or Wellingborough boarder or day care
Whether your dog is booked into Denford Edge Boarding Kennels near Thrapston, one of the six home boarders around Market Harborough and Rushden & Higham Ferrers, or one of Kettering, Corby and Wellingborough's other kennels and day cares, a first stay is worth treating as its own step.
Ask about a trial or settling-in visit
None of the fifteen businesses listed here state a trial-day or assessment policy on their own site, as found this round. That is not unusual for this niche, but it is worth asking directly, especially for one of the six home boarders, where your dog will be joining someone's own household rather than a kennel block.
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. None of the businesses listed here publish a specific packing list, so ask what each one wants brought on the day.
Visiting hours and how to book
A few of these businesses set their own pattern for visits and bookings, worth knowing before you turn up. Highlands Country Kennels and Cattery, near Oundle, is open seven days a week but only during two daily windows, 10am to noon and 3.30pm to 5.30pm. Wooden House Kennels, near Market Harborough, asks anyone wanting to book to email rather than telephone. Dog Days Inn, in Kettering, started as a home-based day-care business before its owner bought an established day-care site, and now runs both a day-care centre and a home-boarding option.
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. Low Farm Dog Kennels and Cattery, near Wellingborough, runs residential dog training alongside its kennels, so a fuller handover conversation is worth having if your dog has specific behaviour needs.
Meeting a home boarder first
Six of the fifteen businesses listed here board dogs in the boarder's own home: Country Companions Pet Services in the Rushden & Higham Ferrers area, and five around Market Harborough — The Dog Club, Barking Mad Market Harborough, Out and About Dog Walking, Paws 4 Walking and Porter's Paw Patrol. As with any home boarder, only the area and town are shown on the listing; the address is given once you book, so use your first phone call to ask about the house and garden your dog would actually stay in. Barking Mad Market Harborough works differently again: rather than boarding your dog itself, it matches your dog with a vetted host family from its own network, so ask which family your dog would actually stay with.