How to choose dog boarding or day care in Lincoln

Eleven dog boarders, day cares and kennels are listed for Lincoln, spread across seven areas and four different district councils: West Lindsey, North Kesteven, South Kesteven and, for one business, North Lincolnshire. Two are home boarders, shown by area and town only; the rest run day care, boarding kennels or a mix of the two from a fixed address. What matters most when choosing depends on which type you need, and which council licenses it.

Home boarding, day care or kennels

Two businesses board dogs in the boarder's own home rather than at a business address: Lady Pea's Dogs in the Bracebridge Heath area, which also runs a dog training practice, and Lea Wood Trails and Tails in the Gainsborough area, which grew out of an existing family cattery. As with any home boarder, only the area and town are given here; ask for the address when you book. Ask a home boarder how many other dogs will be in the house during your dates, and whether they are all from one family or several.

The other nine run from a fixed address. Kendrick's K9 Services (lincoln-centre, in Saxilby) and Elderberry Boarding Kennels (Bracebridge Heath) hold both a boarding kennels and a day care licence. A Groom With A View Lincoln (north-hykeham) and Absolutely Barkers Grantham and Who Lets Your Dog Out? UK (both Grantham) combine day care with home boarding run from a business premises rather than a private home. A Dog's Life Group (Grantham) and We Love Pets Sleaford run day care and, in We Love Pets' case, home boarding as a franchise branch. A17 Boarding Kennels & Cattery, near Heckington in the Sleaford area, runs boarding kennels only, taking cats alongside dogs. Corner Cottage Animal Boarding, in the Gainsborough area, runs boarding kennels, a cattery and a grooming salon, but see below on its licence.

What the council licence tells you

All dog boarding, home boarding and day care needs a council licence in England; it is a legal requirement, not an optional badge. Lincoln's eleven listed businesses sit across four different licensing authorities, and the registers do not all show the same information. West Lindsey District Council (Kendrick's K9 Services, Lea Wood Trails and Tails) and North Kesteven District Council (A Groom With A View Lincoln, Elderberry Boarding Kennels, Lady Pea's Dogs, We Love Pets Sleaford, A17 Boarding Kennels & Cattery) both publish their own register on the same platform, giving a licence number and expiry date, but neither register carries a star rating field at all, so no star can be shown for any business licensed by either council — including where a business's own website quotes a five-star rating, since that quote cannot be checked against the register. South Kesteven District Council (Absolutely Barkers Grantham, A Dog's Life Group, Who Lets Your Dog Out? UK) has no register of its own; the only public source is a third-party mirror, animal-licensing.uk, which shows a licence type and licence number but no star rating and no expiry date. Corner Cottage Animal Boarding states on its own site that it holds a North Lincolnshire Council licence, but no North Lincolnshire register could be found to confirm this, so no licence block is shown for that listing at all; ask to see its current certificate directly. City of Lincoln Council, which covers Lincoln's own centre and does publish star ratings on its own register, licenses several home boarders in the city, but none of them could be confirmed with a phone number this research pass, so none appear in this list.

Questions worth asking

None of the following are things this directory can answer on a business's behalf; put them 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 is medication given during a stay, and is there an extra charge for it?
• What happens if my dog needs a vet while in your care?
• How many other dogs, and from how many other households, will be there during my dates?

None of the Lincoln businesses listed here publish a vaccination schedule or a stated insurance position beyond what appears on their licence or website, so ask rather than assume an answer either way.

Coverage across Lincoln's areas

Coverage is uneven. Grantham has three listed businesses, Bracebridge Heath and Sleaford two each, Gainsborough two, and Lincoln city centre and North Hykeham one each. Nettleham & Welton currently has none: research found candidates there, but none had a phone number that could be independently confirmed this pass. North Hykeham & Birchwood is also thin, with only one listed business. If your area shows none, or only one, it is worth calling West Lindsey, North Kesteven, South Kesteven or City of Lincoln Council directly and asking for their current list of licensed boarders, since a genuinely local operator can take time to appear in research like this. See our Lincoln prices guide for what the four businesses that publish a price charge.