A first stay at a Loughborough or Melton Mowbray boarder or day care
Whether your dog is booked into one of Melton Mowbray's kennels or one of Loughborough, Shepshed & Quorn or Ashby-de-la-Zouch's home boarders, a first stay usually goes better with a shorter visit first, so both sides can see how the dog settles before a longer booking. Ask whether a trial day or meet-and-greet is available even where a business's own site does not mention one.
Before you book: ask for a trial
The Dogs Dog Sitters, a home boarder in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, asks new clients about a dog's routine, personality and any medical needs, and arranges a short meet-and-greet before a first stay — a useful model to ask any of the other boarders here to follow, even if it is not stated on their own site.
What to pack
Take your dog's usual food for the length of the stay, any medication with clear written instructions, a bed or blanket that smells of home, and a lead and collar with an up-to-date tag. Ashby Happy Hounds and Cosy Canine Club Ashby, both home boarders that take only smaller dogs, are worth asking in advance whether your dog's size and temperament suit their household before you pack for a stay at all.
Handover on the day
Give the person taking your dog a clear account of feeding times, any health issues and how your dog behaves around other dogs, since this is the point at which a boarder can adjust its plan for your dog specifically. Dogtastic Daycare, run from Broom Leys Farm on the edge of Coalville by a qualified trainer and behaviourist, is worth asking about behavioural or social needs at handover, since 1-2-1 training is already part of what it offers.
Collection and drop-off
Ask what happens if you are early or late, and whether a bank holiday changes the price. Old Station Kennels, near Melton Mowbray, sets fixed drop-off and collection windows of 9am to 11am and 3pm to 5pm rather than an all-day service, and White Lodge Boarding Kennels and Cattery, in Kirby Bellars, splits its windows into a morning and an evening slot with a shorter Sunday window — check the exact times before you plan a journey. Zewmies Pet Care Services, a home boarder in Loughborough, instead runs to set weekday and weekend hours with online booking, so timing works differently again there.
Meeting a home boarder first
Seven of the fourteen businesses here board dogs in their own home rather than a kennel block or day-care premises, so their address is only given once you book, not published on this page: Care4Paws, Woof Lodge Dog Hotel and Zewmies Pet Care Services in Loughborough; Pucci Dogs Daycare & Home Boarding in Shepshed & Quorn; and Ashby Happy Hounds, Cosy Canine Club Ashby and The Dogs Dog Sitters in Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Use a meet-and-greet to see where your dog would actually stay, ask how many other dogs might be there at the same time, and find out what a typical day in the house looks like, rather than relying on a description alone.