How Margate, Thanet and Swale's councils license dog boarders
Three councils license the eighteen dog boarders, day cares and kennels listed across Margate, Thanet and Swale: Thanet District Council (eight businesses), Swale Borough Council (nine) and, for one business near Sandwich, Dover District Council.
| Area | Council | Register checked |
|---|---|---|
| Margate & Cliftonville, Ramsgate, Birchington & Westgate-on-Sea, Minster & Manston, Broadstairs | Thanet District Council | animal-licensing.uk (third-party mirror) |
| Sittingbourne, Isle of Sheppey, Faversham | Swale Borough Council | animal-licensing.uk (third-party mirror) |
| Sandwich | Dover District Council | Council's own register |
A mirror is not the council's own page
Fifteen of the eighteen businesses here were checked through Thanet District Council's page on animal-licensing.uk or Swale Borough Council's page on animal-licensing.uk, an independent third-party site that mirrors council registers rather than either council's own. Thanet's mirror pages give a licence type and expiry date only, with no licence number and no star; Swale's mirror pages add a licence number where recorded, but its star ratings are not shown here either, because a star read only from a mirror is not treated as a council-verified fact on this site. Rosie's Retreat near Sandwich is the one exception: its licence was checked directly on Dover District Council's own register, which shows it under boarding of dogs (kennel) with a 5-star rating, so its listing carries a full council licence block, star included.
Three businesses matched to neither
MrDogStar, Doggy Dream Garden Retreat and Sandy Tails were not matched to a Thanet or Swale register entry under their own name. Doggy Dream Garden Retreat and Sandy Tails both quote their own licence number on their own site, but since neither could be confirmed against the mirror checked here, no licence number or block is shown for either; MrDogStar's own site does not state a licence at all. Ask any of these three to see a current licence certificate before booking.
Star ratings shown here
- Rosie's Retreat: 5 stars, read from Dover District Council's own register, checked September 2026.
- Every other business in this directory's Thanet and Swale listings: no star shown, since only a council's own register, not a mirror, is treated as a source for a star rating here, even where the mirror or the business's own site quotes one.
See our guide to vaccinations, licences and what to ask for the fuller list of questions worth putting to a business before you book.
What "mirror-only" does not mean
A licence shown here as "read from a mirror" is not the same as an unlicensed business: fifteen businesses here do appear on animal-licensing.uk's Thanet or Swale pages, with a licence type and, for Swale, a licence number recorded. The distinction this guide draws is narrower: only a council's own register, not a third-party site that copies it, is treated as strong enough evidence to publish a star rating here. A business can be genuinely and currently licensed by Thanet or Swale without a star appearing on its listing in this directory.