How to choose a dog boarder in Newbury and West Berkshire
Nine dog boarders and day care providers are listed for Newbury and West Berkshire, all of them licensed by West Berkshire Council, the single licensing authority across the Newbury, Hungerford, Thatcham and Newbury-villages areas. Eight of the nine are home boarders, taking dogs into their own home rather than a dedicated kennels site; one, Wessex Dog Boarding, works differently again, matching your dog with one of a network of home carers rather than running a single site itself. No boarding kennels or stand-alone day-care premises is currently listed for this town.
Where the listed businesses are
Coverage across the four areas is uneven. Newbury has four listed businesses: Fluffy Friends, Wessex Dog Boarding, Woodland Waggy Walks and We Love Pets Newbury. Thatcham also has four: A Dog's Retreat, Doggy Day Care Thatcham and Newbury, LK Doggy Day Care and Boarding, and Treasured Pets Pet Care Services. Hungerford has only one, We Love Pets Hungerford, so if you are looking for an independent, non-franchise option there, none is currently listed, and it is worth asking a Newbury or Thatcham business whether it covers Hungerford too. The Newbury villages and Kingsclere border area has none listed at all: a business trading there, Paws At Home, could not be confirmed with a verified phone number under this site's rules, so if you are in that area, ask West Berkshire Council directly for its current list of licensed home boarders and day care providers.
What the council licence tells you
West Berkshire Council's own licensing page could not be read directly for this check, so the licence number, type and expiry date shown for each business here come from the animal-licensing.uk register mirror instead. That mirror also shows a star rating for most of these businesses, but this site shows a star rating only when it is read from a council's own register rather than a third-party mirror the council has not adopted as its own, so no star rating is shown for any Newbury or West Berkshire business at the moment. This does not mean the businesses are unrated; it means the rating has not been confirmed from a source this site treats as the council's own register. Ask any business directly for its licence number and what its most recent inspection found, and you can look the number up yourself on the animal-licensing.uk West Berkshire Council authority page.
Questions worth asking
- 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 many other dogs, and from how many other households, will be there during my dates?
- What happens if my dog needs a vet while it is in your care?
None of the businesses listed here publish a vaccination schedule or a stated insurance position beyond what appears on their licence, so these are questions to put to the business directly rather than answers this directory can give on its behalf. See our Newbury and West Berkshire prices guide for what the two published price lists cover.