Home boarding or kennels in Portsmouth?
Of the nineteen dog boarders, day cares and kennels listed for Portsmouth, fifteen are home boarders and one, Muirburn Holiday Boarding for Dogs & Cats near Horndean in the Waterlooville & Denmead area, runs boarding kennels with a cattery. The rest of the town's listings are premises-based day cares rather than either of these, covered in our day-care-or-boarding guide.
What home boarding actually means
A home boarder takes your dog into their own house rather than a purpose-built kennel block, usually alongside a small number of other dogs at a time and often as part of the household's own routine. Portsmouth's fifteen home boarders are We Love Pets Portsmouth & Southsea, Holiday Hounds and Homes and Hounds in Portsmouth centre; Haven4Hounds and The Pet Butler in Southsea; The Pukka Pooch and M-Bark Boarding & Walking in Cosham, Drayton & Port Solent; All Pawz, Barney and Sam's Pet Services, Pooch & Co and The Doggy Centre in Waterlooville & Denmead; and Semley Dogs, All Weather Walkies, A Dogs Day Pet Services and Bourner Boarding in Havant.
What boarding kennels means
A boarding kennels runs from purpose-built premises rather than a private home, usually with more dogs on site at once, each in its own kennel run rather than mixed freely through a house. Muirburn Holiday Boarding for Dogs & Cats is the only business in Portsmouth's listings that runs this way, and it is also the only listed business that takes cats alongside dogs.
Why home boarders are shown by area only
Every home boarder listed here is shown by area and town rather than by a full street address, since a home boarder is operating from a private home rather than a commercial premises. If you want an exact location, that is a question to put to the business directly once you are ready to book, not something this directory publishes.
Which suits your dog
A dog that finds kennels stressful, or one used to living in a household, is often better suited to home boarding; a dog that needs a more structured, staffed environment, or where you also need a cattery for a cat at the same time, may suit Muirburn's kennels better. Either way, ask how many other dogs will be present during your dates and, for a home boarder, whether they are all from one household.
Group size and routine
Home boarding usually means far fewer dogs under one roof at a time than a kennels can hold, and your dog is likely to share the boarder's own living space and daily routine rather than a kennel run. A boarding kennels, by contrast, can usually take more dogs at once, each with its own run and exercise slot, which suits some dogs better and some worse depending on temperament. Neither option is inherently better; it depends on what your own dog is used to and how it copes with other dogs nearby.
See our vaccinations and licences guide for the questions worth asking before you book either kind of care.