Vaccinations, licences and what to ask in Portsmouth

Nineteen dog boarders, day cares and kennels are listed for Portsmouth. None of them can be checked on your behalf by this directory, so the questions below are ones to put to the business directly, before you book rather than after.

Vaccinations and kennel cough

Every boarder and day care sets its own vaccination policy, and practice varies between businesses, so this directory does not state a schedule or a waiting period for any of them. Ask what vaccinations a business requires and how long before your dog's stay it needs to see proof. Kennel cough is worth asking about specifically: some businesses require cover for it and some do not, and this is a matter of the individual business's own policy rather than a rule this directory can confirm either way.

Breed policies

A boarder or day care is entitled to ask about your dog's breed or to decline a booking on that basis, including for an XL Bully. If you have a dog with a valid Certificate of Exemption, ask directly whether the business has a policy before you book, rather than assuming any of the nineteen listed here will or will not accept the dog.

Insurance

None of the businesses listed for Portsmouth publish a stated insurance position beyond what appears, if anything, on their own site. Where a business says it is insured, that is the business's own claim, not something this directory has checked, so ask to see evidence of current cover rather than take a bare claim of being insured at face value.

Why the licence question matters more here

Portsmouth splits across two licensing councils, and they publish very different amounts of information. Portsmouth City Council, covering Portsmouth centre, Southsea, Fratton, Baffins & North End, and Cosham, Drayton & Port Solent, keeps no public register of animal-boarding licences at all, so nothing about the twelve businesses in those four areas can be checked independently; asking to see the actual certificate is the only way to confirm a licence at all there. Havant Borough Council, covering Waterlooville & Denmead and Havant, does publish a register, and eight of the ten businesses in those two areas are confirmed against it, but that register carries no star rating and no expiry date for any listing, so ask directly for both if you want to know them.

Questions worth asking

• Which council issued your licence, and what is the licence number?
• Can I see your current licence certificate?
• What vaccinations do you require, and how long before my dog's stay do you need to see proof?
• Do you have a kennel cough policy, and what is it?
• Do you have any breed restrictions or conditions, including for an XL Bully with a valid exemption certificate?
• Do you hold public liability insurance, and can you show evidence of current cover?

See our Portsmouth choosing guide for what each council's register does and does not cover, business by business.