Home boarding or kennels in Reading?

Of the 15 dog boarders and day-care businesses listed for Reading, 12 hold a home boarding licence and 3 hold a boarding kennels licence (Stablecroft Pet Services in Wokingham holds both). One business, Oscar's Daycare Centre, offers day care only and doesn't fit either category. The two models suit different dogs, and the difference is worth understanding before you book rather than after.

Home boarding

A home boarder takes your dog into their own house, usually alongside their own dogs and family rather than dogs from several other households at once. Because it's somebody's home rather than a business premises, we show a home boarder's area and town only, never a street address — you're given the exact address once you've booked. Reading's 12 licensed home boarders are spread across Wokingham, Caversham, Tilehurst, Woodley, Earley and Henley-on-Thames, and most take on only one or two dogs' worth of boarding at a time, since it's their own household.

Boarding kennels

A boarding kennel is purpose-built premises with individual runs and a set routine, run as a business rather than a household, and usually able to take more dogs at once than a single home boarder. Rags & Bert's, in Tilehurst, runs an indoor day-care and kennels unit; Dog Trouble, in Wokingham, is primarily a dog training and behaviour centre that also holds a boarding kennels licence for board-and-train stays; Stablecroft Pet Services, also in Wokingham, holds both a home boarding and a boarding kennels licence, giving it a choice most single-model businesses don't have.

Which suits your dog

A dog that settles well around other dogs and enjoys being part of a household is often happier with a home boarder. A dog that would rather have its own space, or one with a routine that's easier to manage in purpose-built runs, may do better in kennels. A dog that already knows a training routine, or is booked in for a board-and-train stay rather than plain boarding, is better matched to a business like Dog Trouble that specialises in it. Ask each business how many dogs are on site at once, and how much of the day your dog will actually spend with people, rather than assuming from the licence type alone. See how home boarding works and how boarding kennels work across the site.

Booking ahead and cost

Home boarders in this directory generally take on fewer dogs at once than a kennels business, so popular ones can book up well ahead of school holidays and other peak periods — it's worth asking early rather than assuming a place will be free. Few of Reading's businesses, of either kind, publish a price list online; where a figure is published, it's set out in the town's prices guide, and for everyone else a phone call is still the only way to get a quote.