Home boarding or kennels in Shrewsbury?
Of the nine dog boarding, day-care and home-boarding businesses listed for Shrewsbury and rural Shropshire, three are home boarders, licensed to keep dogs in their own house: House of Hounds and AristoDogz, both in villages north and south of Shrewsbury, and Maggie's Mutts, which in practice offers day care rather than overnight stays despite holding a home boarding licence. Four run boarding kennels instead: Fairfield Boarding Kennels & Cattery near Astley, Netley Boarding Kennels & Cattery near Dorrington, Lower Mill Boarding Kennels & Cattery near Pontesford, and Whitley Crest Boarding and Doggy Daycare near the Welsh border. The remaining two run day care only, from premises rather than either a home or a kennels block: Waggy Warehouse Shropshire and Wags Day Care Shrewsbury.
What a boarding kennels gives you
A boarding kennels means your dog has its own space on a site built for it, with set feeding and exercise times and more dogs on site at once than a home boarder would take. Fairfield Boarding Kennels & Cattery has been run by the same family for more than 45 years and plans a new exercise field for 2026. Netley Boarding Kennels & Cattery offers 35 temperature-controlled pens, each with its own outdoor run, and states dogs get four walks a day across three enclosed exercise paddocks. Whitley Crest Boarding and Doggy Daycare sits on more than two acres near the Welsh border and runs boarding, day care and a cattery from the same site.
What a home boarder gives you
A home boarder means your dog lives in somebody's house instead, usually alongside only one household's own dogs at a time; the address is given once you book, not published here. House of Hounds runs from Sutton Farm on the edge of Shrewsbury and requires a day of day care before a first overnight stay. AristoDogz is a family-run home boarder taking a maximum of five dogs overnight alongside two resident cocker spaniels. Maggie's Mutts, which trades as Shrewsbury Doggie Day Care, uses no kennels at all and currently returns every dog home the same day rather than boarding overnight, despite its home boarding licence, so ask directly whether overnight stays are actually available before assuming they are.
The day-care-only premises
Waggy Warehouse Shropshire runs from a 12,000 sq ft indoor and outdoor unit close to Shrewsbury town centre, with live Facebook streams so owners can watch during the day. Wags Day Care Shrewsbury runs from an acre of land on Shrewsbury's edge, pairing day care with dog grooming and private field hire, and states it has traded for more than 20 years.
Which suits your dog
A kennels tends to suit a dog that is happy with its own space and a set routine; a home boarder tends to suit a dog that finds a kennels environment stressful, or one that is used to living in a house rather than a run. Neither type is licensed to a higher standard than the other by default: Shropshire Council licenses both kennels and home boarding under the same regulations, so asking to see the certificate is the same question either way. See our council licences guide for what could and could not be confirmed for each.