Vaccinations, licences and what to ask in Shrewsbury

Nine dog boarders, day cares and kennels are listed for Shrewsbury and rural Shropshire, all licensed by the single council that covers the whole area, Shropshire Council. Dog boarding, home boarding and day care are all licensable activities in England under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, so a current licence matters whichever of the three you are booking.

Vaccinations

Every boarder, kennels and day care here sets its own vaccination policy, so ask what it requires and how long before a stay it needs to see proof, rather than assuming one rule covers the whole county. None of Shrewsbury's nine businesses publish a vaccination schedule on their own site, so this is a question to put directly to whichever one you are considering.

Licences

Shropshire Council's own online licensing register is a page that loads no content without a browser, so the working source for this directory is the third-party mirror animal-licensing.uk, which lists more than 330 operators across the whole of rural Shropshire but gives no address or phone number for any of them. Seven of the nine businesses listed here are confirmed against that mirror: House of Hounds, Fairfield Boarding Kennels & Cattery, Maggie's Mutts, AristoDogz, Netley Boarding Kennels & Cattery, Lower Mill Boarding Kennels & Cattery and Whitley Crest Boarding and Doggy Daycare. The other two, Waggy Warehouse Shropshire and Wags Day Care Shrewsbury, each state a licence number on their own site that could not be matched to the mirror in this check, so no licence details are shown for either; ask to see their current certificate directly. See our council licences guide for more on what each licence covers.

Breed policies and insurance

A boarder, kennels or day care is entitled to ask about a dog's breed and set its own conditions, including for an XL Bully with a valid exemption certificate, so ask directly rather than assume either way. None of the nine businesses listed here state on their own site that they hold insurance, so ask any of them to show evidence if it matters to your decision.

Questions to ask before you book

• Which council licensed you, and can I see the certificate or licence number?
• What vaccinations do you need before the stay, and how far in advance?
• Do you have a policy on kennel cough cover?
• Do you have any breed policies I should know about, including for an XL Bully?
• Do you say you hold public liability insurance, and can I see evidence of it?
• How many other dogs will be with mine at the same time, and from how many households?
• What happens if my dog needs a vet while in your care, and who decides that?

What a licence actually covers

Wherever it is confirmed, a Shropshire Council licence covers premises or home standards, record-keeping and how many dogs a business may keep at once; it does not fix a price, promise a particular room, or guarantee a certain group size, so ask those separately even once the licence itself checks out. House of Hounds, one of Shrewsbury's three home boarders, requires new dogs to complete at least one day of day care before they can be booked in for an overnight stay, and offers a free half-day trial to begin with; asking about a similar settling-in step is worth doing at any business here, licensed or not.