A first stay at a Slough or Windsor boarder or day care
Booking a first stay with a new boarder, day care or kennels in Slough or Windsor is different from a routine rebooking: there is no track record yet on either side, so it is worth treating the first visit as a trial rather than a full commitment.
Ask about a trial or viewing first
None of the eleven businesses listed for this page publish a stated trial or assessment policy, so ask directly whether a settling-in visit or a shorter first stay is available before committing to a longer booking, especially with a home boarder such as Lulu's Home Boarding & Day care, Bertie and Friends, Datchet Dog Walking, SpeediePAWS or Barking Mad – Windsor & Staines, where your dog would be moving into somebody's house rather than a kennel block. Ask a kennels such as Old Beams Kennels and Cattery, The Tarbay Centre or Joe's Folly whether you can visit and see where your dog will actually stay before you book, and, for Barking Mad, ask specifically to speak to or meet the host family your dog would be placed with, not only the franchise office.
What to pack
Whichever type of boarding or day care you choose, take enough of your dog's usual food for the length of the stay, since a sudden change of diet can upset its stomach, plus any regular medication in its original packaging, a lead and collar with an up-to-date ID tag, and something that smells of home. Ask the business in advance what it provides and what it expects you to bring, since this varies between operators, and confirm whether bedding or bowls need to travel with your dog or are supplied on site.
Drop-off and collection
Ask what the arrangement is for dropping off and collecting your dog, since hours vary across this page's eleven businesses. Old Beams Kennels and Cattery opens weekday mornings and late afternoons, with shorter windows at weekends and no opening on bank holidays; The Tarbay Centre runs similar weekday and weekend windows; Joe's Folly opens daily late morning and again on weekday and Saturday afternoons, closed on bank holidays. Bruce's Doggy Day Care (Cookham) runs a fixed Monday-to-Friday day and also offers a doggy bus collection and drop-off round for an extra charge. SpeediePAWS sets a morning drop-off window and an afternoon-to-evening collection window for its day care. Lulu's Home Boarding & Day care publishes a similarly wide weekday and weekend window. The remaining businesses – Claire's Comfy Canines, Bertie and Friends, Hound Love, Datchet Dog Walking and Barking Mad – Windsor & Staines – do not publish set hours, so ask directly what their arrangement is before you set off.
A good handover
Whichever business you choose, a good handover covers your dog's feeding times and amounts, any medication and when it is due, its normal toileting routine, anything it is anxious about, and an emergency contact number for you. Write it down as well as saying it, so it is there if you are unreachable during the stay. Ask, too, how the business will update you during the stay, and how it would contact you if there were a problem, before you leave your dog with any of Slough and Windsor's eleven listed businesses.