How to choose dog boarding or day care in St Albans
Eighteen dog boarders, day cares and kennels are listed for St Albans, spread across six of the town's seven defined areas: St Albans (8), Marshalswick (4), Hatfield (2), London Colney (2), Fleetville (1) and Harpenden (1). Radlett has no published listing: four home-boarding and day-care licence holders are registered there with Hertsmere Borough Council, but none currently has a phone number this directory could verify from the business's own site, so none is published; anyone in Radlett will need to search directly or ask the council for its current licence list.
Home boarding, day care or kennels
Fourteen of the eighteen businesses are home boarders, taking your dog into their own house rather than a kennel block: Harley's Doggy Services, Albany Active Paws, Hayes Hounds Hotel, Zoomeez, Every K9 Active, Marley & Me Doggy Day Care, St Albans Dog Walking & Boarding Company and Snouts in St Albans; Sarah's Dog Boarding in Fleetville; The Wag House and Lisa's Home Pet Care in Marshalswick; Hounds on the Heath in the London Colney area; Woof Woof Walk in Harpenden; and Kate's K9s in Hatfield. A home boarder usually takes far fewer dogs at a time than a kennels, so ask how many other dogs will be in the house during your dates, and whether they are all from one family or several. Your Paws Pet Services (Hatfield), Elmtree Luxury Pet Hotel (Marshalswick) and Canine Karma (London Colney) run day care from a dedicated site rather than a home, and Croft Farm Kennels (Marshalswick) runs overnight boarding kennels.
What the council licence covers here
Every business listed holds a current licence: it is a legal requirement in England for home boarding, day care and kennels, not an optional extra. Sixteen of the eighteen are licensed by St Albans City and District Council, whose own PDF register gives a licence number, expiry date and the star rating the council awarded, from 1 to 5. The remaining two, Kate's K9s and Your Paws Pet Services, are both in Hatfield and licensed by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, which has no animal-boarding register of its own on its website; those two records are read from the animal-licensing.uk mirror instead, which gives a licence number but not a reliable star rating, so no star is shown for either listing here. Where a star is shown, treat it as the council's own inspection score, tied to how often the licence is reinspected, rather than a customer review. Ask to see the current licence certificate, and ask how many dogs it covers, since a licence can cap this below what the house or kennel could otherwise hold.
Questions worth asking about vaccinations, breed rules and insurance
None of these are things this directory can answer on a business's behalf; they are worth putting to the business directly before you book.
- What vaccinations do you require, and how long before the stay do you need to see proof of them?
- Do you have a policy on kennel cough, and what is it?
- Do you have any breed restrictions or conditions, including for an XL Bully with a valid exemption certificate?
- Are you insured, and can you show evidence of current cover?
- How is medication given during a stay, and is there an extra charge for it?
- What happens if my dog needs a vet while in your care?
None of the St Albans businesses listed here publish a vaccination schedule or a stated insurance position beyond what appears on their licence, so ask rather than assume an answer either way.
Prices and extras
Four of the eighteen businesses listed publish a price; see our St Albans prices guide for the published figures and what they cover. Whichever type of boarding or day care you choose, ask what a second dog from the same household costs, whether bank holidays are charged at a higher rate, and whether collection is included or priced separately.