Day care or boarding in Stevenage?
Day care and overnight boarding solve different problems, and most of Stevenage's listed businesses offer both rather than just one. Of the nine boarders, day cares and kennels listed here, seven list day care or a day-creche style service alongside boarding: Little Dave and Charlie, TopDog, We Love Pets Stevenage, Country Boarding Kennels, Sentabarcs, We Love Pets Hitchin and Wagalot Dogs.
When day care fits
Day care suits a dog that would otherwise be alone through a working day rather than one that needs to stay overnight. Country Boarding Kennels, near Baldock, runs a day-care programme it calls Playdays alongside its kennels and cattery, open seven days a week from 9am to 4pm. Sentabarcs, also near Baldock, combines day care with a play park featuring climbing frames, tunnels, ball pits and a splash pool.
When overnight boarding fits
K9 Interaction and Happy Waggy Tails, both home boarders near Baldock, list overnight boarding only, with no day-care service among their published services. K9 Interaction has offered home boarding and dog training near Baldock since 2008 and prices boarding at £38 a day; Happy Waggy Tails covers villages around Baldock towards the Bedfordshire border.
The businesses offering both
Little Dave and Charlie, in Chells & Great Ashby, prices daycare at £30 a day and overnight boarding at £40, though it requires a paid trial stay before a holiday booking. TopDog, in Shephall, Longmeadow & Manor, offers overnight boarding and daycare with pickup and drop-off from the same home. We Love Pets Stevenage and We Love Pets Hitchin, franchise branches that currently share one contact number, both list dog walking, home boarding and doggy daycare among their services, with home boarding priced at £50 per 24 hours. Wagalot Dogs, in Hitchin, combines day care and boarding with 'freework' sessions, run by Carol Hanson by appointment only.
Ask which one you actually need
If you are not sure whether your dog needs a day or a night away, describe your situation directly: how long the dog will be away from you, whether it has been left with strangers before, and whether it needs medication or has any anxiety around other dogs. A day-care place and an overnight stay are licensed the same way in England, under the same 2018 regulations, so this is also worth raising as part of checking a business's licence.
Where each type sits
Day care here is concentrated around Baldock and in the Chells & Great Ashby, Shephall and Hitchin areas; there is currently no listed business offering either service in Stevenage Old Town, the town centre, Broadwater & Symonds Green, Knebworth or Letchworth. See our area-by-area guide for the full breakdown of where Stevenage's nine listed businesses actually are.