Day care or boarding in Stoke-on-Trent?
Day care and boarding solve two different problems, and several of Stoke-on-Trent's 17 listed businesses offer both. Day care is a booked day: your dog goes in after breakfast and comes home at teatime, which suits a working day more than a holiday. Boarding is your dog staying the night, whether that is one night or a fortnight.
Day care in Stoke-on-Trent
Seven of the 17 say they offer day care: AXP Dog Service in Burslem & Tunstall, CJ's Home Boarding for Dogs in Hanley & Stoke, Home2Home4Dogs and The Dog Stop in Longton & Fenton, Ruddy Paws in Leek, and New Buildings Farm Boarding Kennels near Stone all offer it alongside overnight boarding. Doggy Day Care in Silverdale is the town's one dedicated day-care site, run from its own indoor arena rather than alongside boarding. Day care is a licensed activity in its own right in England, so ask to see the licence as well as the room.
Overnight boarding in Stoke-on-Trent
Fourteen of the 17 offer an overnight stay in some form, whether as home boarding or in a boarding kennels. Doggy Day Care is the only business here that does not board overnight at all. PetStay Staffordshire, based in Leek, is a different case again: it arranges home boarding through a network of carers rather than boarding a dog itself or running day care, so it sits outside both counts above.
Which suits your dog
A dog unsettled left alone all day, or a puppy not yet reliable for long stretches, is usually better suited to day care than being left at home. A dog going away for a wedding, a hospital stay or a holiday needs boarding, whether from a home boarder such as The Dog Retreat in Newcastle-under-Lyme or a boarding kennels such as Eardley Hall Kennels near Kidsgrove. See our home boarding or kennels guide for the difference between those two overnight options.
Mixing the two
If your dog is new to time away from you, day care first with the same business you would later use for an overnight stay is a reasonable way to test how it settles. Ask any of the five businesses offering both whether this is something they support, and how much notice they would want.
What each usually costs
Day care and overnight boarding are priced differently, so they are not a straight swap on cost: a day-care session covers a working day, while an overnight price covers the dog sleeping there too. Our Stoke-on-Trent prices guide sets out what the five businesses that publish a figure charge for each, and it is worth asking every business you call, published price or not, exactly what a session or a night includes before comparing two quotes.
Checking before you book
Confirm hours, price and what a session or a night includes directly with the business; details here are checked periodically but a business can change them at any time. See our vaccinations and licences guide for what to ask before either kind of stay, and the full Stoke-on-Trent listings to compare what else each business offers alongside day care or boarding.