A first stay at a Stoke-on-Trent boarder or day care
Stoke-on-Trent's 17 dog boarders, kennels and day cares range from purpose-built sites such as Audley Lodge Luxury Boarding Kennels, with its 20 private suites near Kidsgrove, to a home boarder taking one family's dog at a time, such as Your Dog At Our Home in Trentham & Blurton. The shape of a first stay differs with the setting, but the groundwork is much the same wherever you book.
Before you book: a trial stay
Several of the town's home boarders build a trial into how they start with a new dog. The Peak Dog Retreat in Leek sells a £55 trial package covering a meet-and-greet, a two-hour day-care session and one overnight stay before it takes a longer booking. Ask any business you are considering, home boarder or kennels, whether it offers something similar, and treat reluctance to meet your dog first as a question worth following up.
What to pack
Take your dog's own food for the length of the stay plus a little extra in case you are delayed, and its usual bed or bedding, since a familiar smell helps a dog settle somewhere new. Bring any medication in its original packaging with clear written instructions and your vet's contact details, and a lead, collar or harness with an up-to-date tag. Ask in advance what the business supplies itself and what it expects you to bring.
The handover
A good handover is unhurried: time for the boarder to ask about your dog's routine and how it behaves around other dogs, and time for you to ask anything from our vaccinations and licences guide. AXP Dog Service in Burslem & Tunstall also publishes a per-hour dog-walking rate, a sign of the kind of add-on some of the town's home boarders build around a stay; ask what else is on offer while you are arranging the handover.
During the stay
Ask how often you will hear from the boarder, and how you would be contacted in an emergency. Doggy Day Care in Silverdale, the town's one dedicated day-care site, runs from a 5,500 sq ft indoor arena on a daily routine you can ask about in advance; an overnight stay at a home boarder or a kennels is worth the same questions about walks, feeding times and where your dog sleeps.
Collection
Agree a collection time and ask how the last day is counted towards the price, since a nightly rate and a twenty-four-hour period are not counted the same way everywhere. Ask for a short handover on collection too, since how your dog has settled, eaten and slept matters for the next stay.
If it does not go to plan
If your dog does not settle, say so plainly rather than assuming it will pass; a good boarder would rather know. None of the 17 businesses here have been asked to give a guarantee about how a dog will settle, and none should be expected to.