How to choose dog boarding or day care in Sunderland
Twelve dog boarders and day cares are listed across Sunderland's seven areas: Sunderland centre, Fulwell & Roker, Southwick & Castletown, Silksworth & Ryhope, Washington, Houghton-le-Spring and Seaham. Five are home boarders, and seven run from a fixed site as kennels, a cattery, or a day-care centre. Houghton-le-Spring is the thinnest area, with only one business currently listed (Maid in the North East), so a call to the council for its current licence list is worth doing if nothing here suits.
Home boarding, kennels or day care
Five businesses board dogs in the boarder's own home rather than a kennel block: Barking Mad – Sunderland and Durham (a host-family franchise covering the whole area), Alpha Omega – Dog Walking Sunderland and Dogs Are Us in Silksworth & Ryhope, Maid in the North East in Houghton-le-Spring, and Adrian's Dog Buddy in Seaham. 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 household or several. Ferry Farm Boarding Kennels & Cattery and West Hall Boarding Kennels run purpose-built kennels with a cattery alongside; Doggy Digzzz and Cat Club combines dog and cat boarding with grooming; Take The Lead runs day care only, for a community organisation in Southwick; MyPetStop is a large multi-service centre in Washington offering boarding, a day and night crèche, grooming and hydrotherapy; and Mighty Mutt House runs day care, training and grooming from separate sites in Washington and Seaham.
Why no licence can be verified here
Every one of these businesses needs a licence to operate legally in England, but Sunderland is an unusual case: Sunderland City Council, which covers most of the town's postcodes, publishes no accessible online register at all, so a licence claim made by a business on its own site — several state a specific number or star rating — cannot be checked against the council's own records on this page. The Seaham site of Mighty Mutt House and Adrian's Dog Buddy in Seaham fall under Durham County Council instead, whose licences appear only on a third-party mirror of its register, and neither could be matched to a specific entry on it when checked; Mighty Mutt House's Washington site is in the City of Sunderland. In short, no business on this Sunderland page currently carries a licence fact this site can independently confirm. This is not the same as being unlicensed: it means the register cannot be read, or the specific listing was not found on it. Ask any business directly for its licence number and which council issued it, and consider asking the council itself for its current list.
Questions worth asking
None of the following are things this directory can answer on a business's behalf; they are worth putting to the business directly before you book.
- Which council licensed you, what is your licence number, and can I see the certificate?
- 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 many other dogs will be there during my dates, and from how many households?
- What happens if my dog needs a vet while in your care?
None of the businesses listed here publish a vaccination schedule or a stated insurance position, so ask rather than assume an answer either way. See our Sunderland prices guide for what the three businesses that publish a figure charge.