Vaccinations, licences and what to ask in Swindon

Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire Council between them license all 29 dog boarding, day-care and home-boarding businesses listed for Swindon, whether they board dogs in a purpose-built kennels, a home boarder's house, or run day care from a dedicated site. A licence is not a promise about any one stay, but it is the one document worth asking to see before you book, alongside a straight answer on vaccinations and any breed policy.

Vaccinations

Every kennels, home boarder and day care here sets its own vaccination policy, so ask what is required and how far in advance, rather than assuming the same rule applies at a fixed-site kennels near Royal Wootton Bassett as at a home boarder in Haydon Wick. Several also ask about kennel-cough cover; practice differs from one business to the next, so raise it directly when you call.

Licences, and a lapsed example worth knowing about

Swindon Borough Council's own register gives a licence number and star rating for most of its 22 licensed businesses here, but never a street address for a home boarder. Wiltshire Council's seven licensed businesses, covering the villages around Royal Wootton Bassett, Marlborough and Highworth, were checked through animal-licensing.uk, a mirror that gives a postcode and licence type but no licence number or star rating. A licence recorded during research can lapse before you call: Badbury Pet Adventures's home-boarding licence was recorded with an expiry date that has since passed, so its listing here no longer carries a licence panel — a reminder to ask any business for its current licence rather than a date found in research. Betts Pets describes itself as council-licensed on its own site, but this could not be matched to a specific entry on either register, so no licence details are shown for it either.

Breed policies and insurance

A boarding or day-care business is entitled to ask about a dog's breed and set its own conditions, including for an XL Bully with a valid exemption certificate, so ask directly rather than assuming either way. Where a business states on its own site that it holds public liability insurance, treat that as something the business says about itself; this directory has no way to check an insurance claim independently, so ask to see evidence if it matters to your decision.

Questions worth asking before you book

• What vaccinations do you need before the stay, and how far in advance?
• Do you have a policy on kennel cough cover?
• Do you have any breed policies I should know about, including for an XL Bully?
• Can I see your current council licence, its licence number and its expiry date?
• How many other dogs, and from how many households, will be there during my dates?
• Do you say you hold public liability insurance, and can I see evidence of it?
• What happens if my dog needs a vet while staying with you, and who decides that?

None of the businesses listed here publish a vaccination schedule or a breed policy, so ask rather than assume an answer either way. See our council licences guide for more on how Swindon Borough Council's and Wiltshire Council's registers were checked.