Home boarding or kennels in Tamworth and Lichfield?
Four of Tamworth, Lichfield and Rugeley & Burntwood's eleven listed dog boarders hold a home boarding licence, and four hold a boarding kennels licence. The remaining three are licensed for day care only and do not offer an overnight stay of either kind — see our day care or boarding guide for those three. The difference between home boarding and a kennels is worth understanding before you compare two quotes.
Home boarding
A home boarder takes your dog into their own house: your dog sleeps where the family sleeps and shares the routine of one household rather than a rota of staff shifts. Tamworth and Lichfield's four home boarders — Auntie Amie's Dog Walking and Pet Services in Tamworth, Bark N Bunk in Tamworth, and Absolute Pet Care and My Best Friend Dog Care, both in Burntwood — are shown here by area and town only, never by street address; the exact address is theirs to give you once you have booked. A home boarder generally takes far fewer dogs at once than a kennels: Bark N Bunk takes only one dog or one household's dogs at a time, so ask each one how many dogs, and from how many households, will be in the house during your dates.
Boarding kennels
A boarding kennels is purpose-built accommodation away from anyone's living room: individual kennels or rooms, set feeding and exercise times, and staff working shifts rather than one family caring for every dog. Grove Kennels Ltd, at Whittington Hurst near Lichfield, and Brookfields Luxury Boarding, a 28-room centre at Little Hay, both run this way and also offer grooming on site. Edial Boarding Kennels & Cattery, on Lichfield Road in Burntwood, combines dog and cat boarding in one site. Old Barn Kennels, a smaller site at Blithbury near Rugeley with 13 cabins and 10 kennels, does not currently take large or extra-large breeds, so check first if this applies to your dog.
Which suits your dog
A dog that finds a strange household stressful, or that guards its space around other dogs, may do better in a kennels with its own space and a fixed routine; a dog that struggles being left in a run, or that is used to living in a house, may do better with a home boarder. Neither is automatically the better choice — ask each business how it handles dogs that are anxious to start with, and trust what you see when you visit.
Arranging a visit
Both Grove Kennels Ltd and Edial Boarding Kennels & Cattery set fixed hours for a look round rather than allowing a visit any time: Grove Kennels between 12pm and 1pm daily, and Edial Monday to Saturday 8am to 11am and 3pm to 5pm, and Sunday 9am to 11am. Call ahead to book a slot with either, and ask any of the four home boarders whether they prefer a visit or a phone call first.
What about cats?
Edial Boarding Kennels & Cattery is the only business here that also boards cats alongside dogs; the other three kennels and all four home boarders take dogs only.