How to choose dog boarding or day care in Taunton and Somerset

Eight dog boarders, day cares and kennels are listed across Taunton and Somerset, all inside the area of the single unitary Somerset Council. Six are home boarders, one runs day care and social boarding from a farm, and one runs boarding kennels. Four are based in the Taunton area, three in Frome & Shepton Mallet, and one near Minehead. No business is currently listed for Wellington or for Glastonbury & Street, which reflects a genuine gap in what could be found and confirmed rather than a sign that nothing operates in either area; this is a rural county with supply spread thinly and unevenly.

Home boarding, day care or kennels

Six businesses board dogs in the boarder's own home rather than a kennel block: Bark Place Dogs, E S Pet Care, Barking Mad Taunton and Animals at Home Taunton & South Somerset in the Taunton area; Hylands Dog Care and Animals at Home Mendip & Bristol West in the Frome & Shepton Mallet area. A home boarder usually takes far fewer dogs at a time than a kennel, so ask how many other dogs will be in the house during your dates, and whether they are all from one family or several. Two of these, Barking Mad Taunton and Animals at Home Taunton & South Somerset, are franchises that match your dog with one of a network of separately vetted hosts, so ask which host your dog would actually stay with, not just about the franchise itself. LittleDogs (or not so Little Dogs), also in the Frome & Shepton Mallet area, runs day care and social boarding from a farm rather than a private home, and only takes dogs on a regular or semi-regular basis so they build friendships with the resident group. Steart Dog Lodge, near Minehead, runs boarding kennels without individual cages, keeping dogs together in the farmhouse and in large walk-in kennels rather than kennelling them apart.

What the council licence means

All eight businesses listed here sit inside the area of Somerset Council, the single licensing authority covering this whole area since the 2023 unitary merger. A licence is a legal requirement in England for dog boarding, home boarding and day care, not an optional extra. Five of the eight have a licence confirmed directly against the council's own operator list: E S Pet Care, Barking Mad Taunton, Animals at Home Taunton & South Somerset, Hylands Dog Care and Steart Dog Lodge. The other three — Bark Place Dogs, LittleDogs and Animals at Home Mendip & Bristol West — could not be matched to a register entry, so no licence details are shown for them here; ask to see a current licence before booking with any of these three. Somerset's register is read from a county-wide public mirror of the council's own licence list rather than the council's register itself, so no star rating is shown for any business here, even where a business quotes one about itself elsewhere; ask the business directly if you want to know its current rating and check it against the council when you can.

Questions worth asking about vaccinations, breed rules and insurance

None of these are things this directory can answer on a business's behalf; they are worth putting to the business directly before you book.

• 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 is medication given during a stay, and is there an extra charge for it?
• What happens if my dog needs a vet while in your care?

None of the businesses listed here publish answers to these questions on their own sites, so ask directly and in writing before you book, particularly if your dog has a medical condition or a specific breed policy applies.