Day care or boarding in Wigan and Skelmersdale?
Day care and overnight boarding solve different problems, and most of Wigan and Skelmersdale's nine listed boarders, day cares and kennels offer at least one; three offer both.
Day care
Five of the nine offer day care: Pet Getaway and We Love Pets Wigan, both home boarders that also take dogs for the day; Canine Companions Indoor Play Centre & Day Care for Dogs, an indoor-only day care aimed at small-breed dogs; Woofits Doggy Day Care in Skelmersdale; and Upholland Luxury Kennels & Cattery, which runs day care alongside its kennels. Day care suits a dog that would otherwise be alone through a working day; Woofits prices a full day at £20 and a half day at £12, and takes no minimum-days contract. The other four businesses on this page — Talbot House Kennels & Cattery, Dukes Barn Farm Boarding Kennels & Cattery, Barking Beauties and Digs for Dogs (Wigan) — offer overnight boarding only, with no day-care option, so a reader who only needs day cover should look to the five businesses above instead.
Overnight boarding
Seven of the nine offer an overnight stay, either as home boarding or in a kennels. Only Canine Companions and Woofits, both dedicated day cares, do not board dogs overnight at all.
Hours
Hours vary across the two dedicated day cares: Woofits runs Monday to Friday, 7am to 6pm, with no minimum-days contract, while Upholland's day care runs Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 6pm, alongside its kennels' own check-in windows. If your working day starts early or finishes late, check a business's own hours before assuming it can cover your full day.
Group size and setting
Day care at a purpose-built site, such as Upholland's kennels-and-grooming premises at Wellcross Farm, usually runs to set opening hours (Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 6pm, in Upholland's case); day care alongside home boarding, as Pet Getaway and We Love Pets Wigan both offer, tends to mean a smaller, house-based setting instead. Neither is better in general; it depends on whether your dog prefers space and other dogs' company or a quieter, smaller group. Ask about typical group size before you choose between the two.
Which to choose
If your dog only needs looking after during the working day, day care alone is usually simpler than paying for an overnight stay. If you need cover for more than a day, you need overnight boarding, either home boarding or a kennels; see our home boarding or kennels guide for that choice. Pet Getaway, We Love Pets Wigan and Upholland offer both under one roof, which can suit a routine that changes from week to week. Pricing for the two is rarely comparable pound for pound, since day care covers part of a day and overnight boarding covers a full 24 hours; see our prices guide for what each actually costs among the businesses that publish a rate.
Full service listings for the wider area are at day care and overnight boarding.