Home boarding or kennels in Wigan and Skelmersdale?
Wigan and Skelmersdale's nine listed boarders, day cares and kennels split fairly evenly: four board dogs in the boarder's own home, three run a boarding kennels, and two offer day care only with no overnight stay.
Home boarding
Pet Getaway and Barking Beauties are both run by an individual from their own home in the Hindley & Platt Bridge area; Digs for Dogs (Wigan) and We Love Pets Wigan are local franchise branches covering a wider stretch of the borough. A home boarder usually takes far fewer dogs at a time than a kennels; Pet Getaway, for example, operates from a farmhouse with around 0.6 acres of secure outdoor space. As with every home boarder on this site, only the area and town are shown here; the address is given once you book.
Boarding kennels
Talbot House Kennels & Cattery, near Standish, and Dukes Barn Farm Boarding Kennels & Cattery, near Pemberton, both run purpose-built kennel blocks with fixed collection and drop-off windows rather than all-day access. Upholland Luxury Kennels & Cattery, at Wellcross Farm in Up Holland, combines kennels, a cattery, day care and a grooming studio on one site. A kennels usually has room for more dogs at once and set feeding and exercise times, with staff on site rather than one family: Dukes Barn Farm has been staffed 24 hours a day since Raymond and Kathleen set it up in 1979.
Day care only
Canine Companions Indoor Play Centre & Day Care for Dogs, on Cricket Street in Wigan, and Woofits Doggy Day Care, at Moss House Farm in Skelmersdale, both run day care but do not board dogs overnight. See our day care or boarding guide for the full split between day care and overnight stays.
Other services alongside boarding
Three of the kennels here also board cats: Talbot House Kennels & Cattery, Dukes Barn Farm Boarding Kennels & Cattery and Upholland Luxury Kennels & Cattery all run a cattery alongside their dog kennels. Three businesses also offer dog grooming: Talbot House, Barking Beauties and Upholland. None of the four home boarders on this page board cats.
Privacy and premises
A boarding kennels is a business premises in the ordinary sense, so a farm or street name can appear on its listing here. A home boarder's licence, by contrast, is issued to a person at their own house, which is a different kind of privacy: this site shows only the area and town for a home boarder, never a street, and gives the address once you have booked.
Choosing between them
A nervous dog that dislikes sharing space with strange dogs may do better with a home boarder taking one household at a time; a sociable dog might prefer a kennels' larger group and more structured day. Ask a home boarder how many other dogs will be there during your dates, and ask a kennels about its run and group sizes, before you decide.