How to choose dog boarding or day care in Worthing

Nine dog day cares, boarding kennels and home boarders are listed for Worthing, spread across five of the town's eight defined areas. Five are home boarders, two run day care from a dedicated site, and two run boarding kennels. What matters most when choosing depends on which of the three you need, and where in the town you are looking.

Home boarding, day care or kennels

Five businesses board dogs in the boarder's own home rather than a kennel block: Paws4Walks and K9 Home Boarding in the Worthing centre area, Molly & Friends Dog Hotel in Broadwater, Pet-Professionals in Durrington and Love Pooches in Goring-by-Sea. K9 Home Boarding is not a single premises: it coordinates a network of home boarders across Worthing, Littlehampton and several neighbouring towns, matching your dog with one of its carers rather than taking it in itself. Ask any home boarder how many other dogs will be in the house during your dates, and whether they are all from one household or several. Two businesses run day care from a dedicated site: Unleashed Play & Care Centre, a short walk from Worthing railway station, and VIP Doggy Day Care in Littlehampton. Two run boarding kennels: The Huntsman's Dog and Cat Hotel near Findon and Little Furlong Kennels & Cattery near Clapham village, both purpose-built sites away from a family home.

Where the gaps are

Worthing centre, Broadwater, Durrington, Goring-by-Sea and Littlehampton each have at least one listed business. Lancing & Sompting and Steyning, Bramber & Upper Beeding have licensed operators on the council registers but none with a phone number that could be independently confirmed at the time of research, so none is listed here yet. Shoreham-by-Sea has no dog day care, boarding or home boarding business found at all, licensed or otherwise; if you are near Shoreham, the nearest listed options are in Lancing or Worthing centre.

What the council licence means here

Dog boarding, home boarding and day care are all licensed activities in England, and every business listed here holds, or has applied for, a licence from either Adur and Worthing Councils or Arun District Council. Both councils' registers could only be read through a third-party mirror rather than a council-run register page during this research, and that mirror does not give a reliable council star rating for either council, so no star is shown on any Worthing listing even where one appears on the mirror. Two businesses — Little Furlong Kennels & Cattery and VIP Doggy Day Care — are shown with no licence block at all: neither could be matched to a specific register entry, so ask to see current proof of licensing directly when you call. The Huntsman's Dog and Cat Hotel's own site quotes a different licence number to the one currently shown on Arun District Council's register; the register's number is the one used here.

Questions worth asking

• Can I see your current council licence, and does the number match what's on the council's register?
• 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?
• How many other dogs will be there during my dates, and from how many households?
• What happens if my dog needs a vet while in your care?

None of the businesses listed here publish a vaccination schedule or a public liability insurance position beyond what is on their own website, so these are all questions to put to the business directly rather than answers this directory can give on its behalf. See our Worthing prices guide for what the two businesses that publish a figure actually charge.