Day care or boarding in York?
Day care and an overnight stay solve different problems, and in York the two are less evenly split than in many towns: of the 14 dog boarders, day cares and kennels listed here, only five offer day care, while 12 offer an overnight stay, whether that is home boarding or a place in a boarding kennels. Three businesses offer both.
When day care fits
Day care suits a dog that would otherwise be alone through a working day rather than one that needs to stay overnight. Stud Farm Country Club for Dogs, in Wigginton, and Peach's Pals, in Tadcaster, are the only two businesses here that offer day care without also offering an overnight stay; both run from a dedicated site rather than a private home, and both require a trial or assessment session before regular bookings.
When an overnight stay fits
Nine of the 14 businesses offer an overnight stay without day care as a separate service: the boarding kennels Rose Cottage Farm, Rose Farm, Foss Bank and Ackerley Park, and the home boarders Golden Paws of York, Good Boy Pet Services, Petpals York, White Daisy Home Boarding & Pet Sitting and YORPAWS.
The three that offer both
Paws in the Countryside and Waggy Tails / Heather's Lavender Dog Hotel, both home boarders, and Dunholme Grange Boarding Kennels & Cattery each offer a day-only rate alongside a full overnight stay, so a dog can be dropped for the day without committing to a night away. Paws in the Countryside's day rate is cheaper than its overnight one, at £25 against £35 a night, and Dunholme Grange's day-boarding rate is similarly a few pounds below its overnight one.
Ask which one you actually need
If you are not sure whether your dog needs a day or a night away, describe your situation to the business directly: how long the dog will be away from you, whether it has been left with strangers before, and whether it needs medication or has any anxiety around other dogs. Petpals York, the local franchise of a national network, also arranges puppy visits and cat sitting alongside home boarding, which is worth mentioning if you have more than a dog needing cover.
Cats and other pets
Rose Cottage Farm Kennels & Cattery, Dunholme Grange and Ackerley Park Kennels & Cattery all board cats alongside dogs, and White Daisy Home Boarding & Pet Sitting and Petpals York both offer cat sitting visits. If you have more than one type of pet needing cover at the same time, ask directly whether a business can take both under one booking rather than assuming a dog-only business will.
Trial and assessment sessions
Both of York's day-care-only businesses ask a new dog to complete some kind of session before regular bookings start: Stud Farm Country Club for Dogs runs a trial day, and Peach's Pals charges a separate assessment fee for a session of up to five hours. Ask what a first visit involves and whether it is charged on top of the ongoing day-care rate, since this varies between the two.