How to choose dog boarding or day care in Blackburn

Twenty-one dog boarders, day cares and kennels are listed for Blackburn, spread across four council areas: Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council in the town centre and Darwen, Hyndburn Borough Council around Accrington and Oswaldtwistle, Ribble Valley Borough Council around Clitheroe, and Rossendale Borough Council around Rossendale. Eight are home boarders, seven run day care and eight run boarding kennels, with two businesses — Valley View Pet Services and Lancashire Canine Academy — holding two licence types each. What matters most when choosing depends on which of the three you need.

Home boarding, day care or kennels

Eight businesses board dogs in the boarder's own home rather than a kennel block: Valley View Pet Services and Digs for Dogs (Blackburn & Darwen) in Blackburn centre; Sophie's Staycation in Accrington & Oswaldtwistle; Just Dogs Ribble Valley in Clitheroe & the Ribble Valley; and PetStay - East Lancs & Bury, BowWowMiaow, Eat Sleep Walkies Repeat and Digs for Dogs (Rossendale) in Rossendale. Darwen has no home boarder listed. A home boarder usually takes far fewer dogs at a time than a kennels, so ask how many other dogs will be in the house during your dates, and whether they are all from one family or several — PetStay's own policy, for instance, is not to mix dogs from different households at all. Seven businesses run day care from a dedicated site or home rather than boarding overnight: Valley View Pet Services and Bold Bark in Blackburn centre, The Collar Club and Barks Allowed in Darwen, Lancashire Canine Academy around Accrington, The Bark Park in Clitheroe & the Ribble Valley, and Hazel Valley Hounds in Rossendale. Eight run boarding kennels: Ribble Valley Kennels & Cattery and Tailwaggers Kennels & Cattery in Blackburn centre, Carr Hall Boarding Kennels & Cattery in Darwen, Aspen Valley Boarding Kennels & Cattery, Glencoe Kennels and Cattery and Lancashire Canine Academy around Accrington, Mitton Hall Boarding Kennels & Cattery in Clitheroe & the Ribble Valley, and Willows Wags & Whiskers in Rossendale; seven of these eight also take cats alongside dogs.

The council licence in this area

Every business listed holds a current licence: it is a legal requirement in England for dog boarding, home boarding and day care, not something a business can opt out of. The four councils covering Blackburn's page publish their registers very differently. Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and Rossendale Borough Council each run their own register — Blackburn with Darwen as a page on its own website, Rossendale as a downloadable PDF — and both show a licence number, an expiry date and a star rating from 1 to 5 for most entries; the businesses licensed by these two councils and shown here with a star (Valley View Pet Services, The Collar Club, Carr Hall Boarding Kennels & Cattery, Barks Allowed, PetStay - East Lancs & Bury, BowWowMiaow, Eat Sleep Walkies Repeat, Hazel Valley Hounds, Digs for Dogs (Rossendale) and Willows Wags & Whiskers) carry that council's own inspection score. Hyndburn Borough Council and Ribble Valley Borough Council license the remaining businesses through a shared third-party mirror site, animal-licensing.uk, which confirms a business holds a licence but does not publish a licence number, expiry date or star rating for any operator on this page — so Ribble Valley Kennels & Cattery, Tailwaggers Kennels & Cattery, Bold Bark, Digs for Dogs (Blackburn & Darwen), Aspen Valley Boarding Kennels & Cattery, Glencoe Kennels and Cattery, Lancashire Canine Academy, Sophie's Staycation, Mitton Hall Boarding Kennels & Cattery, The Bark Park and Just Dogs Ribble Valley are shown as licensed with no star given. A star rating, where one is shown, is the council's own inspection score, tied to how often the licence is reinspected, and is not a customer review, so treat it the way you would a food hygiene rating rather than a Google star.

Questions worth asking

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 many other dogs, and from how many households, will be there during my dates?
• What happens if my dog needs a vet while it is in your care?

None of the businesses listed here publish a vaccination schedule or a stated insurance position beyond what appears on their own licence or website, so ask rather than assume an answer either way.

Prices and extras

Six of the twenty-one businesses listed publish a price; see our Blackburn prices guide for the published figures and what they cover. Whichever type of boarding or day care you choose, ask what a second dog from the same household costs, whether bank holidays are charged at a higher rate, and whether collection is included or priced separately.