Best means booked, and booked in February
Kennel websites compete on photographs of dogs running through fields, and those are cheap. Judged instead on assessments booked and daycare regulars kept, the good ones share nine traits. All nine answer the two questions an owner is holding when they land on the page: is this a safe, clean, competently run place, and can my dog actually come.
1. The building shown as it is
Reception, the assessment space, every play area with the group size visible, the outdoor space and the fencing, the sleeping quarters with real bedding, the quiet room, the kitchen where food is prepared. Photographed on a working day with real dogs in the frames, with their owners' permission. Wide shots so an owner can judge size, close ones so they can judge cleanliness. No stock.
2. A walk-through video
Ninety seconds on a phone, following the route a dog takes from the gate to the play area to where it sleeps. No music, or quiet music, because the sound of a calm building is part of the reassurance. Hosted on YouTube or Vimeo, embedded with a poster image so no player script loads until it is tapped.
3. A daily routine page
A daycare day and a boarding day, hour by hour. Arrival window, play sessions, rest period, feeding and whose food, the evening, who is on site overnight, and what happens to a dog that does not settle. This is the page that converts the owner who has been putting the decision off.
4. Assessment booking as the first step
Its own page, its own bookable item, its own button, primary for anyone who has not been before. What happens on the day, how long it takes, what to bring, what happens next. New dogs need a route in that is not a phone call.
5. Requirements stated where they are read
Vaccinations and their timing, kennel cough policy, neutering above a certain age, flea and worm treatment, temperament, entire males, puppy age. On the daycare and boarding pages, not buried in terms. Then collected inside the booking flow with the vaccination card uploaded and consent signed before anyone arrives.
6. Packages and a boarding calendar that behave
Daycare by the day, by the half day and as a package with the balance visible in the owner's account. Boarding by the night with capacity respected, second dogs sharing at a stated rate, peak dates named, minimum stays, deposits and a cancellation policy on the booking page. Gingr, PetExec, Revelation Pets and Kennel Connection all support the shape of this; the site's job is to say the same thing the software will charge.
7. Licence, rating and people in plain sight
Licence number and inspection or star rating in the footer and on the boarding page. Insurance, canine first aid, animal care qualifications. An Our team page with a photograph and a name for each person and a line about their own dogs. Owners choose the human, then the building.
8. Updates during the stay, described up front
Webcams, daily photo updates or report cards, with a sample shown on the site. An owner nine days into a holiday wants to know what they will receive and when. Saying so before they book removes the single most common worry about boarding.
9. Fast, and measured
Kennel sites are photo-heavy, so under two seconds on a phone takes work: images sized and compressed, hero prioritised, gallery lazy-loaded, no slider. Then booking clicks, call taps and enquiries recorded by page, so the owner can say how many assessments the daycare page produced last month.
What the best ones do not share
- A look. Rural and plain, bright and playful, and calm and premium all work.
- A platform. Gingr, PetExec, Revelation Pets and Kennel Connection all appear.
- A big budget. Most are mid four figures.
- Many pages. Ten well-made pages beats forty.
Test your own, on your phone
Mobile data, private window, as if you had never seen it:
- Find a photograph of the room a boarding dog sleeps in. Under thirty seconds?
- Find what time dogs go out in the morning.
- Find out what vaccinations you require and how far in advance.
- As a first-time owner, book an assessment without ringing anyone.
- Find the price of five nights over Christmas for two dogs sharing.
- Time the home page and the boarding page. Under two seconds?
- Search "dog boarding" plus your town. Is a page of yours on page one?
- Find your licence number and rating.
- Ask whoever runs the office how many assessments the site booked last month.
Seven or eight passes puts you among the best kennel sites in your area. Most kennels pass two or three, and almost none pass the first.
Where this sits
Those nine traits are the specification we build a dog daycare and boarding website to, and the list a diagnosis runs an existing site against. The same thinking shapes the rest of our pet business websites, from grooming salons to catteries. The photographs of dogs in fields are welcome. They go on top of a structure that has already shown the owner the sleeping quarters.