Dog Boarding Vaccinations, Titre Tests and Kennel Cough: What Owners Need to Know Before a Stay

Health paperwork is the part of boarding that quietly catches people out. Not because it is complicated, but because some of it needs lead time and owners often check it a fortnight before they travel. This article sets out the Love of Dogs boarding requirements so you can work backwards from your dates.

These are our boarding requirements rather than veterinary advice. Anything about what is medically right for your individual dog is a conversation for your vet.

Core vaccinations or a valid titre test

All dogs staying with us need core vaccinations with up to date boosters, or acceptable valid titre test evidence showing immunity. Both routes are accepted, and we are not asking you to change how you and your vet manage your dog's vaccination programme. We do need evidence that one of the two is in place, because it is a requirement under the terms of our boarding licence. If a dog cannot be vaccinated and there is no acceptable valid titre test evidence, we cannot legally board them, and this is not something we are able to make an exception on.

We need a copy of your vaccination record or your titre evidence for our files. A clear photograph of the relevant pages is usually enough, and having it with us early means it is never a last minute scramble.

Where titre testing stops: leptospirosis

This is the point most owners have not been told. Titre testing does not cover leptospirosis. So if you are using a titre test in place of core boosters, that test does not answer the leptospirosis question at all.

Where our boarding policy requires it, leptospirosis vaccination therefore needs to be provided separately, alongside your titre evidence. If you are planning to titre test, it is worth raising leptospirosis with your vet in the same appointment rather than discovering the gap later.

Kennel cough: optional, but with one firm rule

Kennel cough vaccination is optional for a stay with us. Some owners choose it, some do not, and we do not require it either way.

There is one rule that is not flexible. If your dog has received a live kennel cough vaccine, at least 14 full days must pass before the first day of their stay. Count the days carefully and count them full days. A vaccine given twelve days before arrival does not meet the requirement, and we will need to move the booking.

In practice this means that if you are going to have it done, have it done early. Deciding in the final fortnight is the one situation where choosing to vaccinate can cost you the dates.

Flea and worming records

We ask for the date of your dog's most recent flea and worming treatment and the product used. Both parts matter, because the product determines what the date actually means.

Keep this somewhere you can find it. A note in your phone the day you treat your dog saves a search through emails later.

A simple timeline

• As soon as you have dates in mind: check your dog's booster or titre position and the expiry of anything current
• At least eight weeks before: book any vet appointment you need, and ask about leptospirosis if you are titre testing
• At least four weeks before: decide about kennel cough vaccination, remembering the 14 full day rule for a live vaccine
• Two to three weeks before: send us copies of vaccination or titre evidence for our records
• In the run up: note the date and product of the most recent flea and worming treatment

Health conditions we cannot board

Two health related limits are worth stating plainly, because they are better known early than at the point of booking.

We cannot take dogs that require injectable medication. We also cannot take dogs with a severe life threatening illness that requires 24 hour monitoring. Danielle and Marcus live on site close to the kennels, but dogs are not continuously attended overnight, and we will not imply a level of supervision we do not provide.

Bitches in season

We do not board bitches in season. A season creates unnecessary stress for the female and for the other dogs staying here, so we will always ask you to rebook.

If you are unsure

Ask us. Sorting the paperwork question early is one of the least dramatic and most useful things you can do, and it means the run up to your holiday is about your dog rather than about admin.