The family has the flights booked for the first week of August and now the dog needs somewhere to go. They search ‘boarding kennels near us’ or ‘cattery Dublin’, and before they ring they want to know four things: is there space, what does it cost a night, what vaccinations does the dog need, and can they see where he will sleep. Websites for kennels and catteries in Dublin either answer those on the page or lose the booking to the kennel that did, because the owner is ringing three places on a Tuesday lunchtime.
Booked out for August
Kennels run on a calendar that is nothing like a shop’s. Summer is full by late spring. Christmas is full by October. The mid-terms, Easter and every bank holiday weekend fill next, and January is empty. The site carries that honestly, with a line at the top that says ‘Full for August, taking September’ or ‘Christmas: a few spaces left for cats’, changed from your phone the day it changes.
The deposit holds the peak dates. When you confirm a booking you send a payment link, the owner pays by card or Apple Pay, and the summer fortnight is no longer a verbal promise that gets cancelled the week before. How to take deposits online in Ireland covers how to word the terms so the deposit is fair and clearly agreed.
The vaccination question, answered once
Every kennel has its own requirements and every owner rings to ask them. One page states yours: which vaccinations for dogs, which for cats, how far in advance the kennel cough vaccine has to be given if you require it, whether you accept titre tests, and what proof to bring. Flea and worm treatment, if you ask for it. Entire males and bitches in season, if you have a policy. Put the same page link in every confirmation, and the phone goes quieter.
Insurance belongs on the same page. Say plainly what your insurance covers while an animal is in your care, what you do if a dog needs a vet during a stay and who pays, and whether you ask for the owner’s own pet insurance details on the form. Owners rarely ask this out loud, and they are very reassured to see it answered.
Show them where the dog sleeps
Owners are leaving a member of the family with strangers, and the photos carry that weight. The kennel block from the inside, lit and clean. A run with a dog in it. The beds and the heating. The exercise field or the paddock, and how often each dog gets out. The cattery pens with their shelves, scratching posts and a window to look out of. The kitchen. The people who do the walking and the feeding, by first name.
Say what a day looks like: when they are let out, how many walks, whether dogs from the same house share, whether you feed their own food, how medication is given. If you offer daycare, grooming before collection, or a photo update by WhatsApp midway through the stay, say so; the midway photo is the thing people tell their friends about.
Arrivals, departures and the form
Most kennels have set drop-off and collection windows, close on Sunday afternoons, and charge the extra night if the collection slips past a certain hour. All of that goes on the page, along with the bank holiday rates and the cancellation terms, because nobody reads them in a confirmation text but they do read them when deciding.
The booking form collects what you need before the car arrives: dates, animals, breed and size, vaccination dates, feeding, medication, the vet’s name and number, an emergency contact. It lands in your email and WhatsApp while you are doing the morning rounds, and you reply when the feeding is done. Kennels are usually down a lane outside the town, so the Google pin needs to be on your gate and the directions need the landmark; how to get your business on Google Maps explains the fixes.
Hand us
Your prices per night by size and for sharing, your vaccination and insurance wording, your drop-off and collection hours, your bank holiday rates, your cancellation terms, what a boarder’s day looks like, whether you take cats as well as dogs or either, and a dozen photos from inside. If you also have a grooming room, the services and prices for that. For kennels outside Dublin, and most are, we do the first chat by phone or video and everything after is the same.
Plan
Complete at €1,499 to set up and €100 a month is the plan for a kennel taking deposits and wanting reviews after every collection. Essentials at €499 and €50 a month covers the site, the vaccination page, the form and the Google listing for a kennel that is full on word of mouth. Both are on the pricing page.