Adding Boarding or Daycare to Your Grooming Business

Many grooming salons get asked the same question again and again: "Do you do boarding?" or "Can I leave him for the day?" Adding daycare or boarding can turn a grooming business into a one-stop shop for local pet owners, and it fills the building on days when the grooming table is quiet. But it is a big step, with very different demands from grooming. Here is what to think about before you start.

Why groomers add daycare or boarding

The appeal is easy to see. Your clients already trust you with their dogs. Daycare brings regular weekly visits, and boarding fills the holiday periods when many owners travel. Both make it natural to add a groom: a bath before a boarding dog goes home, or a tidy-up during a daycare day. Each service feeds the other.

Check the rules first

Before spending a dollar, talk to your local council. Boarding and daycare are often treated differently from grooming under planning and animal-keeping rules, and there may be limits on dog numbers, noise, opening hours, waste and building standards. Some states have codes of practice for boarding establishments covering space, hygiene and supervision. Get clear answers in writing before you sign a lease or start building.

Space and layout

Dogs need room to play safely, quiet spaces to rest, good airflow, easy-clean floors and secure fencing with double gates. Boarding adds kennels or suites, sleeping areas away from noise, and somewhere to store food and medication. Think carefully about how dogs will move between areas without crossing paths with grooming clients at the front desk.

Daycare or boarding: which first?

Many salons start with daycare. It runs during business hours, needs no overnight staff, and builds a group of regular clients who come every week. Boarding is a bigger commitment: someone must care for dogs overnight, at weekends and on public holidays, which are exactly the days many owners want it most. Starting with daycare lets you learn how dogs behave in groups before taking on overnight care.

Staffing and supervision

Group play needs trained, attentive staff who understand dog body language and can step in early when play gets too rough. Work out how many dogs each staff member can safely supervise, and plan for breaks, sick days and cleaning time. Boarding adds feeding schedules, medication and someone on site or on call at night.

Health and safety rules

Set clear entry rules from day one: current vaccinations, flea and worm treatment, and a temperament assessment or trial day for every new dog. Decide what happens if a dog is unwell or doesn't settle. Keep emergency contacts and vet details on every pet's record, and make sure your insurance covers daycare and boarding, not just grooming.

Pricing

Daycare is usually priced as a full or half day, often with packs of days at a small discount to encourage regular visits. Boarding is priced per night, sometimes varying by dog size or room type, with extras for medication, special diets or a bath before going home. As with grooming, start from your real costs: staff hours, space, cleaning and food.

Keep bookings in one place

Running grooming, daycare and boarding from separate diaries quickly leads to double bookings and missed grooms. One system that holds every client, pet, vaccination record and booking makes life much easier. In PetConnect, grooming, daycare and boarding sit side by side, with the same client and pet records, so a boarding stay and a going-home bath can be booked together and paid for at one checkout.

Start small

You don't need to launch everything at once. Start with a small daycare group for existing grooming clients, learn what works, then grow. Your regular clients will tell you quickly whether boarding is worth adding next.

Plan for the extra admin

Daycare and boarding bring paperwork that grooming doesn't. You will need booking forms with feeding and medication instructions, consent forms for group play, emergency vet authorisation and clear terms for late pick-ups and cancellations. Boarding during school holidays and over Christmas often books out months ahead, so many businesses take deposits for peak dates.

Having all of this on each client and pet record, rather than on paper forms in a folder, saves a lot of time at drop-off. Staff can check vaccinations and instructions on a phone or tablet in seconds, and nothing gets lost between shifts.

Talk to your clients first

Before committing, ask your regular grooming clients what they would use. A quick question at pick-up or a short message to your client list can tell you whether there is real demand for daycare, boarding or both, which days are most popular and what people would expect to pay.

See how daycare and boarding work in PetConnect on our daycare and boarding page, or read about grooming management.