What to Pack for Dog Boarding: The Night-Before Checklist

Most packing lists for dog boarding are written by someone who has never worked a drop-off desk. They tell you to bring your dog's favourite toy and a photo of the family, and they leave out the two things that actually cause problems on the morning you're trying to get to the airport.

This is the version that assumes you're leaving tomorrow, you booked three weeks ago, and you haven't thought about it since.

The short version

If you read nothing else:

• **Food, pre-portioned, with three extra days' worth**
• **Medication in its original pharmacy container**, with written instructions
• **Vaccination records**, confirmed with the facility *before* drop-off day
• **A flat collar with current ID** and a plain leash
• **One washable, replaceable comfort item** — not the irreplaceable one
• **Written emergency contacts**, including a second person who can make a decision if you can't be reached

Everything below is detail on why, and where people get caught out.

Food is the one that goes wrong

This is the single biggest source of avoidable trouble, and it has nothing to do with the facility.

Dogs get digestive upset from sudden diet changes. A boarding stay is already a stressful week — new smells, new noises, a different routine, less sleep. Adding a new protein on top of that is how a perfectly healthy dog ends up with an upset stomach on day three, which is unpleasant for your dog, unpleasant for the staff, and occasionally expensive.

So: **bring your dog's own food, and bring more than you need.**

**Pre-portion it.** One meal per bag or container, labelled with your dog's name and which meal it is. This sounds fussy. It isn't. A facility handling thirty dogs is measuring out thirty different diets twice a day, and the difference between "scoop from the big bag" and "open the bag labelled Tuesday PM" is the difference between an approximate portion and the right one. If your dog is on a weight-management diet or has a sensitive stomach, this matters more than anything else on this list.

**Add three days beyond your return date.** Flights get cancelled. Weather happens. If your Sunday pickup becomes Wednesday, you do not want the facility switching your dog onto house kibble on day two of an unplanned extension.

**Don't bring bowls unless asked.** Almost every facility supplies and sanitises its own. Bringing yours usually means it sits in a cupboard for a week.

Medication: original containers, written instructions

If your dog takes anything — daily, occasional, or as-needed — three rules.

**Original pharmacy container.** Not a pill organiser, not a labelled sandwich bag. The container carries the prescribing vet, the dog's name, the drug, the dose, and the date. Staff administering medication need to verify what they're giving against a label, and a loose pill in a bag is unverifiable. Some facilities will refuse to administer medication that isn't in its original packaging.

**Written instructions, separate from the container.** "One tablet twice daily with food" on a sheet of paper, in your handwriting, handed over at drop-off. Not a text message. Not something you said at the desk. Written.

**Flag the as-needed ones explicitly.** Anxiety medication, anti-inflammatories for an old joint, anything given only when a symptom appears. These get missed because they aren't part of a daily routine, and "give if he seems uncomfortable" needs to be said out loud to the person on shift.

Vaccination records: confirm the requirements before the day

This is the one that turns into an argument at the desk, and it is entirely preventable.

Most boarding facilities require proof of rabies, and most require some combination of distemper/parvo and bordetella. Many require bordetella within a specific window — often within the last six or twelve months, and often at least a week before arrival, because the vaccine needs time to take effect. Some facilities also require canine influenza. Cats, where a facility takes them, typically need rabies and FVRCP.

The variation between facilities is real, which is the reason this section exists: **do not assume the list your last facility used is the list this one uses.**

Call or email a week out and ask three questions:

1. Which vaccines do you require, and within what timeframe? 2. Do you need them a set number of days before arrival? 3. Do you accept a titre test or a veterinarian's exemption letter?

That third question matters for older dogs and dogs with medical exemptions. Facilities differ on whether they'll accept a vet's letter in place of a vaccine, and finding out at drop-off is too late.

Get the records emailed to the facility in advance if they'll take them, and bring a paper copy anyway. If you're still choosing a facility, this is one of the questions worth asking on the tour — [the tour checklist](/guide/dog-boarding-tour-checklist) covers the rest.

Collar, leash, ID

Bring a **plain flat collar with a current ID tag** — current meaning the phone number on it is one you'll actually answer while you're away, or a second contact's.

Bring a **plain leash**. Not retractable. Retractable leashes are difficult to control in a busy lobby full of unfamiliar dogs, and many facilities won't use them.

Leave the harness at home unless the facility asks for it. Most use their own slip leads to move dogs between the kennel and the yard, and a harness usually ends up sitting in a bag for the week.

If your dog wears a training collar or a head halter, mention it, but expect the facility to have its own policy.

Comfort items: one, washable, replaceable

Bring something that smells like home. A T-shirt you've worn, an old blanket, one toy.

Three constraints.

**Washable.** It's coming back dirty. Everything does.

**Replaceable.** Things get chewed, lost, or mixed up with another dog's bedding. Do not send the toy your dog has had since he was eight weeks old and cannot be replaced. This is the most common regret and it is completely avoidable.

**Check the bedding policy first.** A lot of facilities — particularly [suite-style ones](/guide/suite-style-vs-kennel-style-dog-boarding) — provide raised cots or their own bedding and don't want yours, either because it's a laundry problem or because it's a hygiene one. Ask.

Skip the rawhides, bully sticks and anything else your dog might eat unsupervised. Facilities generally won't allow them, because a chew that's safe under your eye is a choking risk in a kennel overnight.

What to leave at home

• Food bowls (supplied)
• Retractable leashes
• Expensive or irreplaceable toys and bedding
• Rawhides and hard chews
• Prescription medication in anything other than its original container
• Your dog's crate, unless you've been asked to bring it

Special cases

**Puppies.** Confirm the minimum age and vaccination stage the facility accepts. Many won't take a puppy until the full course is complete, and that is a hard rule rather than a preference.

**Senior dogs.** Write down the things you do automatically without thinking: which side he prefers to be helped up on, that he needs longer to eat, that he's deaf on one side and startles if approached from it. Staff cannot infer any of that.

**Anxious dogs.** Say so plainly, and be specific about what the anxiety looks like. "He's nervous" is less useful than "he stops eating for the first day and then settles."

**Cats.** Fewer facilities take them, requirements differ, and litter and bedding preferences are worth asking about directly.

The handoff

Arrive with time. Drop-off is not a thirty-second transaction if you're doing it properly — you're handing over food, medication, written instructions, records, and a set of facts about your dog that nobody at the facility can guess.

Hand over one bag, labelled with your dog's name, containing everything.

Leave a phone number that works where you're going, and a second person who can authorise a decision if you're unreachable. If your dog is old or has a condition, be explicit about what you want done and what your spending limit is. The alternative is a staff member trying to reach you from a veterinarian's office at eleven at night.

Then go. Long, emotional goodbyes at the desk make it harder for the dog, not easier. Every facility will tell you the same thing: dogs settle faster when the owner leaves briskly.

The printable version

**Required**

• Food, pre-portioned, plus three days
• Medication in original containers
• Written medication instructions
• Vaccination records, confirmed in advance
• Flat collar with current ID
• Plain leash
• Emergency contacts, including a second decision-maker

**Optional**

• One washable comfort item
• One replaceable toy
• Written notes on routine, quirks, and anxieties

**Leave at home**

• Bowls, retractable leash, rawhides, irreplaceable items

Still choosing where your dog stays? [Browse boarding facilities by state](/states).