Buyer's Guides· 3 min read· By The SpideyChat Team

Board and Train Questions Owners Should Ask First

Handing your dog to a stranger for three weeks deserves better questions than most people ask. A buyer's guide for owners and trainers.


An owner with a difficult dog is exhausted. She finds a programme promising a transformed dog in three weeks, pays a substantial deposit, and hands over an animal she loves to somebody she has met once.

She does not know where he will sleep, who will handle him, what will be done or what happens when he comes back. Nobody suggested those were reasonable questions.

What to look for, and what to publish

Owners should ask these. Trainers who answer them openly on their own pages win the work from the ones who do not.

Where the dog actually stays

A home, a kennel, a facility, with how many other dogs. Owners assume one thing and frequently find another, and this should be shown in photographs rather than described.

Who handles the dog

The trainer personally, an assistant, or staff on rotation. Names, experience and qualifications. This is the single most important question and it is almost never asked.

What the daily routine looks like

Training sessions, exercise, rest, feeding and time out of a crate or kennel. A schedule published plainly tells an owner more than any promise.

What methods are used

Described specifically enough to be meaningful, including what equipment is used and what happens when the dog gets something wrong. Vagueness here is the warning sign.

Whether the owner can visit

Whether visits are allowed, when, and the reasoning. Some restriction can be legitimate and it should be explained rather than simply imposed.

How updates are provided

Frequency, format, whether video is included and whether difficulties are reported as well as successes. Daily contact is what makes three weeks bearable.

What happens at handover

The number of sessions with the owner, what is taught, how long it takes and whether follow-up is included. This is where most programmes succeed or fail.

Whether the results hold at home

An honest trainer explains that a dog behaves in context and that the owner has to maintain it. Anybody promising a permanently transformed dog without owner involvement is overselling.

What is not suitable for board and train

Serious aggression, severe anxiety and anything needing veterinary involvement. A trainer who says so plainly is one worth trusting, which relates to behaviour problem enquiries and what trainers need first.

Health and vaccination requirements

What is required before arrival, what happens if the dog becomes unwell and which vet is used. Owners need this settled in writing.

Insurance and terms

What cover exists, what the contract says and what happens if the programme is ended early by either side.

The price and what it includes

Weekly rate, handover sessions, follow-up and any extras. Board and train is expensive and the figure should be complete.

What happens before it starts

An assessment, a meeting and an agreed plan. A programme booked without assessment is selling a package rather than solving a problem, which is where puppy class enrolment questions new owners ask starts the relationship better.

Ongoing commitments are judged the same way

Owners assess a recurring service on exactly these terms, as in pool maintenance plan questions owners ask first.

Getting started

Publish where dogs stay, who handles them, the routine, the methods and the handover, then answer at any hour from those pages, which is the approach in how to train your chatbot on your website content. SpideyChat for pet businesses answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about answers on the features page.

Frequently asked questions

What is board and train?
A programme where a dog stays with a trainer for a period of intensive training, with the format, duration and methods varying considerably between providers.
What should owners ask before booking board and train?
Where the dog stays, who handles it, what methods are used, how the owner is updated and what happens after the dog comes home.
Does board and train work?
Outcomes depend on the methods used, the dog, and crucially on the handover and follow-up with the owner once the dog returns.

Want a 24/7 AI Employee for Your Website?

See how SpideyChat can answer customer questions, capture leads and handle enquiries while your team is offline.

No obligation. We will review your website and show you how SpideyChat could work for your business.

Keep reading