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Best Dog Boarding Software: Kennel Management Compared (2026)

Modern dog boarding kennel facility staff checking a dog in with a tablet

The boarding business breaks at one of three places: reservations (double-booked suites), feeding/medication notes (lost between shifts), and checkout (the bill is wrong, the owner is upset). Good kennel management software solves all three. Most don't.

Must-haves for a real boarding facility

  1. Run-by-run availability calendar. Visual occupancy by suite type, not just a total count.
  2. Online reservations with deposit. No-shows on a $400 holiday stay are expensive.
  3. Vaccine verification + expiry alerts. Bordetella, Rabies, DHPP — block the booking if expired.
  4. Feeding + medication schedules printable per shift, with sign-offs.
  5. Add-on services — exit baths, daycare add-ons, extended play — invoiced automatically.
  6. Owner photo/video updates. Quietly the highest-ROI feature you can add. Drives 5-star reviews.
  7. Pricing rules by season, weight, suite type, and length-of-stay.

The six platforms worth looking at

1. Gingr

The most-cited boarding/daycare tool. Strong run-board, owner app, reporting. Pricier; some find the UI dense.

2. PetExec

Long-standing boarding/daycare platform. Solid for established mid-size facilities.

3. Easy Busy Pets

Lighter, friendlier UI. Good for newer or smaller facilities.

4. ProPet

Boarding + grooming + daycare combo. Decent online booking.

5. Kennel Connection

Long-tenured tool, heavy desktop feel, deep functionality.

6. Chartling

Boarding ships with reservations, vaccine gating, feeding/medication schedules with sign-offs, owner photo updates, and pricing rules — in the same product that runs your grooming and daycare. See the boarding page.

Pricing realities

Most boarding tools run $90–$300/month for a single-location facility, plus 2.6–3.5% payment processing. Multi-location pricing climbs fast — get a quote that itemizes per-site fees.

The medication piece nobody talks about

If you take dogs with daily insulin, seizure meds, or heart meds, your software must produce a printable shift sheet with sign-offs and log missed doses. This is a legal-liability conversation, not a convenience one. Verify in the demo — don't take the salesperson's word.

One platform for boarding, daycare, and grooming

Chartling runs the run-board, deposits, vaccine checks, and shift-sheet meds — in one product.

Try Chartling — No credit card required
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