Ask for the timetable, then ask what a full day really looks like
Brochures promise daily exercise; the useful question is how much, how often, and in what company. On your tour, ask how many separate exercise sessions a boarded dog gets on an ordinary full day, roughly how long each lasts, and whether exercise means free running in a field, a lead walk, or turnout into a small run while the kennel is cleaned. Those are very different provisions wearing the same label. A kennel that can answer in specifics — two field sessions, morning and afternoon, plus a last toilet turnout — is describing a system. Vague warmth about dogs getting plenty of fresh air is describing a hope.
Also ask what changes at full capacity in peak season. Exercise is the first thing squeezed when staff are stretched, and your dog will likely board exactly when the kennel is busiest.
Read the exercise spaces themselves
Ask to stand in the places dogs actually use. Look at the size of the fields or runs relative to the number of dogs out at once, the surface underfoot — grass worn to mud, concrete, or something kinder to pads — and whether there is anything in the space besides fencing: shade, shelter from rain, things to sniff and investigate. Check gates and fencing height with your own dog in mind, especially if she jumps, digs, or is small enough to test gaps.
Notice the ground for signs of how the space is managed. Fields scattered with old waste that nobody has cleared tell you how much time staff spend out there with the dogs, which is the real measure of supervision.
Watch the dogs who are already out
The boarders exercising during your tour are the truest review you will get. Relaxed dogs sniff, wander, play in bursts, and settle in the shade. A yard full of dogs fence-running, barking continuously at visitors, or pacing the same line is showing you arousal that never comes down — often a sign of too many dogs, too little space, or too little human presence in the session. Ask who supervises, from inside the field or from the gate, and how dogs are grouped: by size, by temperament, or simply by whose kennel row is due out.
Ask, too, what happens for the dog who cannot join in — the elderly dog, the dog recovering from surgery, the dog who is frightened of others. A kennel with a genuine answer, such as solo lead walks or quiet garden time, exercises every dog it boards; one without an answer exercises the easy ones.
Test the wet-day and winter version
Brochure exercise happens on a dry day in daylight. Ask what the provision becomes during a week of rain, on dark winter afternoons, or when a field is waterlogged and closed. Some kennels have covered areas, indoor play space, or a lead-walking rota that keeps the promise in poor weather; others quietly reduce dogs to brief toilet turnouts and call it a weather exception. Neither answer is automatically disqualifying for a short stay, but for a long booking, or for a young, energetic dog, the wet-day version is the provision you are actually buying.
While you are asking, check how exercise is recorded. Many good kennels log sessions per dog. A record you can see on collection is worth more than any promise made on the tour.
Weigh what you saw, not what you were told
Leave with a simple comparison in your notes: sessions per day, space and surface, group sizes, supervision, poor-weather fallback, and how your particular dog — her age, energy, and sociability — would fit that system. If a kennel resisted showing you the exercise areas or watching the dogs out, treat the resistance itself as a finding. Gathering and comparing local boarding options before you visit is far easier when they sit in one place, and KinsLe's Pet Services Directory lets you find trusted local pet businesses and connect with them, so the tour starts from a shortlist rather than a search engine's guesswork.