There is no single right answer that follows from her age alone. Two dogs of the same age can need opposite holidays: one still enjoys a slow car ride and a cottage garden, while the other becomes anxious in a new hallway and stops eating. Decide from evidence about your dog and this particular trip.
Read Her Health and Temperament Honestly
Begin with what a journey asks of her body. Can she sit or lie comfortably for the travelling time, get in and out of the car without being lifted awkwardly, manage unfamiliar steps and slippery floors, and reach a toilet spot often enough? Note how long she takes to recover after a busy day at home, whether her medication times anchor the day, and whether heat, cold or excitement leave her unsettled for hours. If you are unsure whether travel is sensible for her, ask her vet for a view before booking, and treat pain, breathlessness or repeated distress as reasons to change the plan rather than push through it.
Temperament carries equal weight. A dog who greets visitors calmly, sleeps in other people's houses and eats away from home may travel contentedly. A dog who shadows you room to room, refuses food in new places or paces at night is telling you that novelty itself is the cost, however short the drive. Think about strangers, too: boarding staff and sitters both ask her to accept handling, feeding and toilet trips from people she knows less well.
Write these observations down as a short profile before you look at brochures. It stops a lovely destination quietly rewriting what you know about her.
Match Each Option to the Actual Trip
Take her when the trip can be rebuilt around her: a modest journey with planned stops, ground-floor or lift access, a quiet sleeping corner, hard floors covered where she walks, and days with one main outing rather than a chain of visits. Taking her fails when the holiday depends on long drives, stairs, crowded venues, leaving her alone in strange accommodation or keeping other people's timetable.
Board her when she has shown she can settle away from home, when she needs regular supervision through the day, and when a facility can offer a quiet senior area, her own food and routine, and staff who will follow written instructions. Visit first, ask where older dogs sleep, how nights are checked and how meals are recorded, and book a trial night. Because boarding is paid care, get the provider's agreed terms confirmed in writing, covering trial terms, overnight arrangements and rates.
Choose a sitter at home when her confidence is tied to familiar rooms, when her night needs are frequent, or when her mobility aids and safe routes are built into your house. The sitter adapts to her routine; she does not adapt to theirs. A paid sitter needs the same written confirmation of trial terms, overnight arrangements and rates, agreed before the holiday is firm.
Test the Choice Before Committing
Let a trial settle arguments that guessing cannot. A practice drive followed by a night in a different room, a trial night at kennels, or a sitter's trial evening and overnight at home each produce usable evidence: Did she eat both meals? Did she toilet normally? Did she sleep, explore, and greet you without frantic or flattened behaviour the next day? One rough hour followed by recovery is different from a dog who stays off her food and restless into the following day.
Book only the option she has already shown she can manage, and keep a fallback named: a relative who could collect her from kennels, or a sitter who could step in if travelling proves too much. Before you commit, load the winning plan's contacts into Pet Passport through KinsLe so her history travels as a single packet to whichever carer needs it.