Three tours blur together by the third gate latch. What separates a fair comparison from a fond impression is paper: the same questions, asked in the same words, with the answers written down while you are still standing in the building. Records questions are the sharpest tools on the tour, because how a kennel handles paperwork predicts how it handles everything you cannot watch.
One Question Set, Asked Three Times
Open with what the kennel requires from you. Which vaccination records must be shown, and by when, before booking, at booking, or on arrival? Which health information do they keep on file, and what must be refreshed at every stay rather than carried over? A kennel vague about its own requirements will be vague about your dog's file too.
Move to the stay itself. How are feeding and medicines logged, on a chart per dog, an app, or memory and good intentions? How are incidents recorded, a scuffle, a refused meal, a loose stool, a vet visit, and when does that record reach you: immediately, at collection, or only if you ask? Finally, what is their arrangement with a vet, which practice, how transport is handled, and who authorises emergency spending while you are away?
Close by asking what report comes home. Some kennels hand over a written summary of eating, sleeping, medication given, and anything unusual; others offer a wave and a verbal all fine. Neither answer disqualifies a kennel alone, but the difference tells you what evidence you will hold if a stay ever goes wrong.
The Comparison Sheet
Rule one sheet, or one screen, into identical fields for every kennel: records required, feeding and medicine logging, incident logging, vet arrangement, and report home. Fill each cell during the tour, in the kennel's own words where possible, and mark evasions honestly as not answered rather than smoothing them over later from memory.
Identical fields force identical treatment. Without them, the first kennel gets judged on its logging, the second on its garden, and the third on the warmth of its greeting, and the comparison collapses into whichever tour you enjoyed. With them, a kennel that logs medicines on a signed chart sits visibly beside one relying on a whiteboard, and your decision rests on evidence gathered the same way in all three places.
Add one row for your own observation: did staff answer records questions readily, fetch an example chart, or show you a redacted report? Fluency here is culture made visible. A team that treats paperwork as part of care, not an interruption to it, is showing you its standards more honestly than any brochure.
Reading the Answers Fairly
Weight the answers by consequence. Feeding and medicine logging and the vet arrangement protect your dog during the stay, so gaps there outweigh a thin report home, which mainly affects what you learn afterwards. A kennel can be excellent and still improve its hand-back summary at your request; a kennel that cannot say how medicines are recorded has a gap no request fixes by Friday.
Keep the completed sheet afterwards, and revisit it before the first real stay, because answers given on a sales tour deserve one calm re-read at home, away from the smell of clean bedding and the charm of a well-run reception, before you commit your dog to a week in anyone's care. It becomes the starting document for whichever kennel you choose, the baseline for questions at the first real booking, and a ready shortlist if that kennel is ever full.
Before each tour, gather the proof pages kennels require inside Pet Passport on KinsLe, and every facility receives identical paperwork from you in return.