Best Pet Boarding & Sitting Services
Mad Paws 🏆 2026
Imogen looked after our Arlo beautifully and kept us updated the whole time ❤️
Pawshake
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Gave this website a try ant not impressed about anything. The process as an owner seemed disjointed and hard to navigate. Worst point was the lack of… Read more
available sitters and what there was, were slow to respond. The one sitter I finally made contact engaged up until a week before we were due but then ghosted us completely. We went back to our previous website, Madpaws, and secured a great sitter within 2 days.
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My first house sit. Sitter had lots of positive reviews on this site. She drank my wine and helped herself to hundreds dollars worth of meat and… Read more
groceries when I specifically asked she replace anything she used. Left without mentioning above and then lied when asked about it. I had to produce evidence from her rubbish to get admission. What amazes me is that this site has opted to keep her on their books with « a file note ». No warning other owners. Their review system is inadequate there’s no space to provide real feedback and you only have 2 weeks to provide it. I’m on another site now that seems much more rigorous. These people don’t give a d#mn.
Thank you for sharing your concerns. We’re… Read more
Jenny and her staff are absolutely amazing and I highly recommend them they are so kind and caring. I have a British bulldog which needs extra care and they have just been outstanding In looking after her.
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We’ve just had a wonderful experience with Berrima Boarding Kennels, our old girl rottie hadn’t been to a kennel before and we were quite nervous… Read more
about leaving her. We had nothing to worry about, Noni and the team are thoughtful and really care! Frankie was well looked after and cared for by true animal and dog lovers! We would highly recommend a stay, we will be back! Furry family members are well looked after here! Thank you so much for taking such good care of Frankie! :)
Benny Bunny enjoyed his recent stay! – Thanks to the team at Sydney Petlands for looking after Benny recently. Leaving a bunny for boarding is stressful, however the team were great, he was well cared for and enjoyed his stay.
Cash Only No ABN – Heads-up to any potential buyers at upcoming auction. Owner is operating a cash only business probably because her ABN was cancelled on 30 June 2019. Due diligence required before bidding.
Hanrob
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Never again. Picked up my pup, 7 months old, she stunk of the worst smelling [Content Removed] and then covered in flea powder to hide the smell. Her… Read more
fanny was red raw from being attacked by flea's. She was flea treated 7 days prior to arrival. She came home not eating and very unhappy. At nearly $200 per night, never ever again. I would of put off my cancer operation if i knew this was going to happen. Update - After 2 days of not eating at home and very upset, me very very unhappy, called Hanrob Perth to speak to manager. I was told that the manager was busy and wasn't answering her phone, girl would not locate manager or even try. My response was rip it into them to show my frustration, then called national line, manager in Sydney to busy to speak to me, ripped it into them. Got phone call back, manager to worried about there employee rather than my pet child. Knew about my pup being sick but no enquirey as to why and really came across as "WHO CARES". My poor employee is more important. Telling me lies, lies and more lies (receptionist in Perth and MANAGER in Sydney). Went to take pup to the Vet and thought will try and get her to the toilet first. She done the biggest poo as long as her body and there was large pieces of Pine Timber all the way through. Now fuming even more. Pup at Vets overnight, xrays and medication at over $1600. Thanks Hanrob. Never again and don't want your contact.
This isn't the outcome we ever want for any dog in our… Read more
I highly recommend this place for your furry ..love it..thank you team . My Goldie was so happy during calabash stayed.
I have used this dog minder service many times for both day and night stays and I have had nothing but had great experiences and received a friendly service. Would highly recommend this dog sitter.
Take your dog cushions in with you – I recommend you take your dog’s cushions in with you for your dog to lay on so it doesn’t end up with grazed elbows like the photos. But thank you for taking care of mine for 7 days.
Beware of [Name Removed]. The house sitter site allows him to remain on the site after he left an assignment when I was overseas. I couldnt leave a… Read more
review on the sites because they don't have the feature to do so. My dog was left unattended the home was left not secured there was dog vomit in the carpets. And he turned drunk, 4 hours late. Proceeded to drink and watch football whilst I was trying to do a handover. He's a scumbag and they just let him remain on the site. He doesn't know anything about basic dog care and he is seated of dogs.
Our little dog, Panda, is very timid, so we worry about him being mistreated in boarding kennels. We've boarded him at the Fleurieu Kennels out… Read more
Aldinga way, but he was absolutely terrified of the staff and when we dropped him off he was clearly distressed, so we looked for a better option.
Enter Beaus Pet Hotel at the Adelaide airport! They have a range of kennels ranging from basic short stay to all the trimmings, including a TV. Panda has no interest in watching TV so we boarded him in basic kennels. Dogs are exercised three times a day, and pictures of your dog are emailed every second day. The staff spent time getting to know Panda, and the pictures showed a very happy, contented dog: tail up, enjoying a pat, a game with a toy or simply receiving attention from the kennel staff. A debrief is given on your dog on pickup.
It is a little on the expensive side, but worth it to know your dog is enjoying his holiday, likes the staff and is not being abused or ignored. I wouldn't not hesitate to board Panda at Beaus again.
John and his team did a great job of caring for my Grey Hound, Diesel. He stayed for two weeks and returned happy, healthy and shiny clean (thanks to… Read more
complimentary wash on exit). Extra care was taken in ensuring his eyes received drops twice each day (for a congenital problem). Thank you John!
Purrlazzo owner/operator Jenny puts her “all” into caring for your cats – We travelled from NSW to GC and booked our two cats with Purrlazzo for the first time. From the outset Jenny was helpful and willing to accommodate… Read more
all of the idiosyncrasies of our two. Our male had been having a cranky trip experience and on arrival uhissed and carried on, Jenny had a nice large pen with beds galore and plenty of climbing areas ready for them and said “don’t worry leave him to me” We left and thought oh boy a phone call from Jenny won’t be far away. Long story short, we visited every few days and each time he was settling more to the point that he was reluctant to come home after 10 days. Bonus is a huge penned play area for cats to take a turn to romp play and roam in Highly recommended, well done Jenny, see you on our next visit to the coast Cheers Lee and Phil
If I could give 10 stars I would. I had a huge problem with the transport company transporting my cat- internationalpets.com.au who will receive 0… Read more
stars from me . Nichola was absolutely fantastic about the delay in transporting my cat due to a Qantas cancellation and lack of service from Internationalpets. She not only offered to look after my girlie, she offered to drop her to Armidale Airport not for a charge but to alleviate the hassle Ive gone through and my cat will have to go through. HUGE Kudos. I can only say good things about these caring people where animals definitely come first.
Recently moved to Gladstone and had to find a new groomer for my dog. After a google search I found Charms Canine Cottage. He's been twice now and… Read more
each time he came out looking fabulous but more importantly relaxed and happy. The staff are friendly and gentle with my dog and seem to really like interacting with the dogs in their care. The atmosphere is relaxed and inviting and the end result is great.
Recommended to us by a vet.... We took our pup to Demi at Pillar of Paws for puppy school and couldn't be happier with the experience. Demi is a… Read more
fantastic trainer who is patient, knowledgeable, and genuinely passionate about helping. From the first call, it was clear Demi knows her stuff. She made the classes engaging and informative. She would always answer our questions and give us practical tips we could use at home. I Highly recommend Pillar of Paws to anyone in the Northern Beaches looking for puppy school or dog training. Thanks Demi!
I have been taking my fur baby to Whaggy Whiskers Day Care, on the Gold Coast the ladies are fabulous and they are also Groomers. I would recommend this business to everyone they are fabulous.
If you’re looking for a place where customer service comes second to policy, you’ll probably love Pet Resorts. If you’re looking for fairness and… Read more
basic flexibility… good luck. I paid a $275 deposit for my Kelpie's New Year stay at Pet Resorts Dural. When plans changed, I asked for a simple, reasonable solution: convert the deposit to doggy day care credit. Nope. No effort to work with me, no goodwill, no “let’s help you out” — just a strong vibe of thanks for the money, see you never. It left me feeling like it’s less about pets and people, and more about the cash register. And just in case you think that was a one-off, Pet Resort Terrigal took months to return a substantial overcharged payment. Months. Because apparently “quickly fixing a billing mistake” is an optional extra. Between the rigid deposit handling at Dural and the painfully slow refund process at Terrigal, I’ve learned my lesson: dont expect flexibility when money is involved. I won’t be back. Sad because I was a regular customer. Take a minute to read all the negative reviews.
Excellent care, until something went wrong — then no accountability PLEASE READ BEFORE BOARDING WITH KIP We boarded our dog Lily with Kip Hunter… Read more
Valley for 35 days (roughly $83/day) while travelling internationally. This isn't a cheap option for pet boarding, and at that price point, you'd reasonably expect a higher standard of care and attention when something goes wrong.
We chose Kip specifically because of their strong reviews and because Hunter Valley offered a quieter, calmer setting than the Sydney locations, which mattered to us since Lily is a rescue and came from an abusive background.
Up until the final day, the experience was genuinely excellent. The daily video updates of playtime were a huge comfort, and Lily clearly looked happy and well cared for throughout her stay.
Unfortunately, the end of her stay was a serious failure. Lily was returned via Kip's transport service in a state of medical distress, covered in vomit and diarrhoea, with her bed ruined. She was dropped off with my emergency contact (I was landing from a 21-hour international flight) and the driver simply said Lily had been "a little carsick," handing over her soiled bed in a plastic bag. I collected Lily and had to rush her into the University of Sydney Veterinary Hospital ER, where she was diagnosed with Acute Hemorrhagic Diarrhoea syndrome and hospitalised overnight on IV fluids and medication. The vet bill came to $2,167.44.
Given Lily was reportedly the last dog dropped off, the driver would have had multiple stops and opportunities to notice her condition and failed to report it to Kip's team at any point, before or after drop-off. Kip only learned the full extent of what happened because I called them myself, since the driver hadn't reported any issue with Lily, during the drive or after drop-off, to anyone at Kip.
I provided all the documentation Kip requested from me right away. The overall process, from the incident on July 21 to Kip's final response on August 6, took about two and a half weeks, with the bulk of that time spent waiting on paperwork to move between the parties involved before Kip could complete their review. Once they had what they needed, Kip responded within a day or two.
When the response finally came, Kip's own findings confirmed that Lily had shown signs of illness before she left their care and that those signs were never escalated or communicated, not to their site team in real time, not to me, and not to the neighbour who received her. Kip acknowledged this communication gap and said they are updating their transport handover procedures and driver training as a result.
Despite confirming all of that, Kip's final position was that nothing about their handling of the situation warranted compensation for the vet bill. Their one offer was a 15% discount on a future stay, which does not come close to reflecting what actually happened to Lily or the cost I was left covering.
I wanted to leave an honest review because the day-to-day care was genuinely excellent. But when something went seriously wrong and it was, by Kip's own admission, a failure of communication on their end, they did not take ownership of it in any meaningful way. For a service at this price point, that's not good enough. I can't recommend Kip on that basis, no matter how good the daily experience was.
Excellent dog trainer – The expertise of Lauchlan has improved the quality of life for my 50 kilo dog Sasha. Her dog aggression ceased that we now have an addition to our… Read more
home a deaf French bulldog. It was not a quick process however it was one well worth the time. I highly recommend Lauchlan he has achieved what I thought impossible
Poor Customer Service and Training That Doesn’t Work – I opened a dispute with my bank after I could not find the refund policy for the training and board program. I was looking for a third-party entity… Read more
to help intervene so that I could get a refund. In addition, I was not comfortable with their customer service enough to come to them first instead of my bank.
I was right. After Kip Homestead knew that I had opened a dispute with my bank, I received a call from [Name Removed] about the dispute. I was happy to chat, remained calm, and explained to him why I had opened the dispute. Instead of a civil and professional conversation, [Name Removed] got so worked up that I opened a dispute, kept cutting me off when I talked and even raised his voice at the mail during the 18-minute conversation.
I did not get the results I initially wanted from the program. Kip Homestead’s favourite excuse is that “you [me] is the part that they can’t control”, even though I followed their advice for a while and the results are still not as expected.
The trainer, [Name Removed], could have been better at communication during the duration of the program. He did not send me a handover email as we agreed on the day of the handover afterwards. All I got was an email from customer service much later for a return. After seeing how forgetful the trainer was, how busy I was at the time, the unsatisfactory progress after the program even though my dog walker and I kept training him using the videos and tips given, and later on the level of customer service from [Name Removed], I realised that I was right not to come back.
I would not wish the level of customer service (raised voice, casually laughing, and cutting me off when I talk) on anyone uncomfortable going to them first. If I could go back, I would have chosen a different company for my dog because of how forgetful the trainer was.
Because of how worked up [Name Removed] was, I informed my bank of the situation, decided not to reopen the disputes, and let my bank return my initial charges to Homestead Kip. However, my bank made it very clear that I can reopen the disputes again, but given this level of customer service, it is just not worth the time and effort.
Unfortunately, I made a mistake in trusting my dog with Homestead Kip.
Over the years we've used Avonlea for short term boarding for our dogs. The kennels have been great and their rates fine. But now they've changed… Read more
hands. No longer an honest family run concern, now it's a big business complex. Efficient? Perhaps. Cost? Expensive? Yes. Three times what we had paid before. There's no way you can justify $106 for an over night stay. (dropped off mid morning and picked up before 8.30am next morning). Look elsewhere.
Cat Motel
DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CAT HERE! – I left my 2 cats & apparently 1 “escaped” through the roof which looks impossible to me. She did not search for him, even though she told me at the… Read more
time she did but then admitted she did nothing. This place should not be operating, she doesn’t give a hoot about the cats, leaves them alone on over 40 degree days, no air con no fans. I don’t think I’ll ever see my Coco again, this place should be shut down so whatever happened to my Coco doesn’t happen again.
My poor pooch – I left my dog for an 8 day stay. I was sickened when I collected her and she was emaciated (3.1kg loss), dehydrated, goop in her eyes and some kind… Read more
of infection on her armpits and stomach. She was disoriented and could barely stand. The owner was indifferent to her condition saying "Well I fed her"! After an enormous vet bill I am left angry and sad that my girl had to endure a week at this place............. B E W A R E !!!!!!!
There would of been BLOOD how can you not notice BLOOD! – My dog was injured at this establishment, the injury was days old before the staff noticed. When I questioned why the injury wasn’t picked up I was… Read more
told and I quote “ we noticed it was a potential nick” well her entire ear is scabbed, crusty and damaged? There would of been BLOOD how can you not see BLOOD! It is in my opinion in this instance the pet hotels staff were neglect in their duty of care to my pet. They should of noticed the injury, I pay them to keep my pets safe, if an accident or injury occurs my expectation is the staff will not only advise me of the injury but also monitor it. Why else do you pay for pet boarding if not to keep your pets safe this establishment didn’t clean or attend to my pets injury they didn’t even notice it until the day we picked them up! There web site states the pets hotel is customer designed for your pets health, safety and comfort. Not in this instance! Quite frankly it’s a disgrace, it’s also incredible to have them tell me it was a potential nick! Seriously her whole ear has been chewed! It should of been picked up not ignored! Obviously I do not recommend you take your pet here. Very upsetting, please note I understand injury’s occur what I’m so upset about is no one, not one staff member was paying enough attention to notice my dog was injured.
Hi Richie, Thanks for taking the time to share your… Read more