When someone moves to a new area and needs a kennel for the first time, they don't ask at the local pub any more. They open Google, type "dog boarding near me," and look at the reviews. If your business has 47 reviews averaging 4.9 stars, they enquire. If you have 6 reviews averaging 3.8 stars, they scroll past and try the next result. Your online reputation is your most powerful marketing asset — and most pet businesses are leaving it entirely to chance.
This isn't complicated to fix. You just have to be deliberate about it.
Where reviews actually matter
Google is the most important platform by a significant margin. A Google Business Profile with a high star rating and a meaningful number of reviews influences both how high your business appears in local search results and how often people click through to enquire. If you only focus on one platform, make it Google.
Facebook is the second most useful. Dog owners are active in local Facebook groups and regularly ask for recommendations. A business with a visible Facebook page and positive reviews can be tagged by existing clients in those recommendation threads — free, highly credible advertising that you can't buy. A page with no presence, or a presence that hasn't been updated since 2021, doesn't benefit from this.
Trustpilot has some traction in the UK pet industry, particularly for businesses that want to look more formal or corporate. Yell and Bark.com attract a smaller audience but some businesses find them useful for long-tail visibility.
For most kennels and daycares, an active Google Business Profile and a maintained Facebook page are sufficient. Don't spread yourself thin across every platform — do two things well.
Why happy clients don't leave reviews without being asked
The asymmetry of online reviews is well-documented and real: dissatisfied customers are significantly more motivated to leave reviews than satisfied ones. An unhappy client who feels wronged has something to process — leaving a negative review is cathartic. A happy client is just... happy. They move on with their day. They don't think to leave a review unless someone asks them to.
This means the review pipeline for most businesses is chronically lopsided unless something is done to fix it. The fix is simple: ask every satisfied client to leave a review, every time. Not occasionally, not when you remember — systematically, as a standard part of the post-booking flow.
The best moment to ask is immediately after checkout, when the client has just collected their happy dog, they're feeling good about the experience, and the memory is fresh. A member of staff saying "We'd really appreciate a Google review if you have a moment — it helps other dog owners find us" is all that's needed. Follow it with a text message two hours later that includes the direct link to your Google review page, and the conversion rate goes up significantly.
The mechanics of collecting reviews at scale
The manual approach — staff asking verbally, hoping clients follow through — works but is inconsistent. A more reliable system sends a review request automatically after every booking closes. Booking software with automated messaging can trigger a post-checkout message that thanks the client for their visit and includes a direct review link. If 40% of clients who receive this message leave a review, and you do 15 checkouts a week, you'll accumulate reviews quickly.
Make the link as short as possible. Google provides a shortened review link for each business profile. Including this in a text message is far more likely to get clicked than a long URL. Consider creating a QR code that goes directly to your review page — a small card at checkout that says "Loved your stay? Scan to leave a review" is low-effort and surprisingly effective.
"We went from 12 Google reviews to 94 in four months just by asking at checkout and sending an automated text message. We hadn't changed anything about the service — we just started asking."
— Dog daycare owner, Manchester
Responding to reviews — all of them
Business owners who respond to their Google reviews appear more trustworthy to prospective clients than those who don't. It signals that there's a real person running the business, that they care about client experience, and that they take feedback seriously. Responding to positive reviews is easy — a brief, genuine thank you that mentions the dog's name if possible ("So glad Rufus had a great time — we loved having him!") takes 20 seconds and adds warmth.
Responding to negative reviews is harder but more important. A thoughtful, professional response to a one-star review often does more for your reputation than the review itself does against it — prospective clients can see that you handled a difficult situation with grace, which is actually reassuring. The response should acknowledge the client's experience without becoming defensive, explain what happened if there's relevant context, and note what you've done or will do to address it. Do not argue. Do not apologise excessively. Do not threaten legal action, even if the review is factually inaccurate.
Social media: what's actually worth doing
Social media is where pet businesses have a genuine advantage over most industries: the content creates itself. Every dog in your kennel is a potential photo. Every playgroup is a video. Every grooming transformation is a before-and-after. Dog owners follow local pet businesses on social media specifically because they enjoy this content — it's not marketing to them, it's entertainment.
The constraint is time, not material. Posting three times a week on Instagram or Facebook with phone camera content — playgroup action shots, a dog spotting something hilarious, a well-groomed transformation — is more than enough to maintain visibility. Consistency matters more than production quality. A blurry photo of a genuinely happy dog beats a perfect studio shot with no personality every time.
Tag clients when you post their dog (with their permission — most will love it). Ask them to share it. Their network sees it. Their network's network sees it. This is how pet businesses grow organically in local areas without any advertising spend whatsoever.
When something goes wrong publicly
The worst response to a public complaint is silence. If a client posts critically about your business on Facebook or in a local dog owner group, acknowledge it quickly, take the conversation private ("I'm sorry to hear about your experience — I'd like to speak with you directly to understand what happened. Could you message me or call us at...?"), and follow through. Attempting to resolve it publicly rarely ends well. Taking it offline usually does.
A business with 80 four-and-five-star reviews and one handled negative review looks credibly run. A business with no reviews, or reviews from three years ago that have never been responded to, looks like nobody's home.