Dog boarding & daycare in Miami, FL

Thirty-two of the 146 Miami-area websites we reviewed say whether anyone is in the building overnight, the highest share of the three Florida metros in the index. Seven say nobody is, and five of those seven are two chains repeating one answer.

Miami is a Tier C market with an unusual county history. Florida does not license or inspect boarding kennels; its pet law, section 828.29, covers dogs offered for sale, not dogs boarded. Miami-Dade County Code § 5-13 still says no one may run a kennel or pet care center without a county license. But the county's Animal Services Department says it no longer requires one, because a 2021 state law, Fla. Stat. § 163.211, preempted local occupational licensing and phased such licenses out by July 1, 2023. The § 5-9 standards of care still apply, and a voluntary certificate program exists, but there is no license to hold and no register to check. Orange and Hillsborough counties, home to the Orlando and Tampa markets, still register kennels. Those county findings are Miami-Dade's alone. Broward and Palm Beach hold 97 of this market's listings; the absence of a state license applies to them too, but their county rules were not researched, and nothing here says what they require.

The market grew when we widened it. The index now covers the counties of the Census metro area plus places within 30 miles of downtown: 205 listings, up from 45 in the first pass. By address, 108 are in Miami-Dade, 55 in Broward and 42 in Palm Beach. One is a veterinary practice. We reached and reviewed 146 websites, and every disclosure share below uses those 146 as the denominator.

Thirty-two of the 146 address overnight staffing, 21.9 percent, against 13.6 in Tampa, 11.3 in Orlando and 20.9 in Chicago. Twenty-five say a person is on site. freeDOGm answers its own question: "Yes. Every single night. Not on-call." Five say so because an owner, a family or a staff member lives on the property; Dog Dude Ranch puts it in one line: "Family lives on property for 24 hour care!" Three of the yeses, Pompano Pet Lodge, Lauderdale Pet Lodge and Somi Pet Resort, publish one sentence: "We have kennel staff on premises 24-hours." Seven say nobody stays. Fit & Go Pets is the plainest: "We do not provide overnight supervision. Dogs sleep soundly through the night and start their day early." Hounds Town Fort Lauderdale North says "we don’t have staff staying overnight" and describes a routine instead. The other five are two chains. Three of the six DOG Hotels listings answer from one FAQ, "No, your dog will be safe and secure in his/her own private place at night," and both Central Bark listings say "Central Bark locations do not have staff staying overnight with boarding dogs." The other 114 sites are silent.

Round-the-clock language is not a person in the building. Curators set aside six 24/7 or 24-hour supervision and monitoring taglines, at FLL Pets Resort, Doggies Gone Wild, Miami Dog Sitting and Boarding, Peace Love Paws, Pet Land BFA and Petspa. Dog Unleashed comes closest, saying dogs are "accompanied by someone from our staff 24 hours a day" before a Covid-era note telling owners to call. All count as silent, because that is what the page says.

Not one of the 146 publishes a staff-to-dog ratio or a playgroup cap; Wanderlust Dogs in Delray Beach advertises a high ratio and gives no figure. One publishes a capacity: Posh Pet Hotel, "103 custom rooms". Seven say what happens when a dog is hurt, and all seven are about a vet and a phone call. Three are the DOG Hotels FAQ, two are Doggie VIP's two listings, and Wilton's Manor Doggie Daycare names its clinic: "Wilton Manors Animal Hospital which is right next door." None says what happens after a fight.

Twenty-eight describe a play model: 12 run open play all day, 11 open play with rest periods, four a structured rotation, one no group play. Dogtown makes the case against the open floor: "Random, directionless play often leads to bad behavior." Thirteen say how long a boarded dog spends out of its room, and the answers do not compare. Miracle Acres Kennel and Pet Resort takes dogs out "4 times a day for 20 minutes each time"; All Dogs Rock and Cats Too! offers "up to 11 hours of organized play". Thirty-one describe an option for a dog that cannot do group play, and at least 12 charge for it; Five Points Kennels sells "TENNIS TIME – $8/session".

Sixty publish a vaccination list, 41.1 percent, level with Tampa's 42.2 and Orlando's 41.5. Every one names rabies and distemper. Fifty-nine require Bordetella; Miracle Acres marks rabies "required by Broward County" and only recommends Bordetella. Canine influenza splits the market: seven require it, seven recommend it, Goofy Pets Ranch says it does not, and 45 lists leave it out. Leptospirosis is required by three. Fourteen give a Bordetella window, from 48 hours at eight sites to ten days at three. Fifty-one say they verify records. Twelve require a negative fecal test, and Galloway Animal Center will run one at the counter: "if not one will be performed at the time of drop-off." Twelve is 8.2 percent, exactly Tampa's share, though Tampa's index holds 25 veterinary practices and Miami's one.

Forty publish a spay and neuter policy. Nineteen require it outright, eight only for group play, and Very Important Paws only for males. Twelve accept an intact dog at a price. Seven of them, the six DOG Hotels listings and DOG X Hotel Aventura, require spayed females past seven months and charge a $4 daily fee for intact males. Ages run from six to twelve months. Fifty address an evaluation. Thirty-six require one, seven of them free, 13 require it only for daycare, group play or some breeds, and Goofy Pets Ranch "does not require a temperament test or interview prior to boarding." The length varies more than the rule. SunnySide Pups offers "a free 15-minute meet and greet at our front lawn"; at INN The Dog House in Lake Worth, "A temperament test is 4 hours and by appointment only." Fifteen publish a tour policy. Twelve will show you around, three by appointment only, and the DOG Hotels FAQ warns that "a full tour is never a guarantee."

Price is easier to find than staffing and higher than elsewhere in Florida. Fifty-three of the 205 listings publish an overnight rate, 33.1 percent of the 160 websites our pricing crawler reached, against 40.0 in Tampa and 30.9 in Orlando. The median is $60 a night, against $45 in Tampa and $47 in Orlando, with the middle half between $50 and $70, a spread of 1.4x. Daycare runs a median $40, from 51 listings. The counties barely differ: $62.50 in Miami-Dade, $56 in Broward and $62.50 in Palm Beach. The floor is Miracle Acres, "1 Dog @ $25.00 per night"; the highest first-tier rate is Somi Pet Resort's "Standard Room $ 83 per night".

One structural caveat belongs on every count. Thirty listings share a website with at least one other, across 11 sites: DOG Hotels accounts for six, Pet Paradise for four, Dogtopia and one VCA site for three each. Copy crosses domains too: DOG X Hotel Aventura rewords the DOG Hotels policies, and Somi Pet Resort shares the Pet Lodge overnight sentence. A count of sites is not a count of decisions.

None of this is a ranking and none of it is a judgment, and in Florida it cannot be a compliance check. There is no state license to hold, and Miami-Dade stopped issuing its own because state law took the power away, not because of any finding about these facilities. An operator who sleeps on the property and one who sends the staff home at night both believe they are doing right by the dog. What the index measures is narrower: which of these facts you can find out before you pick up the phone.