Pet Grooming, Boarding, Daycare and Training in Fredericton

The lay of the land: pet care beyond the vet

Fredericton is a dog town. Walk the trail along the Wolastoq (the Saint John River) on a decent morning and you will meet half the city's golden retrievers before you finish your coffee. All those dogs, plus a quieter army of cats, need more than a family vet. They need nails done, coats sorted, somewhere safe to stay when you drive to Halifax for a wedding, and, in the case of that lovely idiot puppy you just adopted, someone to teach it that the couch is not a chew toy.

The good news: for a city this size, the options are genuinely solid. You have dedicated grooming salons, purpose-built boarding kennels out on the edges of town, cage-free daycare setups where dogs pile together all day, a healthy roster of independent pet sitters and dog walkers, and several trainers who actually know what they are doing. The catch is that the good ones fill up, especially around holidays, and prices vary more than you would expect. This guide walks through each service, names real local businesses, gives you rough costs, and tells you when to book. Pair it with our broader Fredericton pet guide and, if you have a dog specifically, the Fredericton dog guide for off-leash spots, vets and licensing.

One honest note before we start: businesses in this corner of the market change hands, move locations and adjust their rates often. Every price and rule below is a snapshot taken in mid-2026. Treat it as a starting point, then phone ahead and confirm the current details. Nobody wants to show up at a kennel on December 23rd with a dog and a vaccination record that is one shot short.

Grooming: dogs, cats and the doodle problem

Grooming in Fredericton ranges from a quick nail trim to a full spa day, and what you pay depends almost entirely on your animal's size and coat. A short-haired beagle is a different job than a matted doodle who has not seen a brush since Christmas.

Grooming Tails at 567 St. Mary's Street (506-472-6933) is a well-established salon on the north side. Their published pricing runs roughly $83 for small dogs, $95 to $125 for medium, $140 to $185 for large and extra-large, and $185 to $270 for giant breeds, before tax, and they offer everything from clip-only and bath-only to de-matting, puppy cuts, nail grinding and creative grooming. They run Tuesday to Friday (8am to 5pm) and Saturday (9am to 4pm), closed Sunday and Monday, and their pricing rewards clients who come in on a regular six to eight week schedule. Worth knowing: at the time of writing they were not taking cats, so if you have a feline you will need to look elsewhere.

Beyond Grooming Tails, the city has a deep bench of grooming options: Petagree Dog Grooming, The Doggy Den, Modern Mutts, The Paw Parlour and the grooming salon at the PetSmart in the Uptown Centre. Lincoln Pet Hotel, Lovely Doggy House and Paw and Order also offer spa and grooming add-ons alongside boarding, which is handy if you want your dog to come home from a stay looking sharp. Main Street Veterinary Hospital is another option some owners prefer for anxious animals, since a clinic setting can be reassuring for a nervous pet. Rosters and pricing shift, so it is always worth a quick call to confirm a salon is open and taking new clients.

Cats. Cat grooming is a specialist skill and a smaller market here, so your list is shorter. Not every dog salon takes cats, and the ones that do often want you to book well ahead. If you have a long-haired cat prone to matting, phone around and ask specifically whether they groom cats and whether they will do a lion cut. Do not assume.

Boarding kennels and cat boarding

When you leave town and cannot bring the animal, you have two broad choices: a boarding facility (a kennel or pet hotel) or an in-home sitter (covered further down). Fredericton's purpose-built boarding places sit mostly on the outskirts, which makes sense given the space and noise involved.

Lincoln Pet Hotel at 2310 Lincoln Road (506-458-9759) is one of the better-known options, boarding dogs and cats and even small animals like birds, rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs, with daycare and spa services on top. Their hours run Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm, with shorter Saturday windows and limited Sunday and holiday hours (typically 4pm to 6pm), and check-in and check-out windows are specific, so plan pickups around them.

Macintosh Kennel at 2790 Woodstock Road (506-478-0400) runs generously sized kennels (roughly 5 by 8 feet, each with a bed), regular meals and outdoor time. Their posted rates have been around $55 a night for one dog and $35 a night for one cat, plus tax, with multi-pet options, though note their hours skew weekday and they have been closed weekends, so confirm drop-off and pickup timing before you rely on it.

Lovely Doggy House at 895 Royal Road (506-454-7943) offers cage-free overnight boarding in private rooms that blends into daytime play. Their published boarding has been around $56 a night for one dog including HST, dropping a little for stays of eight nights or more, with set weekday and weekend drop-off and pickup windows and late fees outside them, so read the schedule carefully.

Paw and Order at 800 Tripp Settlement Road in Keswick Ridge (506-363-3011) is a cage-free, PACCC-certified and Fear Free certified facility offering overnight boarding for dogs and cats, an enrichment-based daycamp, training and grooming, serving the wider Fredericton, Oromocto and Woodstock area. It is a bit of a drive but popular for the enrichment approach, and it runs a mobile app for booking and vaccination records.

Cats. There is no dedicated cats-only luxury hotel in Fredericton the way bigger cities have, but the general boarders above take cats, usually in a quieter separate area. If your cat is timid, ask how the cat space is set up and how far it sits from the barking. Many owners of confident, food-motivated cats find an in-home sitter less stressful for the animal than any boarding kennel.

Every reputable boarder will require proof of up-to-date vaccinations (typically rabies, distemper and often bordetella, the kennel cough shot). Sort that with your vet before booking, not the day of. Our pet guide covers finding a vet if you are new in town.

Doggy daycare: the day-shift option

Daycare is the pressure valve for anyone with a high-energy dog and a full-time job, and it doubles as socialization for young dogs who need to learn how to behave around other animals. Several of the boarding facilities run daycare as their bread and butter.

Macintosh Kennel has offered doggie daycare at roughly $33 per day for one dog, tax included, with a set rate for a second dog. Lovely Doggy House and Lincoln Pet Hotel fold daycare into their operations, with Lincoln's full-day dog rate starting around $20, and Paw and Order markets an enrichment-based daycamp built around structured activity rather than just an open play floor. If you want your dog genuinely tired at the end of the day, the enrichment model tends to deliver more than a room full of dogs milling around.

A few things to check before you commit to a daycare. First, whether they group dogs by size and temperament, because a boisterous lab mix and a nervous senior chihuahua do not belong in the same pen. Second, the assessment process: good daycares run a trial or temperament evaluation before your dog joins the general population, and you should be wary of any that will take a stranger's dog with zero screening. Third, the ratio of staff to dogs, and whether there is real supervision or just a camera. Fourth, vaccination requirements, which mirror boarding.

Regular daycare is not cheap if you use it daily, so many owners buy a punch card or membership, or split the week between daycare and a lunchtime dog walker. It adds up, and it is worth folding into your budgeting alongside the rest of your pet costs. Our cost of living guide has the wider picture on what running a household here actually costs.

Pet sitters and dog walkers

For a lot of owners, especially cat people and those with anxious or elderly animals, an in-home sitter beats a kennel. The animal stays in its own space, keeps its routine, and does not risk picking up kennel cough. Dog walkers, meanwhile, are the quiet heroes of the nine-to-five household, breaking up a long day for a bored dog.

Fredericton has a real market here, spread across a few channels. The national platform Rover lists local sitters, boarders, walkers and daycare providers with reviews, background-check badges and photos, and it is the easiest place to compare people quickly. On Rover, in-home dog boarding in Fredericton has run around a median of $50 a night (with an average near $49 as of July 2026), with individual sitters ranging from roughly $34 to over $110 depending on experience and what is included. Drop-in visits and walks are priced separately and per-visit.

Beyond the apps, plenty of excellent sitters work word-of-mouth through neighbourhood Facebook groups and community boards. If you go the independent route, the usual due diligence applies: meet the person before you hand over a key, ask about insurance and bonding, confirm what happens in an emergency and which vet they would use, and start with a short trial visit while you are still in town. A good sitter will happily do a meet-and-greet; anyone who resists is telling you something.

New to the city and building a network of the neighbours-who-water-your-plants variety? Our guide to making friends in Fredericton is only half a joke here, because the best pet sitter is often the trustworthy neighbour two doors down.

Training: puppies, obedience and problem behaviour

Training is where the money you spend has the biggest long-term payoff, because a well-mannered dog is welcome everywhere and a badly behaved one slowly shrinks your life. Fredericton has several trainers and clubs, and they broadly fall into three buckets: group obedience classes, private and in-home coaching, and sport or club-based training.

Take The Lead Dog Obedience (taketheleadnb.ca) runs positive-reinforcement, science-backed classes on a train-the-trainer model, meaning they teach you to work with your dog at home, with puppy, Level 1 and Level 2 programs. Woof It Up! (woofitup.ca) offers both in-home and group training for puppies and dogs, with a particular focus on reactivity and separation anxiety, which is useful if your dog's issues only show up in specific settings. Capable Canines is another established local trainer. Main Street Veterinary Hospital runs six-week obedience classes (with trainer Ron Murray) covering socialization to people, dogs, cats and children plus crate training, open to clients of any clinic, at their Fredericton and Oromocto locations (506-444-0000). The River Valley Obedience Club caters to owners who want to go further into formal obedience and dog sport, and the PetSmart in the Uptown Centre offers standardized group classes on a set schedule.

A word on method, because it matters. The mainstream, evidence-backed approach today is reward-based, positive-reinforcement training, and most reputable Fredericton trainers work this way. Be cautious of anyone leaning heavily on dominance, punishment or aversive tools as a first resort. For a genuine behaviour problem (real aggression, severe separation anxiety, reactivity), you want someone who does private work and, ideally, coordinates with your vet, rather than a generic group class. Ask about certification, ask what happens if the method is not working, and trust your gut about whether the trainer is as good with people as they are with dogs.

Start early if you can. Puppy classes exist for a reason: the socialization window in a young dog's first few months does not come back, and a few hundred dollars spent then saves you a lot of grief (and repair bills) later.

What it all costs, roughly

Here is a rough, honest snapshot of Fredericton pricing so you can budget. These are ballpark figures gathered in mid-2026, before tax unless noted, and they drift, so confirm current rates directly with the business. Coat type, dog size, add-ons and how busy the season is all push the number around.

Two budgeting truths. First, the recurring stuff (a groom every six to eight weeks, regular daycare) adds up faster than the occasional boarding stay, so factor the routine costs into your monthly picture, not just the holidays. Second, the cheapest option is rarely the one you regret least. A slightly pricier sitter who sends photos and knows canine first aid is worth it. For a fuller sense of what pet ownership sits inside, see the cost of living guide.

Booking around holidays (do it early)

This is the single most useful thing in this guide, so here it is in plain terms: boarding and daycare in Fredericton book up around holidays, and the good places fill first. If you are travelling for March break, the summer construction-holiday weeks, Thanksgiving, or the stretch from mid-December through New Year's, you are competing with every other pet owner in the city for a finite number of kennels.

The practical rules of thumb:

Book December over the summer, not in December. The winter holiday period is the hardest to get a spot, and popular kennels take reservations months out. If you already know you are flying to see family for Christmas, lock the boarding in early. The same logic applies to March break, which sneaks up on people every February.

Get vaccinations sorted well ahead. Every reputable boarder requires current shots, and some vaccines (like bordetella) are recommended a week or two before the stay to take full effect. Do not leave a vet visit to the last minute in the pre-holiday scramble, when appointments are also tight.

Ask about holiday surcharges and reduced hours. Some facilities charge a premium over statutory holidays or run limited pickup and drop-off windows on those days (Lincoln Pet Hotel, for instance, keeps shorter Sunday and holiday hours). Confirm exactly when you can collect your animal so you are not stranded on a day the place is barely open.

Have a backup. If your first-choice kennel is full, a trusted in-home sitter is your fallback, and vice versa. Line up both if the trip is important. For the wider seasonal picture (what is open, what closes, how the city runs over the holidays), our holiday season guide is worth a look, and if you are brand new to town, moving to Fredericton covers the rest of getting set up.