Considering that there are more than 9,000 dog kennels in the United States alone, it’s no surprise that settling on a unique name when starting a dog kennel is no easy task.
Picking the right name gives potential customers an idea about your business’s services, creates a good first impression, and helps you stand out from the competition.
What dog kennel names are you allowed to use? How do you come up with something that represents your brand best? And what about business name best practices?
Learn more about the pet boarding industry.
Tips for Choosing the Perfect Dog Kennel Name
If you’re struggling to choose a company name for your dog kennel, one of the best things to do is start brainstorming. As you go through the tips outlined below, make a list of words, phrases, and terms associated with your business.
From there, you can narrow down the list and cross off ideas you don’t like.
Once you have several top considerations, we’ll walk you through how to make sure you’re allowed to use them. This last step helps you narrow down your list even more so you can make a final decision.
1. Consider the Services You Plan to Offer
A dog kennel can offer several types of services outside of boarding, so it’s worth also considering the services you plan to offer when picking a name. Maybe you want to focus on dog training or grooming.
Perhaps you’re considering offering other specialty services.
Add the different types of services you want to offer to your brainstorming list.
Remember to avoid anything limiting your business’s future growth if you decide to go in another direction down the road.
2. Location-Specific Terms
Many dog kennels are specific to a geographic service area. So, if that’s true for your business, consider adding a location-specific term to your business name.
You can consider things like:
- City nicknames
- Neighborhoods
- Regions or states
- And descriptive terms
However, consider what happens if you expand outside your intended service area. Does the name become limiting? If so, it’s best to avoid it if you plan to expand or change directions later.
3. Avoid Business Names That Are Hard to Pronounce or Spell
Despite the technological advances in voice search, assistants like Siri and Alexa struggle to understand slang and other confusing words.
This could limit how often your business shows up in voice (and text-based) searches if your name is hard to spell, pronounce, or hear. Because of that, it’s important to avoid complicated words, industry jargon, and using numbers in place of letters. While having a unique dog kennel name is good, being too unique may not be so good.
Keep your business name as simple and easy to remember as possible so potential customers can easily find you.
4. Consider Alliterations and Rhyming Words
Alliterations and rhymes are catchy and easy to remember. Because of that, they make for great business names.
That said, it’s not always easy to come up with them. Start with choosing a few of your favorite words from your master brainstorm list.
Then, you can Google “words that start with P” to come up with a name like Puppy Palace or K for K9 Kennel or whatever letter you’re using to create an alliteration. Alternatively, you can search “words that rhyme with _____.”
It can be time-consuming, but it’s an excellent place to start.
And don’t forget to add any exciting finds to your brainstorming list while you’re at it. Try not to overthink the names you come up with. Just write them all down, as some of the more interesting ones may spark better ideas later.
5. Steer Clear of Initials or Obscure Acronyms
Initials and unusual acronyms are hard to remember, so they typically don’t make great business names. They can also be challenging to pronounce and confusing for voice search as well.
Furthermore, there are 325 different two-letter combination possibilities in the English language. And the odds of your customers remembering the specific letters you chose are pretty small.
6. Imagery Words
Another consideration when brainstorming name ideas is whether there are industry-related words that could also lend themselves to be used in a logo. For instance, a dog kennel could use an image of dogs, a dog house, or a bone and focus the name around the image.
Related: How to create a logo for your business.
7. Try the Owner’s Name
If you’ve made it this far and are still struggling to find the best name, you can always consider using the business owner’s name. Doing so works well if the owner also plans to be the face behind the business.
Something to keep in mind is that using the owner’s name as the business name can make it more challenging to sell the business in the future.
List of Catchy Dog Kennel Business Names
Here is a list of dog kennel name ideas from existing businesses that may help get the creative juices flowing. While many of these names may be available for you to use, be sure to check first to be sure they can be used.
Tips on how to check business name availability are after the list of names!
- 4 Pawz Only
- 5 Rings Pet Resort Of Hanover
- A Box Of Barks Resort & Daycare
- A Dog’s World
- A1 Pet Resort
- Affordable Dog Boarding Etc
- All About Animals Pet Sitting
- All Dog Zone
- Around The Ranch Pet Club
- Artex Hills Kennels
- Awe For Pet’s Sake Pet Resort
- Bark Pad Doggy Daycare
- Bark Place
- Barkery Boarding & Daycare
- Barking Barn
- Barkmore Park Dog Day Camp
- Beachside Pet Resort
- Black Card Kennels
- Blue Diamond Kennel
- Bows & Bones
- Brookside Kennel
- Busters Pet Resort
- Camp Bow Wow
- Camp Canine
- Camp Happy Dog
- Camp Happy Tails
- Camp K-9 & Friends
- Canine Country Club
- Carter’s Canine Condos
- Central Bark Doggy Day Care
- Cockadoodle Doo Kennels
- Coleman Farms Pet Resort
- Cuddle Bugs Pet Resort
- Denver K9
- Dog Boarding With Jess
- Dog Haus
- Dog Lounge
- Doggie Depot
- Doggie Dorm
- Doggy Day Care
- Doggy Days Inn
- Doggy Play & Stay Of Sunnyvale
- Dogs’ Breath Inn
- Dogtopia
- Dot’s Grooming & Board
- Dove’s Heavenly Dog Academy
- Dusty Road Kennel
- Elite Pet University
- Fetch Dog Co
- Fetch! Pet Care
- For The Love Of Dog
- Four Paws Pet Hotel
- Furbabies
- Furry Friends Pet Boarding
- Garner Pet Resort & Wash
- Good Dog Hospitality
- Grand Paws Stay N Play
- Great Woofs
- Handsome Helper Pet Care
- Happy Dayz Doggie Day Care
- Happy Paws
- Happy Tails Pet Resort
- Hollywood Dog Resort
- Home Away From Home
- Home Of Paws
- Hometown Pet Resort
- Homeward Bound Hotel For Dogs
- Hounds Lounge Pet Resort & Spa
- House Of Dogz
- Hydrant Pet Hotel
- Indian Creek Kennel
- Indulge Pet Resort
- Ivy League Kennel
- Jean’s Doggy Learning Center
- K-9 Plus Pet Service
- Karen’s Pawsome Pet Care
- Kona Doggie Daycare & Spa
- Lakefront Dog Retreat
- Leashes Of Lincoln
- Little Paws Bed & Bath
- Lucky Dog Lodge
- Lucky Paw Lodge
- Mama Bear Bed & Biscuit
- Meowlux Cat Hotel
- Nika’s Pet Spaw & Retreat
- Our Dog House
- Pack Pet Resort
- Pampered Pet Resorts
- Pampered Pets Inn & Spa
- Paradise Kennel
- Paw Commons Pet Resort
- Paw Hills Pet Hotel
- Paw Spa Pet Resort
- Paws & Claws Hotel
- Paws & Purrs Pet Care
- Paws In Paradise Luxury Resort
- Paws ‘n Play Dog Camp
- Paws N Purrs Pet Boarding
- Pawsh Pets Boutique & Boarding
- Pawsome Suites
- Pet Resort Of The Sierras
- Petsuites Baton Rouge
- Pinecrest Pet Resort & Daycare
- Pirate Paws
- Play & Stay Pet Resort
- Pooches Palace
- Poochie’s Pet Hotel
- Positively Canine
- Rolling Acres Kennel
- Rovervelt Pet Hotel
- Ruff Day Bark Club
- Ruff House Dog Boarding
- Ruffin It Pet Resort
- Ruffin’Inn Pet Lodge & Ranch
- Ruff’n It! Pet Hotel
- Rustic Retreat Pet Resort
- Safe Haven Pet Hotel
- Safe Kennel
- Sit & Stay Pet Care
- Sit Stay & Play Kennels
- Stay ‘n Play Doggy Daycare
- Stay Pet Resort
- Suite Dreams Dog Boarding
- Summit Pet Resort
- Surf Dog Boarding
- Top Dog Kennels
- Wag Hotels
- Wagging Tails Pet Resort
- Wave Your Paw Pet Care
- Wizard Of Paws Pet Sitting
- Woof’s Play & Stay
- Yips & Wiggles Pet Care
- Zen Doggy Den
Is Your Dog Kennel Name Available to Use?
At this point, you should have several top considerations to choose from. And the best way to narrow it down further is to check each one for availability.
This step is helpful because using a name that someone else is using could be very costly, time-consuming to rebrand your business, and possibly embarrassing. There are several places to look to check whether a name is available to use, so let’s walk through each one.
Can the business name be registered in your state?
If you plan to use a specific business name, you may be required by the state to verify it’s available to use.
Related: How to check business name availability in your state
Is your name already trademarked?
When searching for a name for your new business, you should check that your new name isn’t trademarked by someone else. If it is, you may not be allowed to use it legally.
Thankfully, the United States Patent Trademark Office (USPTO) makes trademark searching a breeze through their Trademark Database.
A name isn’t necessarily available if it doesn’t appear in this search. Every business has some limited protection through a common law trademark. This means another business can’t open up down the street with the same name, as this creates confusion for customers. Also, check local competitors by doing a Google search and looking through the Yellow Pages.
If your name is available and you want to protect it from being used by anyone else, you can register it with the USPTO.
Related: How to check for a trademark
Hopefully, you now have some ideas for naming your dog kennel. Once you have narrowed this list to just a few and researched that they are all available, start asking friends, family, and potential customers their thoughts to get feedback, and then pick your perfect dog kennel name!
