How to Keep Kennels Full During Weekdays and Off-Season Months

I have owned a 24-run boarding facility for about nine years now. For the first three of those years, I had the same problem every small kennel owner knows too well: holidays and summer were packed, and weekdays in January through March looked like a ghost town.

My weekday occupancy used to hover around 35 to 40 percent for most of the year. Weekends and holidays hit 90 to 100 percent, but you cannot run a boarding facility on 20 peak weekends and a handful of holiday rushes. The mortgage, the staff payroll, the utilities, the food. All of that costs the same whether I have 6 dogs or 22 dogs on a Tuesday in February.

What changed my business was not advertising or social media. It was building referral relationships with the pet professionals who interact with dog owners every single day: dog walkers, trainers, groomers, veterinarians, and pet sitters. Those relationships now account for roughly 60 percent of my weekday bookings. Here is exactly how I built those pipelines and what I have learned about keeping them producing consistently.

Why Weekday and Off-Season Bookings Are the Real Business

Before I get into specific referral strategies, it helps to understand the math that every boarding facility owner deals with. A 24-run kennel at $45 per night generates $1,080 per night at full occupancy. Over a 30-day month, that is $32,400 in potential revenue.

In reality, most small facilities run at 50 to 60 percent occupancy on average, with massive swings between weekends and weekdays, peak season and off-season. If you can move weekday occupancy from 40 percent to 65 percent, that is roughly 6 additional dogs per night, five nights a week. At $45 per night, that is an extra $1,350 per week, about $70,000 a year in revenue from runs that were sitting empty.

The dogs coming in on weekdays are different from holiday boarders, too. Holiday boarders are one-time or twice-a-year clients. Weekday boarders tend to be repeat clients: people who travel for work, have recurring commitments, or use boarding as a regular part of their routine. They are more valuable over time.

Dog Walkers and Trainers: Your Daily Referral Pipeline

Dog walkers and trainers are the pet professionals who see clients most frequently. A walker might visit the same homes four or five times a week. A trainer might see a client once or twice a week for months. They build deep trust with pet owners, and they hear things you never will from behind the front desk of your facility.

They hear about upcoming trips. They hear about family emergencies. They hear about the work conference next month that the owner is already stressing about because they have not figured out what to do with the dog yet.

When a dog walker says “I know a great boarding place: the dogs get outdoor play time and the owner sends photo updates,” that pet parent books with you. They do not go home and compare six Google listings. The walker’s recommendation is enough.

How I built referral relationships with local walkers

• I started by visiting their turf. I identified four or five dog walkers working the neighborhoods within a 15-minute drive of my facility. I did not cold-call them. I introduced myself at a local dog park where two of them walked their groups. I mentioned I run a boarding facility and asked if they ever get clients asking about boarding. Every single one said yes.
• I offered a referral fee per booked stay. A flat $15 to $25 per booked boarding stay is meaningful to a dog walker earning $20 to $30 per walk. It gives them a tangible reason to bring up your facility by name, not just say “you could try boarding somewhere.”
• I made it easy to refer. Walkers run their businesses from their phones. I told them they could just text me the pet owner’s first name and number, and I would handle the rest. No forms, no website they have to navigate on behalf of someone else. A quick text while they are between walks.
• I closed the loop every time. After the dog’s stay, I sent the walker a text: “Bailey did great this week, thanks for the referral.” That acknowledgment matters more than the money. Walkers care about the dogs they work with. Knowing the boarding experience went well keeps them confident recommending you.

Dog trainers work the same way, with one added advantage: trainers often work with dogs that have behavioral issues that make them harder to board at large corporate facilities. If your kennel can handle reactive dogs, separation anxiety cases, or dogs that need structured routines, trainers become one of your strongest referral sources. They know which facilities can actually handle their clients’ dogs and which ones will just crate them for 23 hours. If you are a trainer yourself looking to build these kinds of referral relationships, here is how dog trainers connect with vet offices and groomers for mutual referrals.

Why walkers and trainers fill weekdays specifically

This is the key insight that took me a while to understand. Walkers and trainers see their clients during the week, Monday through Friday. That is when the conversations happen. A walker on a Tuesday afternoon walk hears the client mention a Thursday-to-Monday work trip next month. The timing of the referral naturally aligns with weekday boarding needs.

Holiday boarding, by contrast, fills itself. People plan holiday trips months in advance and actively seek out boarding on their own. It is the midweek business trip, the last-minute work obligation, the Tuesday-to-Thursday conference: those are the stays that need a referral nudge, and walkers are perfectly positioned to provide it.

Building Trust with Veterinarians and Offering Referral Fees to Groomers

Vet offices and grooming salons see a different cross-section of pet owners than walkers and trainers do, and they hear different questions. A vet tech gets asked “Do you know anywhere good to board my dog?” at least a few times a week. A groomer hears about upcoming vacations during every appointment because pet owners chat while they wait.

Vet referrals are trust-based. A clinic recommends your facility because they have seen how you handle their patients, not because of a financial arrangement. Groomer referrals, on the other hand, work well with a simple fee structure that rewards them for actively mentioning your facility to clients.

How to earn vet office referrals through trust

• Introduce your facility to the practice. Approach the practice owner or office manager and invite them to tour your facility. The front desk staff and technicians are the ones fielding the “Where should I board my dog?” question, so make sure the whole team knows who you are and how you operate.
• Be specific about what makes your facility different. Vet staff care about animal welfare. When I introduce my facility to a vet office, I talk about supervised play groups, individual temperament assessments, the staff-to-dog ratio, and how we handle medications and special diets. That gives them confidence recommending me, especially for dogs with health needs.
• Send updates on referred dogs. If a vet office sends me a diabetic dog that needs insulin injections during the stay, I let them know everything went smoothly. That feedback loop builds trust and leads to more referrals of medical-needs dogs: a niche that most large boarding chains will not touch.
• Refer pet owners back to them. When a boarding client mentions they need a vet in the area, recommend the clinic. That reciprocity keeps the relationship strong without turning it into a financial transaction.

How referral fees work with groomers

Groomers are a natural fit for boarding referrals because they see the same dogs on a regular schedule, usually every four to eight weeks. That regular contact means they hear about travel plans repeatedly.

• Offer a reciprocal arrangement. I pay groomers $15 per booked boarding stay, and they do not charge me a referral fee when I send boarding clients their way for pre-stay or post-stay grooms. Both sides win: the groomer gets cash referral fees plus grooming clients, and I get boarders who arrive already bathed and leave looking clean.
• Bundle grooming with boarding. I partnered with a mobile groomer who comes to my facility the day before pickup for long-stay dogs. Pet owners love it because their dog comes home clean. The groomer loves it because it is a guaranteed booking. And I can offer it as a value-add without doing any grooming myself. If you are a mobile groomer wondering how this kind of arrangement works, here is how mobile groomers fill their schedules using referral partnerships.

Why Overbooked Pet Sitters Are Your Best Weekday Source

This is the referral relationship that most boarding facility owners overlook entirely, and it has been my single best source of weekday boarders.

Pet sitters have a capacity ceiling that boarding facilities do not. A sitter who works out of their home can handle maybe three to five dogs at a time, depending on their space, their insurance, and local regulations. A sitter who does in-home visits can cover maybe six to eight clients per day before they are driving all over town.

When a pet sitter hits capacity (and good sitters hit capacity frequently), they have to turn clients away. Every turned-away client is a dog owner who still needs someone to care for their pet. If that sitter knows you and trusts your facility, they send the overflow to you rather than telling the client “Sorry, I am booked” with no alternative.

How pet sitter overflow becomes your weekday pipeline

Pet sitters get booked up fastest during the same periods you are already full: holidays and summer weekends. But here is what most kennel owners do not realize: pet sitters also hit capacity on random weekdays. A sitter with four overnight slots fills up when three business travelers and one medical procedure overlap in the same week. That is a Tuesday-through-Thursday scenario, exactly the window you are trying to fill.

• Build relationships with three to five pet sitters in your area. I reached out to sitters who operate within a 20-minute drive of my facility. I introduced myself, toured them through my kennel, and let them see how we operate. Sitters will not refer to a place they have not visited. They are putting their reputation on the line with every recommendation.
• Offer a referral fee for overflow clients. I pay sitters $20 for every overflow client who books a stay. The sitter earns money on a client they were going to turn away anyway, the pet owner gets a trusted recommendation instead of a dead end, and I fill a weekday run.
• Refer back to them. When a pet owner calls me looking for in-home care instead of kennel boarding, I send them to one of my sitter partners. This reciprocity is what turns a transactional referral into an ongoing relationship. If you are a pet sitter navigating the platform-versus-independent question, here is a breakdown of building your own client base versus relying on platforms.
• Make the handoff seamless for the pet owner. When a sitter refers an overflow client to me, I call the pet owner within a few hours. I mention the sitter by name: “Sarah mentioned you are looking for care for next week, I would love to help.” That connection to the trusted sitter makes the pet owner far more likely to book without hesitation.

Why sitter overflow clients become repeat boarders

Here is the part that surprised me. About 40 percent of the clients who first came to me through pet sitter overflow have become regular boarding clients. They tried my facility because their sitter was full, their dog had a good experience, and now they book with me directly for some trips and use their sitter for others.

These are not clients who replaced the sitter with me. They added me to their rotation. The pet owner now has two trusted options, which means more flexibility for them and more bookings for both me and the sitter. It is not a zero-sum game.

Creating Partnership Programs That Drive Consistent Referral Volume

One-off referrals are nice, but they do not solve the weekday occupancy problem long-term. What you need is a system that keeps referral partners actively thinking about your facility week after week. Here is what I have learned about building that kind of consistency.

5 elements of a partnership program that actually works

1. Clear, simple fee structure. Every referral partner should know exactly what they earn per referral without doing math. I use flat fees: $15 to $25 per booked stay depending on the partner type and average stay length. No percentages, no tiers, no complicated bonus structures. Simple means more referrals because the partner never has to wonder what the referral is worth.
2. Fast payment. I pay referral fees within a week of the stay ending. Delayed payments are the fastest way to kill a referral relationship. If a dog walker sends you a client on Monday and does not see the referral fee for six weeks, they stop thinking about your facility when the next client mentions travel plans.
3. Consistent acknowledgment. Beyond the fee, I text every referral partner after the stay: “Cooper did great, ate well, loved the play yard. Thanks for the referral.” This takes 30 seconds and it reinforces two things: the partner’s recommendation led to a good outcome, and you are someone who values the relationship, not just the transaction.
4. Facility tours for partners. I invite every referral partner to tour my facility before we start working together. Walkers, trainers, sitters, groomers, vet staff: anyone who is going to recommend me needs to see the play areas, the individual runs, the feeding routine, and the staff. You cannot enthusiastically recommend a place you have never been inside.
5. Seasonal outreach. At the start of every slow season (January is the worst for me), I reach out to my referral partners and let them know I have extra availability. A quick text: “Hey, January is wide open if any of your clients need boarding. I am running a longer play session add-on this month too.” This reminder is enough to keep your facility top-of-mind during the months when referrals naturally slow down.

Tracking what you owe and who sends the most

When I started, I had two referral partners and a notebook. That worked fine. By the time I had eight partners sending me clients, the notebook turned into a mess. I would forget to pay a walker, lose track of which sitter sent which client, or realize three months later that one groomer had quietly stopped referring because I missed a payment.

Now I track every referral in a simple spreadsheet: partner name, client name, dates of stay, fee owed, date paid. It takes a minute per referral and it keeps the financial side clean. When money is handled reliably, the relationship stays healthy and the referrals keep coming.

What a Good Referral Month Looks Like

To make this concrete, here is what a recent February looked like at my facility. February is historically my weakest month. People are not traveling much, the holiday rush is over, and everyone is tightening budgets after the holidays.

• Total occupancy: 68 percent average across the month, up from about 38 percent two years ago before I had referral partnerships in place.
• Weekday occupancy: 62 percent, compared to 30 percent before the partnerships.
• Referral sources for the month: 4 clients from dog walker referrals, 3 from pet sitter overflow, 2 from vet office referrals, 2 from groomer referrals, 1 from a dog trainer.
• Referral fees paid: $240 total across all partners for the month.
• Revenue from referred clients: Roughly $3,600 in boarding fees from those 12 referrals (average stay of about 3 nights at $45 per night, plus add-ons).

That is a 15-to-1 return on the referral fees. And five of those twelve referred clients have already booked again for future stays.

Start With One Referral Partner This Week

If your kennels are sitting half-empty on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, or if your January and February look like a financial black hole, you do not need more Google Ads or a better Instagram presence. You need one dog walker, one pet sitter, or one vet office who trusts your facility enough to send clients your way.

Find the busiest dog walker in your neighborhood. Invite them to tour your facility. Show them your play yard, introduce them to your staff, and offer a straightforward referral fee for every stay they send you. One good referral partner who sends you two or three clients a month is worth more than any advertising campaign you will ever run.

The partnerships take time to build. My first walker partner took about a month before she sent anyone. But once that first dog had a good stay and the walker got paid promptly, the referrals became steady. That is how it works in boarding: slow to start, consistent once the trust is there.

If you are managing referral agreements with multiple walkers, sitters, groomers, and vet offices and want a cleaner way to track what is owed and who is sending the most, PureIntro for pet services was built for exactly this kind of multi-partner setup.

This post reflects one professional’s experience and is for informational purposes only. It is not business, legal, financial, or professional advice. Results described are individual and not guaranteed. Referral fee arrangements may be subject to state and local regulations. Consult a qualified professional for guidance specific to your situation. PureIntro facilitates referral tracking and payment processing but does not guarantee payments between users or any particular business outcome.