The short version
Boarding at NorCal Shiba is in our home, not in a kennel. We take small groups of Shibas at a time, run five real walks a day, and keep the house on a routine that mirrors what a Shiba is used to at home. No pens stacked in a back room. No background TV-on-loop. Just our place, your dog, a routine that respects the breed, and our team handling every minute. Here is what an actual boarding day looks like.
6 AM, the first walk
The day starts before the house wakes up. First walk goes out at 6 AM, every day, every dog, no exceptions. We aim for 30 to 40 minutes of real walking, not a five-minute backyard turn. Shibas are working dogs and a first walk that actually moves the body sets the tone for everything that follows.
The morning walk is also the calmest of the day. Streets are quiet, the boarding dogs are not yet over-stimulated, and the team gets a clean read on each dog's energy and mood. We use this walk to spot anything off (limping, lethargy, a stomach that is not quite right) before it becomes a problem. Anything we notice gets a note in the dog's file and a text to the owner if it matters.
7 AM, breakfast on the dog's own schedule
Breakfast happens after the walk, not before. Walking a Shiba on a full stomach is a recipe for the kind of stomach upset that ends in a vet bill. We feed each dog the food the owner brought, in the bowl the owner labeled, on the schedule the owner runs at home. Some Shibas eat twice a day, some once. Some get a topper, some do not. We follow the owner's setup. The boarding stay is not the time to introduce something new.
If your dog takes supplements or medication, those go in at breakfast, logged on the daily sheet, double-checked at the end of the day.
9 AM, mid-morning sniffari
The second outing of the day is what we call a sniffari. Not a fast walk. A slow, sniff-led wander where the dog gets to read the neighborhood. Twenty to thirty minutes, no rush. Sniffing is mental work for a dog, and twenty minutes of sniff time can tire a Shiba out more than an hour of brisk walking. The AKC notes that scent work uses real cognitive load, which is the whole point.
Between the morning walk and the sniffari, most of our boarding dogs nap hard by mid-morning. That is how you know the routine is working.
Noon, nap and decompression
A boarding house should be quiet for big chunks of the day. Ours is. From late morning through early afternoon, the dogs nap. No background noise. No televisions running. The team is here, doing house things, working, prepping the next walk. The dogs sleep. This is intentional. Dogs in over-stimulated environments do not rest, and dogs that do not rest get reactive, sick, or both.
If we have a young dog or a Shiba who struggles with crate time at home, this is when we work on it gently. Five minutes in the crate with a chew. Ten minutes with the door open. Slow.
1 PM, lunch walk
Around 1 PM, walk number three. This is a working walk, 30 to 40 minutes, paced and structured. We use this one for any leash skills the owner has been working on, gentle recall practice in the yard, or training games if the dog has a session on the books. Shibas are smart and bored Shibas get creative, and we would rather burn the brain on a structured walk than have it come out as resource guarding at dinner.
3 PM, training games or quiet time
Mid-afternoon is flex time. If the dog has a training plan in place (often the case for the Shibas who are here for training alongside boarding), this is when we run a 20-minute session. Foundation skills, leash manners, polite greetings, the basics. Nothing flashy.
If the dog is just here for a regular boarding stay, mid-afternoon is more nap or low-key yard time. Two dogs out at a time, supervised, never four-plus together. Group dynamics shift fast with Shibas and we run small for a reason.
4 PM, afternoon walk
Walk four. Same length as the morning. By now the dogs know the rhythm and they are usually waiting at the door before we get our shoes on. We mix up the route so the same dog is not walking the same loop twice in a day. Variety in the route is variety in the smells, which is variety in the mental load.
6 PM, dinner
Same protocol as breakfast. Owner's food, owner's bowl, owner's schedule. Medication and supplements logged. The end-of-day sheet gets filled out: walks completed, food eaten, water intake (we measure), bowel movements (we track), behavior notes, anything the owner needs to know.
If something on the sheet is off, the owner gets a text that night. Not a vague "great day!" message, an actual report.
8 PM, evening walk
Walk five. Last walk of the day. Forty minutes, slow pace, calm route, no high-arousal stuff. The point of the evening walk is to get the dog ready to sleep, not to wake them up. By the end of this walk most of our boarding dogs are dragging us back toward the house.
9 PM to bedtime, settling in
The house winds down. Dogs settle in their assigned spaces (crate, bed, or owner-specified setup). Lights stay low. The team is here through the night, and any dog who needs a 2 AM bathroom break gets one. We do not run a "lights out at 10 PM and see you in the morning" operation.
What we do that a kennel cannot
Five walks a day is the obvious one. Most boarding kennels run two short potty breaks plus play-yard time. We run five real walks because Shibas need real exercise, and a play yard does not count.
Quiet hours are the less obvious one. A kennel cannot give a dog a six-hour midday quiet block because there are 30 dogs in earshot. We can, because there are not.
The third one is the daily sheet. Every dog, every meal, every walk, every note, written down and sent to the owner at the end of the stay. Owners who have boarded with us before tell us the daily sheet is the thing they did not know they wanted until they had it.
The small-group rule and what it actually means
We run small groups. That means a handful of Shibas at a time, not a dozen. The exact cap depends on the dogs in the house that week (some weeks we take more, some weeks fewer, depending on temperament fit) but the principle is the same: we never take a dog whose presence would tip the house into the kind of group dynamic that turns boarding into babysitting a brawl.
If we are full for your dates, we will say so. We will not squeeze in one more dog because the calendar says we have a free spot. The schedule serves the dogs in the house, not the other way around.
What this means for your Shiba
A stay at NorCal Shiba is closer to a stay at a friend's house than a stay at a hotel. Your dog walks five times. Eats on their own schedule. Sleeps in a quiet house. Comes home with a written report. Stress level on pickup day is usually so low that the dog does the thing where they look back at us on the way out the door.
If that is what you are looking for, we would love to host. If you want a play-all-day-with-twelve-other-dogs kind of stay, we are honestly not the right fit, and we will say so on the meet-and-greet.
Ready to book?
Every first stay starts with a 20-minute meet-and-greet. We need to read your dog and your dog needs to read the house. If we are a fit, we get you on the calendar. Daycare and vet transport are the same team and the same setup, both available as sub-services within boarding.
For an overview of all three services we run alongside boarding (the adoption and rehoming side, the foster network that holds it all up, the health protocol Dr. Daniel runs on every Shiba in our care), the rest of the blog has the full picture.
To request boarding dates or a meet-and-greet, email norcalshiba@gmail.com or text (707) 718-3579. If you want to support the rescue side of the house alongside booking your stay, our community gifts page is where that lives. The AVSAB position on humane dog care is also worth a read for anyone evaluating any boarding option.
We will get back to you within one business day, usually faster.
What a stay includes, and what it costs
Every boarding stay runs on the routine described above: five real walks, meals on your dog's own schedule, quiet midday hours, and a written daily report at pickup. Overnight boarding starts at $85 per night. Daycare, which is the same house and the same team for a dog who needs a day rather than an overnight, starts at $45 per day. Vet transport, where we drive your Shiba to and from an appointment, starts at $40 per trip. Every first stay begins with a 20-minute meet-and-greet so we can read your dog and your dog can read the house.
What is included is the part that surprises people: medication and supplements logged and double-checked, water intake measured, bowel movements tracked, and a text that night if anything on the daily sheet looks off. What is not included is a chaotic play yard or a wall of stacked kennels, because we do not run either. The small-group rule is the whole model, and it is why the routine holds up.
Related questions
How much does boarding at NorCal Shiba cost?
Overnight boarding starts at $85 per night. Daycare, which is the same house and the same team for a dog who needs a day rather than an overnight, starts at $45 per day. Vet transport, where we drive your Shiba to and from an appointment, starts at $40 per trip. Every first stay begins with a 20-minute meet-and-greet so we can read your dog and your dog can read the house before anything is booked.
How many dogs do you board at a time?
We run small groups on purpose, a handful of Shibas at a time rather than a dozen. The exact number depends on the temperaments in the house that week, and we never take a dog whose presence would tip the group into a bad dynamic. If we are full for your dates, we say so rather than squeezing in one more. The schedule serves the dogs in the house, not the calendar.
Do you offer daycare and vet transport too?
Yes. Daycare and vet transport are the same team and the same in-home setup as boarding, offered as sub-services. Daycare suits dogs who need care for the day, and vet transport helps families who cannot get their Shiba to an appointment themselves. Both run on the same small-group, routine-first approach as an overnight stay.
What to read next
To understand the health standard behind every dog in our care, read what our vet screens for and what the guarantee covers. For the exercise philosophy that shapes our five-walk day, see exercising your Shiba Inu, and for older guests, exercising a senior Shiba Inu. To book a stay or a meet-and-greet, our boarding page has availability and full details.