Staying in touch
How do I check on my dog during daycare?
Most owners are not after a broadcast. They want one question answered in the middle of a working day: is my dog all right? Here are the ways to get that answer from Dogtown, what each one tells you, and how to weigh webcams at any daycare you are comparing.
Three channels
The app, the phone and the pick-up conversation cover the whole day
Three channels cover a Dogtown day, and all of them run through the people who are with your dog. The first is the Dogtown app, free on the App Store and Google Play: it holds each day's report card and photos, and its messages tab goes to the front desk. The second is the phone, 978 491-5922, during opening hours. The third is the conversation at the door when you collect your dog in the 12 to 1 PM or 4 to 6:30 PM window.
Each one suits a different kind of question. A message is right for a change of plan, such as a later pick-up or a lick mat added to the rest break. The phone is right for something that cannot wait for a written reply. The report card answers the question most owners actually have by mid-afternoon, which is how the day went, and it arrives without you having to chase it.
- Report card and photos: how the day went, in the app
- Messages: plan changes and questions for the front desk
- Phone: 978 491-5922 during opening hours, for anything urgent
- Pick-up: a word with the team at the door
The report card
The report card is a firsthand account from the people who spent the day with your dog
The report card is the main way to check on a daycare dog, and it comes with photos taken on the floor. Treat it as the start of a conversation rather than the last word. If it mentions a new playmate, a quiet afternoon or something unusual, message the front desk and ask what the team saw. On a Dogtown Academy day the card goes further: a trainer notes what your dog loved, what it found hard and what to practice at home.
Keep the reports. A month of them shows a pattern no single snapshot can: whether your dog settles faster in the mornings now, whether Mondays are harder after a weekend at home, whether a third day in the week is one too many. That pattern is what tells you to add a day, switch to half days at $33, or try an Academy half day at $69. It also gives your vet a record if your dog's energy ever changes.
Webcams
Ask about cameras at the evaluation, and ask what a camera would actually show you
Whether Dogtown offers a live camera view is a question to put to us at the free evaluation, on a weekday morning between 6:30 and 9:30 AM, where we can answer it for your dog's group and the spaces it uses. The MSPCA's checklist for choosing a daycare asks two camera questions of any facility: is there live streaming for owners, and if so, which parts of the building do the cameras cover. Both are fair, and the second matters more.
A camera is a window, not a safeguard. Colorado's rules for pet care facilities say outright that watching dogs by video camera or through a window is not acceptable supervision: a person has to be able to see each shared play area directly. Massachusetts is still writing its own rules under Ollie's Law. Whatever any daycare shows on a screen, what protects your dog is the person on the floor, the size of the group and the match between the dogs in it.
- Is there a live view, and which rooms and yards does it cover?
- During which hours does it run, and is it live or delayed?
- Who is in the room with the group while I am watching?
- What do I receive on the days I cannot watch at all?
Before day one
Set up your check-ins the week before the first day, not on the morning
The first daycare day is the one owners most want to follow and the one most often missed, because the app was never set up. Do it the week before. The evaluation itself, a temperament test followed by a few supervised hours in a group, gives you a first read from the team when you collect your dog, so by the first booked day you already know roughly what to expect and what to ask.
If you commute, plan your messages around your day rather than ours: send changes to pick-up as early as you can, and tell the front desk ahead of time if someone else will be collecting your dog. Then let the report card do its job. Refreshing the app every twenty minutes tells you nothing new, and a planned question at lunchtime gets you a better answer than a stream of worried ones.
- 01
Download the Dogtown app from the App Store or Google Play
- 02
Sign in with the details from your new customer form
- 03
Turn on notifications so the report card and photos reach you
- 04
Save 978 491-5922 in your phone under Dogtown
- 05
At drop-off, tell us what you most want to hear about that day
- 06
Read the report at pick-up time and message any follow-up question
Your dog
New dogs, nervous owners and long commutes each call for a different kind of check-in
For a puppy or a dog in its first weeks, the useful check-in is short and frequent: read every report card, ask a question at pick-up, and adjust the plan. A half day at $33 builds a midday check-in into the schedule, because you collect your dog between 12 and 1 PM and hear about the morning in person. Once the reports settle into a steady pattern, longer days are an easy step.
For an owner on the train to Boston, the report card is the check-in, because the MBTA's rider rules keep large dogs off the commuter rail at peak hours and you will not be dropping by at lunch. If the Pup Van collects your dog, at $10 each way in Gloucester, Rockport, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea, the report card is also how you hear about the day before you see your dog that evening.
At Dogtown
Days that come with a report card
Daycare and Academy days both end with a report card in the app, and the Pup Van can do the driving.
Pick-up & drop-off
The Pup Van comes to you.
Pup Van pick-up and drop-off is available for $10 each way in the Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea area. Not in the area? Ask us for pricing.
- Rockport
- Gloucester
- Essex
- Manchester-by-the-Sea
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
Can I call during the day to ask how my dog is doing?
Does Dogtown have webcams?
When does the daycare report card arrive?
Can I stop by during the day to see my dog?
What should I do if a report card worries me?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Sources
- MSPCA: Finding a doggie daycare or boarding facility
- Colorado pet care facility rules, 8 CCR 1202-15 Part 14 (Cornell LII)
- MBTA rider rules and regulations
Rules and dates change. We re-check every beach, licensing and ordinance page each spring and fall; the source above is the current word.
Keep reading
Next step
Meet the team in person.
The free evaluation is your first check-in: a weekday morning between 6:30 and 9:30 AM at 210 Eastern Ave, a temperament test, a few supervised hours, and straight answers to every question on this page.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
