Should I say goodbye to my dog at boarding drop-off?

Two well-known sources put it slightly differently. The ASPCA's guidance on separation anxiety says to behave calmly and quietly, give your dog a pat, say goodbye and leave. VCA's veterinary guidance goes a step further and suggests skipping the goodbye altogether, because it draws attention to the departure. Both agree on the part that matters most: leaving should be a small, ordinary event rather than a scene your dog has to recover from.

The research is thinner than the advice. In a 2025 Royal Veterinary College study with Dogs Trust, 34 new puppy owners were randomly given different sets of guidance, and puppies whose owners were coached to depart and return calmly spent more time resting quietly when left alone. The study found no clear effect on specific signs of separation distress, and the authors call for a larger trial. Read it as support for a calm handover, not as proof that a goodbye does harm.

The most useful minute at drop-off is not the goodbye; it is the update. The AKC tells owners to be open with a boarding facility about separation anxiety, resource guarding and any illness that needs close watching, and the same honesty applies to smaller changes. A new food, a skipped breakfast, a sore paw from the weekend or a dog that hates thunder all shape how the first day is run, and the staff can only plan for what they hear.

Then hand over the leash. Many dogs walk off with a handler more easily than they part from a person who is hovering, and the handler's job is to move your dog straight into its day. Overnight guests join a playgroup of 7 to 10 dogs matched by size and temperament, so the first hour is busy rather than empty. Report cards in the Dogtown app show you how the day went, and you can message the front desk from the same app.

Some dogs cope well with the building and struggle only with the moment you turn away. For them the Pup Van can help: it collects at your door for $10 each way in Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea, so you part on your own front step rather than in a lobby full of new smells. A dog that dislikes cars is better driven by you, with the same calm routine every time.

Other dogs do better with practice. A few daycare days before the trip, at $42 for a full day, give your dog several ordinary goodbyes that all end with you coming back. If your dog panics every time you leave the house, that is a separation problem rather than a drop-off one; talk to your vet and ask about Dogtown's force-free training before you book a long stay. Our overnight stays page covers the rest of the stay.