The board and train evaluation

The consult is about training. You send the training form, the team replies within one hour on business days, and you meet Gabriella Pope, our Director of Training & Canine Behaviorist, for a short assessment. She looks at your dog's history and your goals, chooses between Foundation, Advanced and the other programs, and the stay is quoted after it. Gabby holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and has ten-plus years with behaviorally complex dogs, which is why the consult asks about the reasons behind behavior, not just the list of problems.

The evaluation is about the stay. Because a board and train dog spends its nights with us and may join daycare playgroups, it takes the same free evaluation as our daycare, Academy, overnight and walking dogs: a temperament test, then a few supervised hours in a group. It runs on weekdays between 6:30 and 9:30 AM, by appointment. A dog that already comes to Dogtown has usually done it, but tell us if anything has changed since.

Plan the evaluation weeks before the stay, not days. It runs only on weekday mornings, so a program starting on a Saturday needs an earlier weekday, and a dog that needs more time to get comfortable in groups is better discovered early. Bring your dog on a flat collar or harness and a leash, with the records, and ask the front desk what time to collect it.

The result is not a score. Our team tells you how your dog greeted, played and settled, and whether a group looks right during the stay, and Gabby weighs that alongside what she saw at the consult. If everything fits, the next step is to book dates. If not, it may be a different start date, a different program, or a few half days of daycare first, at $33 each, so the building is familiar before the first night.

A no to board and train is rarely a no to training. A dog-selective dog may start with Adventure Academy, which builds structured socialization and matched introductions. A shy young dog may start with Brave & Balanced, from 4 months. A reactive dog usually starts with Focus & Flow, 6 weeks and 12 sessions, or React Less, Relax More, 8 weeks and 16. A household that wants daily training with nights at home can use Canine Campus, 2, 4 or 6 weeks with pick-up and drop-off.

Some dogs simply need the building to become familiar. A few half days of daycare at $33, or Dogtown Academy half days at $69, let a dog learn the place before a week of nights. Families in Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea can add the Pup Van at $10 each way for those days. When the dog is ready, Gabby can revisit the stay. Our main board and train page describes Foundation and Advanced side by side.