Kennel licensing in Massachusetts for training facilities

A kennel license is the permit a city or town issues under chapter 140 of the Massachusetts General Laws to a place that keeps a pack or collection of dogs. The law sorts kennels into types: personal, commercial breeder, domestic charitable corporation, veterinary, and commercial boarding or training. That last type covers any establishment used for boarding, holding, day care, overnight stays or training of animals, for payment and while the owner is away, which describes a board and train exactly.

The licensing authority is the police commissioner in Boston and the clerk in every other city and town, so in Gloucester it is the City Clerk at City Hall, 9 Dale Ave. The definition has no exception for private homes; it excludes only someone who boards other people's animals temporarily and not in the normal course of business. Ollie's Law went further and told the state to write rules for commercial boarding or training kennels, including those located at a private residence.

Section 137A requires the license to state the type of kennel and the maximum number of animals it may keep, a figure set by the licensing authority and the animal control officer after inspection. For commercial boarding or training kennels that number is meant to follow the state's regulations once they exist, so the property can support the animals while protecting their health and safety. Each town also sends the state a list of its licensed kennels by June 1 every year.

What the paper cannot show is just as important. It does not test the trainer, describe the methods, or say how many people are on duty at night. A license number is a reference for the town's records, so the useful step is to call the issuing clerk's office and confirm that the license is current, which kennel type it covers and what maximum it names. Methods and staffing are separate questions to put to the program.

The check takes a phone call. Ask the program which city or town issued its kennel license and under what kennel type, then call that town's clerk, or the Boston police commissioner's office for a Boston program, and confirm. For a home-based program the same applies: Ollie's Law limits inspections of a residence to the areas used for the kennel and its records, but it does not exempt the home from licensing when boarding is the business.

While you have the clerk on the line, ask whether the kennel's maximum number of animals matches what the program told you about group size and capacity. Then turn to the questions a license cannot answer, about methods, equipment and overnight cover, which our pages on Ollie's Law and on staff supervision cover in detail. Our board and train page sets out the two Dogtown stays, Foundation for one week and Advanced for two.