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Trying it first
Do you offer a trial day before board and train?
Families ask for a trial because they want to see how their dog copes before committing a week or two. Each kind of visit answers a different part of that question, so this page shows what each one tests, how to choose by your dog's biggest unknown, and when to schedule it.
What each one tests
Each kind of trial answers a different question, so choose the one aimed at your dog's biggest unknown
Start with what you are actually unsure of. Whether your dog will cope with other dogs in a busy building is one question; whether it will work for a new person is another; whether it will eat and sleep away from home is a third. No single visit answers all three. The evaluation covers the first, an Academy half day the second, and one ordinary overnight night the third.
The table sets the options side by side with their published prices. Each of them except a private session follows the free evaluation, which every overnight dog completes anyway. A private session, from $94, earns its place for a different reason: it is the visit where you and your dog work with the trainer together, so it tests the method as much as it tests the dog.
| Visit | Price | What it shows | What it cannot show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free evaluation | Free | How your dog meets a handler and a group | Nights, or how it learns |
| Daycare half day | $33, with 15 percent off a first visit | The building, the handlers, recovery after play | Training |
| Dogtown Academy half day | $69 | How your dog works with our trainer | A night away |
| One overnight night | $78 | Eating and sleeping in a suite | Training |
| Private session | From $94 | The method, with you holding the leash | The building at full volume |
Three dogs
Worked example: three dogs, three different trials, each chosen by what its family does not know
These dogs are illustrations, not clients. A 7-month-old doodle has never slept away from home, and its family worries about the first night, so after the evaluation it spends one ordinary night in a suite two weeks before the stay. A 3-year-old rescue is relaxed with dogs but wary of new people, so it does an Academy half day, where the question is whether it will take food and work for a stranger.
A 2-year-old Labrador already comes to Dogtown daycare twice a week. It knows the building, the handlers and its group, and its evaluation is on file, so it needs no trial at all and its family goes straight to the consult. In each case the family tells Gabriella Pope what the trial showed, because a dog that skipped dinner or took an hour to settle shapes how the first days of a stay are planned.
- Never slept away: one overnight night
- Wary of new people: an Academy half day
- Unsure in groups: the evaluation, then a half day
- Already a regular: straight to the consult
The evaluation
The evaluation is the trial every dog does, and its result shapes the group side of the stay
The free evaluation runs Monday to Friday between 6:30 and 9:30 AM by appointment at 210 Eastern Ave in Gloucester. It opens with a temperament test and continues with a few supervised hours in a group, so by pick-up the team has watched your dog greet, play, rest and recover. Bring your dog on a leash with a secure collar or harness, proof of Rabies, DHPP and Bordetella and a current license, and send the new customer form first.
Its result reaches beyond whether a stay goes ahead. Both programs include daycare integration once a dog is ready, and the evaluation is where the playgroup match begins. A dog placed easily may join a group early in its stay; one given a slower start may spend more of its days on training, rest and enrichment. Either way, ask at pick-up what the team saw and carry the answer into the consult.
- Weekdays, 6:30 to 9:30 AM, by appointment
- A temperament test, then a few hours in a group
- Leash, vaccine records and license in hand
- The new customer form sent beforehand
Timing
Schedule any trial one to three weeks before drop-off, so what it shows can still change the plan
A trial the day before a stay tells you something you can no longer act on. One to three weeks ahead leaves time to share the result at the consult, adjust the plan, or, if the trial went badly, pick a different first program without rushing. It also means the building is a recent memory when your dog arrives with its bag, which helps the first afternoon of the stay feel less new.
Use FIRST15 at checkout, online or in the Dogtown app, on your first daycare visit; if that first visit will be an Academy day, ask the front desk how the code applies before you pay. Families in Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea can ask whether the Pup Van, $10 each way, can bring the dog in for the trial.
- 01
Book the free evaluation for a weekday morning
- 02
Choose the trial that tests your dog's biggest unknown
- 03
Schedule it one to three weeks before drop-off
- 04
Note appetite, sleep and energy for two days afterward
- 05
Tell Gabby what you saw when you meet for the consult
At Dogtown
Visits that work as a trial
Daycare, Dogtown Academy and a single overnight night each show a different part of how your dog will cope.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
Is there a free trial of board and train itself?
Does my dog need a trial if it already comes to Dogtown?
Can the consult replace a trial?
What if the trial goes badly?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Keep reading
Next step
Pick the trial that answers your question.
Book the free evaluation, then tell us on the training form what you most want to know about your dog before a stay. We reply within one hour on business days.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
