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Snow days
What if it snows during board and train?
Cape Ann winters bring nor'easters, and a one- or two-week stay booked between December and March has a fair chance of meeting one. Here is what snow changes inside the building, what we confirm rather than publish, and a worked plan for the day you are due to collect your dog.
The short version
Snow moves the training indoors, and most of the Foundation list never needed the yard
Look at what a Foundation week teaches: basic obedience and leash skills, place, stay and recall, impulse control, and crate and household manners. Almost all of it is taught in a room before it is taken anywhere else, so a snowed-in day changes the setting far more than the content. A dog that would have spent an hour in a playgroup on the turf yard spends it on the indoor play floors with its matched group, if it is ready for one.
Advanced is where weather bites. Its second week adds distraction proofing and real-world outings, and an outing in a nor'easter is not training anyone wants. Expect those to shift to a clearer day, and ask at the consult how Gabby would rearrange a two-week plan if a storm landed in week two. The daily update will tell you what moved and what replaced it, so you are not left reading the forecast and guessing.
- Trains well indoors: place, stay, sit, down, crate and household manners
- Moves indoors: playgroups, onto the indoor play floors
- Waits for better weather: real-world outings in Advanced
- Fills the gaps: puzzles, lick mats, the sniff room and the treadmill
Inside the building
Indoor play floors, the treadmill and enrichment replace the yard, not the plan
Dogtown was built with indoor play floors alongside the outdoor yard, so a group has somewhere to play when the turf is buried or iced. The supervised dogPACER treadmill gives a high-energy dog steady movement without slippery footing, and quieter options such as a lick mat, a puzzle feeder or time in the sniff room tire a dog through its nose. On ordinary daycare and overnight days these are add-ons, from $5 for a lick mat to $10 for a treadmill session.
Which of them appear in a board and train day is part of your dog's plan, so ask at the consult whether enrichment is built into the quote or added. For a dog that hates being cooped up, a storm day may call for more short training blocks rather than more play, because thinking work settles a restless dog faster than another lap of the floor. The update that evening will say how your dog coped with a day indoors.
Staffing
How the team is staffed in a storm is not published, so here are the questions to ask
Some things about a storm are fixed: dogs in the overnight suites are monitored 24/7, and changes to hours, drop-off windows or the Pup Van are announced through the Dogtown app and by the front desk on 978 491-5922. How many people are in the building during a snowstorm, and how the training team covers a day when the roads are closed, are details we confirm with you rather than print. It is a fair question, and it deserves a specific answer before you pay.
Ask it at the consult, alongside the terms a storm can touch: what happens if pick-up is delayed by a day, how an extra night is charged, and whether the go-home lesson moves with the pick-up or gets its own date. Those terms are confirmed when you book. The National Weather Service office in Boston issues the winter storm watches and warnings for Essex County, which usually gives you a day or two to ask before it matters.
- Who covers the building if the roads close?
- Do the daily updates still arrive on a storm day?
- If pick-up slips a day, how is the extra night handled?
- Does the go-home lesson move with the pick-up, or get its own date?
Your pick-up day
A worked example: a nor'easter forecast for the day you collect your dog
Say your dog's Foundation week ends on a Saturday in February and, on Wednesday, the forecast shows heavy snow from Friday night into Saturday. Saturday's windows are normally 8 to 10 AM, 12 to 1 PM and 4 to 6 PM. Sunday has overnight-stay windows of 8 to 10 AM and 4 to 6 PM, but whether a go-home lesson can run on a Sunday is a question for the desk. The steps below show how we would suggest handling the week.
The principle is to keep the lesson and the pick-up together where you can, and to split them cleanly where you cannot. A dog collected in a hurry on icy roads, with the lesson skipped, goes home knowing cues you have never seen it perform. A dog collected a day later, or collected on time with the lesson rebooked for a clear weekday, goes home with everything it learned. Whichever you choose, get the new times confirmed in writing in the app.
- 01
Wednesday: read the National Weather Service Boston forecast and note whether a watch or a warning covers Cape Ann
- 02
Wednesday or Thursday: message the front desk in the Dogtown app about moving the pick-up or the lesson
- 03
Ask whether a later pick-up adds a night and how it is charged, since those terms are confirmed at booking
- 04
If the lesson cannot move with the pick-up, book it on its own clear weekday rather than dropping it
- 05
Friday evening: check the app for any storm notice about Saturday's windows
- 06
Saturday: if a state of emergency travel ban is in force, stay home and message the desk
For your dog
For your dog, a snowy stay is a quieter one, and the first walk home deserves care
Most dogs handle a storm day at Dogtown well: more indoor play, more rest, more enrichment. The ones to plan for are short-haired and short-legged dogs, which the AVMA says feel the cold faster, very young and very old dogs, dogs with arthritis, which cold can worsen, and dogs frightened by wind or the scrape of plows at night. Tell us at the consult if your dog is one of them, and if storms upset it at home, describe what helps.
The first walk home can undo some loose-leash work if the sidewalk is a sheet of ice and your dog is wild with excitement. Keep it short, keep the leash loose by stopping rather than pulling, and when you get in, wipe its feet, legs and belly, because the AVMA warns that dogs lick off de-icers and antifreeze picked up on walks. Run the new cues indoors for the first evening; the street can wait until it is clear.
At Dogtown
What runs indoors
Training, the overnight suites and the enrichment menu all work under one roof when the yard is snowed in.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
Does training stop if Dogtown closes its doors for a storm?
Can I collect my dog early because a storm is coming?
Will a snowy week make the training less effective?
Where do I find out if Dogtown's hours change in a storm?
Should I avoid booking board and train in winter?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Sources
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
Plan the stay with a margin at the end
Tell us your dates and how flexible the last day is. The consult covers storms, lessons and the terms that go with them.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
