Why do you limit group sizes?

Supervising a playgroup is not counting heads. Trouble starts between two dogs, so the real job is tracking pairs: who is chasing whom, who has had enough, which game is getting rough. Pairs multiply quickly. Seven dogs make 21 possible pairs and ten make 45, but fifteen dogs make 105 and twenty make 190. Doubling a group from ten to twenty more than quadruples the relationships a handler has to keep an eye on, while the number of eyes stays the same.

That is the practical case for our number. Dogtown playgroups run at 7 to 10 dogs, placed by size, play style and temperament at the free evaluation, a temperament test followed by a few supervised hours in a group. A small group lets a handler spot a game tilting, step in early and move a tired dog out before it turns snappy. Rest breaks and water stations sit between bouts, and a group that stops suiting a dog is changed rather than tolerated.

Ollie's Law, in force since December 19, 2024, lists group sizes and supervision among the topics MDAR's regulations for commercial boarding or training kennels may cover. Those rules were due in 2026 and, as of the March 18, 2026 advisory committee minutes, had not been released. Until they are, any kennel's group size is its own policy. The committee's approved minutes show what the debate has looked like, and the numbers on the table are far larger than 7 to 10.

In August 2025 one member proposed that playgroups never be left unsupervised and another suggested capping them at 60 dogs. In December 2025 one member recalled suggesting a cap of 45, another remembered 60, the summary landed back on 60, and 75 square feet of play space per dog was cited as an industry figure. None of it is law. It does suggest that a statewide floor, when one arrives, will sit well above a small, matched group like ours.