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Board and train vs daycare
Many families try daycare first and hope the manners improve along with the exercise, and the dog often does come home calmer. The habits you wanted changed rarely move, though, because nobody in a playgroup is teaching them. Here is what each option buys and how to tell which one your dog needs.
What each buys
Forty-two dollars buys exercise, company and supervision; a board and train program buys a plan with a trainer attached
A full daycare day at Dogtown is $42 and a half day $33. Packs bring the day rate down, ten full days for $380 or $38 a day, and the unlimited membership at $700 a month covers Monday to Saturday. For that your dog gets a matched playgroup, the indoor floors and the turf yard with its pools and platforms, water and rest breaks, and a report card. Handlers keep the group safe and settled. Teaching cues is not their job on a play day.
Board and train is quoted after a short assessment with Gabriella Pope, because the plan is written for the individual dog. It buys daily training on a set list, nights in a suite with 24/7 monitoring, daycare integration and enrichment once your dog is ready, a daily update and go-home coaching. Foundation's list is basic obedience, leash skills, place, stay, recall, impulse control and crate and household manners. Advanced adds distraction proofing, outings, neutrality and structured socialization.
| Daycare | Board and train | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $42 full day, $33 half; packs and a $700 membership | Quoted after an assessment; sessions from $94 |
| Length | Any day you book | 1 week or 2 weeks |
| Who runs the day | Handlers supervising a group | Trainers working a plan |
| Learning goal | None set; exercise and company | A published skill list |
| What you get back | A report card | Daily updates and 1 or 2 go-home lessons |
| Nights | At home | An overnight suite |
| Best for | Dogs with manners who need a full day | Dogs whose habits need changing |
Play is not training
Play is not training, because in a playgroup a dog practices whatever pays off in the moment
Dogs learn from consequences all day, in daycare as much as anywhere. In a group the consequences come mostly from other dogs: a chase that works, a bark that starts a game, a rush to the gate that gets the dog through first. Handlers interrupt what is unsafe and reward calm where they can, but a cue such as come or leave it needs one person, a marker and a reward repeated hundreds of times, which a supervised group cannot provide while it is running.
The setting works against teaching as well. AKC trainers start new behaviors in quiet places where the handler is the most interesting thing around, and add distraction last. A playgroup reverses that order, with distraction first and all day. That is why play suits dogs who already have their manners, and why an adolescent can arrive at pick-up worn out and still drag you to the car. What daycare does build is real: ease around matched dogs, a routine and an outlet for energy.
- Daycare builds: fitness, routine, ease with matched dogs
- Daycare does not build: loose leash, recall, place, door manners
- Board and train builds the skills, then hands them to you
- Dogtown Academy sits between them at $89 a full day
Cost over a season
Daycare is an ongoing cost and board and train is a one-off, so compare them across a season
Daycare is priced to be repeated. Three full days a week for 13 weeks comes to 39 days, close to four full-day 10-packs at $380 each, and the membership caps a five- or six-day week at $700 a month. That money buys exercise and company, which plenty of dogs need. It does not, by itself, buy the habit you were hoping to fix, so a season of daycare can leave the leash exactly where it started.
Board and train is priced once, after the assessment, and buys change on a written list. Ask for the quote and set it beside the months of daycare you were planning anyway. Many families end up using both: the program to change the habits, then daycare for the exercise. A middle route has a published price. Dogtown Academy is $89 a full day or $69 a half, and each Academy day includes a training session with our trainer, which adds teaching to the day without nights away.
- Daycare: $42 a day, or $38 on a full-day 10-pack
- Membership: $700 a month, Monday to Saturday
- Academy: $89 a day, with a daily training session
- Board and train: one quote after the assessment
When each wins
Daycare wins for a dog with manners and a long workday; board and train wins when the habits are the problem
Choose daycare when your dog already walks reasonably, comes when called in familiar places and greets without launching itself, and the real trouble is eight hours alone. Daycare also wins for a dog already in a training program, as the outlet that stops it bringing pent-up energy to sessions, and for an older social dog who simply loves the group. If the evaluation shows your dog thrives in a matched playgroup, that is often the best $42 you can spend on it.
Choose board and train when the habits themselves are the problem: pulling, jumping, ignoring recall, chaos at the door, a crate that means crying. It also wins when your dog already comes to daycare and nothing has changed in months. Choose neither when other dogs are the trouble. A dog-reactive dog does not belong in a playgroup, and a stay offers daycare integration only when appropriate; Adventure Academy or React Less, Relax More start that work with you present.
Using both
Used together, the evaluation comes first, the program changes the habits and daycare keeps the dog exercised
The free evaluation, held on weekday mornings between 6:30 and 9:30 by appointment, opens both, so one appointment covers daycare days and a stay. A dog that is already a daycare regular knows the building, the handlers and the yard, which can make the settling-in part of a stay easier. After pick-up, daycare days give the energy an outlet while you practice the go-home cues at home, and an Academy day each week keeps a trainer involved.
Cape Ann's calendar changes the mix. Good Harbor closes to dogs on April 1 and Wingaersheek on May 1, so summer takes the beach away as an outlet and daycare carries more of the load. From October 1 the beaches return, Good Harbor on even-numbered days and Wingaersheek on odd ones, at the time of writing. The Pup Van runs to daycare or to a stay for $10 each way in Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea.
- 01
Book the free evaluation on a weekday morning
- 02
Read two weeks of daycare report cards and list what has not changed
- 03
Bring that list to the training assessment
- 04
Book the stay, or Academy days if the list is short
- 05
After pick-up, mix daycare days with short daily practice at home
At Dogtown
Play, structure or a program
Daycare, Dogtown Academy and board and train all begin with the same free evaluation.
Pick-up & drop-off
The Pup Van comes to you.
Pup Van pick-up and drop-off is available for $10 each way in the Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea area. Not in the area? Ask us for pricing.
- Rockport
- Gloucester
- Essex
- Manchester-by-the-Sea
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
Does my dog learn anything at daycare?
Can the daycare team practice my dog's cues during the day?
Does board and train include daycare time?
Is daycare enough for a high-energy adolescent?
Should my dog skip daycare after board and train?
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
Play, or a plan?
Tell us what has not changed after daycare. The training team answers within the hour on business days and books a short assessment.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
