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Dog parks
North Shore dog parks beyond Cape Ann: Danvers, Salem and Beverly
A fenced dog park is a different animal from a trail. The dog is off leash among strangers, the play is fast, and the rules are the town's. This page covers the three towns just off Cape Ann, how their parks compare with the one at Stage Fort, and what a dog needs before you open the gate.
The parks
Four parks, four towns, one table
Danvers Dog Park is inside Endicott Park and is fenced, with a large-dog area and a small-dog area, so a 12-pound dog is not sharing a run with a 90-pound one. Salem's park is SPACE, in Leslie's Retreat Park, and it requires an annual permit from the city. Beverly publishes its dog-friendly parks on the Beverly Recreation website, and that page is the current list for the town.
Back on Cape Ann, the Gloucester Dog Park at Stage Fort Park, 65 Hough Ave, is a fenced two-acre off-leash park with separate small-dog and large-dog areas, and its own website carries the rules. All four are described here as they stood at the time of writing; towns change fees, hours and permit rules, so the town page wins over this one every time.
| Park | Town | Fencing | Permit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Danvers Dog Park, Endicott Park | Danvers | Fenced, large and small areas | Ask the town |
| SPACE, Leslie's Retreat Park | Salem | Check the city page | Annual permit required |
| Dog-friendly parks | Beverly | Varies by park | See the Beverly Recreation page |
| Gloucester Dog Park, Stage Fort Park | Gloucester | Fenced, 2 acres, small and large areas | See gloucesterdogpark.org |
What it asks
An off-leash park asks for a recall, a vaccination record and a dog that reads other dogs
The gate is the test. A dog that can wait at the gate, come away from a group when called and take a break when the play gets loud is a dog park dog. A dog that guards a ball, bowls over smaller dogs or freezes in a corner is not, however friendly it is at home. Watch your own dog for the first ten minutes and leave early if the group is wrong.
Vaccinations matter more here than anywhere. Fenced parks bring together dogs from many households, and the AVMA's vaccination page is the plain-language guide to which vaccines a social dog needs. Every dog at Dogtown needs Rabies, DHPP and Bordetella on file plus a current town license, and the same list is a sensible minimum for a public park.
Licensing follows the dog, not the park. A Gloucester dog carries a Gloucester license from the City Clerk at 9 Dale Ave, $20 for a spayed or neutered dog plus a one-dollar fee, due by April 30 with a $20 late penalty; Manchester-by-the-Sea licenses run April 1 to March 31 at $20, or $25 if the dog is not neutered. Keep the tag on the collar.
- A recall that works away from a group
- Rabies, DHPP and Bordetella current, license tag on the collar
- Ten minutes of watching before you relax
- Leave early when the group is wrong
Park or playgroup
A fenced park is free play with strangers; daycare is matched play with a handler
The honest comparison is this. A public dog park is free, open when you are, and full of whoever turned up. A daycare playgroup at Dogtown is 7 to 10 dogs matched by size and temperament at the evaluation, with a certified handler in the group the whole time, rest breaks built in, and a report card afterwards. A dog that comes home from the park overstimulated, or that has been bullied there once, usually does better in the matched group.
A full day is $42 and a half day $33, with packs at $200 for five full days and $380 for ten. The free evaluation comes first, weekdays between 6:30 and 9:30 AM by appointment, and it doubles as an honest read on whether your dog is a park dog at all; our handlers will tell you what they saw. New customers take 15 percent off the first daycare visit with the code FIRST15.
- 01
Wait at the gate until the dog sits or stands still
- 02
Enter, unclip, and stand where you can see the whole area
- 03
Watch for loose bodies and play bows, not stiff tails and pinned ears
- 04
Call the dog out of play once early on and reward it
- 05
Leave while it is still going well
How Dogtown fits
After the park: the bath, the nail trim and the walk on the days you skip it
A dog park in spring is a dust bowl or a mud pit, and a dog that has been wrestling in either needs a bath. Ours is $55 for a small dog, $65 for a medium, $75 for a large, $85 over 90 pounds and $95 for an extra-large long coat. Add nail clipping for $16, since park grass does not wear nails the way granite does, and from April to November ask for a tick check. Grooming needs no evaluation.
For the dogs that do not enjoy the crowd, an at-home walk is the other route to exercise: 20, 30 or 60 minutes at $25, $35 and $55, solo with our staff, a photo afterwards. Where we can walk depends on the address and the season, so ask us about yours. The Pup Van collects for daycare at $10 each way in Gloucester, Rockport, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea; outside those towns, ask us for pricing.
Nearby
Gloucester's own park, and the trails for the dogs who hate a fence
The Gloucester Dog Park at Stage Fort Park has its own page here, as does Stage Fort itself. For a dog that would rather sniff than wrestle, Ravenswood Park, Dogtown Common and the Greenbelt trails are the Cape Ann walks, and from October 1 the Gloucester beaches open to dogs on the alternating-day schedule laid out in the beach calendar page.
Beverly's beaches have their own dated dog hours at Lynch Park and Dane Street, covered on the Beverly beaches page, and Crane Beach in Ipswich takes leashed dogs from October 1 to March 31. Manchester-by-the-Sea's Singing Beach opens to licensed, vaccinated dogs between October 15 and April 14, two per person, with a walk-on fee while staff are on duty.
- Gloucester Dog Park: fenced, 2 acres, small and large areas
- Ravenswood, Dogtown Common, Greenbelt: the sniffing walks
- Gloucester beaches: dogs October 1 to April 30, alternating days
- Crane Beach: leashed, October 1 to March 31
At Dogtown
The matched-group alternative
Playgroups of 7 to 10 with a handler, the bath after a muddy park, and solo walks for the dogs who prefer them.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
Which North Shore dog parks are fenced?
Does Salem's dog park need a permit?
Does a dog park count as socialization for a puppy?
My dog gets picked on at the dog park. What should I do?
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
Matched play, not luck.
Book the free evaluation for a weekday morning and see how your dog does in a playgroup of 7 to 10 with a handler, or book a bath online after the next park visit.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
