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Ollie's Law
Ollie's Law: what the Massachusetts kennel safety law means for your daycare
Ollie's Law is named for a dog whose injuries at a Massachusetts daycare led his family to campaign for a state standard. For an owner choosing a daycare, the law is a useful checklist even before its regulations land. Here is what it says, what is still to come, and what you can see for yourself at Dogtown.
The law
Signed September 20, 2024, in force December 19, 2024: what Ollie's Law does
Ollie's Law is the short name for An Act to Increase Kennel Safety. It was signed on September 20, 2024 and took effect on December 19, 2024. Before it, Massachusetts had no statewide standards for how a dog daycare or boarding kennel should be run; licensing sat with each town, and expectations varied from one town line to the next. The law gives the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, MDAR, the job of writing rules that apply everywhere in the state.
The law itself is a framework. It says regulations must be written and names the ground they must cover; the specific numbers arrive in the regulations, which MDAR is due to issue in 2026. At the time of writing those regulations are still in progress, and the MDAR information page and the MSPCA's Ollie's Law page are the two places to follow the rulemaking as it happens.
- Signed September 20, 2024; effective December 19, 2024
- Directs MDAR to write statewide daycare and kennel regulations
- Regulations due in 2026; not final at the time of writing
What is coming
Ratios, group sizes, injury reporting and fire planning are the four pillars
MDAR's regulations are expected to address four areas that matter most to an owner. Staff-to-dog ratios: how many dogs one trained person may supervise at once. Group sizes: how large a playgroup may be. Injury reporting: what a facility must record, and tell you and the state, when a dog is hurt. Fire and emergency planning: what a building must have in place to get dogs out.
Until the numbers are published, the useful move is to ask any daycare how it handles each pillar today. How many dogs does one handler watch? How big are the groups, and how are they chosen? If a dog is hurt, who tells me, when, and in writing? What is the fire plan? A facility that answers plainly, with figures, is one you can hold to those figures once the regulations arrive.
- Ratios: how many dogs per trained person
- Group sizes and how groups are formed
- Injury reporting to owners and the state
- Fire and emergency planning for the building
Dogtown today
How Dogtown runs while the regulations are written
We will not claim compliance with rules that do not exist yet; nobody honestly can. What we can describe is how we run today, and you can check every line of it at a free evaluation. Playgroups are 7 to 10 dogs, matched by size, age and temperament, with a handler present. Our staff are certified. Every dog joins a group only after an evaluation, a temperament test followed by a few supervised hours in a group, so no dog is placed on a hunch.
Overnight guests stay in suites with 24/7 monitoring, and they join the daytime playgroups on the same terms as daycare dogs. The building at 210 Eastern Ave is 10,000 square feet, with indoor play floors and a fenced outdoor turf yard, which gives every group room to separate and settle. When MDAR publishes its regulations we will read them, adjust whatever needs adjusting, and say so plainly on this page.
- Playgroups of 7 to 10 dogs, matched by size and temperament
- Certified staff with every group
- Evaluation before any dog joins a group
- 24/7 monitoring on overnight stays
Questions to ask
Six questions any Massachusetts daycare should answer before the law makes them
The regulations will eventually set floors under these answers, but the questions are yours to ask today, at any facility on Cape Ann or the North Shore. Ask them at the front desk, then watch a group for ten minutes. Numbers on a website are one thing; the way a handler moves through a group of ten dogs is another.
The evaluation is free and runs on weekday mornings between 6:30 and 9:30 AM by appointment. It is the right moment to ask about our group sizes, see the yard and the indoor floors, and meet the handlers who will be with your dog. Bring Rabies, DHPP and Bordetella records and a current city dog license, because the paperwork is checked the same morning.
- 01
How many dogs does one handler supervise at a time, and is that person certified?
- 02
How large are the playgroups, and how do you decide which dogs go together?
- 03
What happens before my dog's first day, and is there an evaluation?
- 04
If my dog is injured, who tells me, how soon and in what form?
- 05
What is the fire and emergency plan, and how do dogs get out?
- 06
Who is in the building overnight, and how are overnight dogs monitored?
Why the law matters here
A small daycare should welcome a statewide standard
Until Ollie's Law there was no state floor beneath any Massachusetts daycare, and owners were left comparing facilities by their websites, which is a poor way to judge a playgroup. A statewide standard gives you a common yardstick, and it gives a facility that already runs small groups with certified staff a way to show it rather than say it.
The other thing the law does is put injuries on the record. Dogs play hard, and a group of 7 to 10 dogs will produce the occasional scrape. What matters is what happens next: the dog is seen, the owner is told, the incident is written down, and the group is looked at again. Ask any daycare, including us, to walk you through that sequence; the regulations are expected to require it of everyone.
At Dogtown
The services the law will govern
Daycare playgroups of 7 to 10 dogs and overnight suites with 24/7 monitoring, both open to a visit at your free evaluation.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
What is Ollie's Law in Massachusetts?
Is Dogtown compliant with Ollie's Law?
When do the Ollie's Law regulations take effect?
What should I ask a daycare because of Ollie's Law?
Does Ollie's Law apply to overnight stays as well as daycare?
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
See the groups for yourself.
Book a free weekday-morning evaluation, watch a playgroup of 7 to 10 dogs with a certified handler, and ask us all six questions.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
