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Summer rentals
Summer visitors with dogs: beach bans, rentals and short-notice care
A week in Rockport or Gloucester with a dog is a good week, but not the week the brochure shows. The beaches are off limits, the streets are hot and crowded by noon, and the rental has rules. Here is how visiting families make it work, and how our team fits in on short notice.
The bans
From Memorial Day to Labor Day, no Cape Ann beach is open to your dog
Gloucester's public beaches, Good Harbor, Wingaersheek and the neighborhood coves included, are closed to dogs from May 1 through September 30 at the time of writing. Rockport bans dogs from its public beaches from June 1 to September 15 and expects a leash or direct voice control the rest of the year. Essex closes its beaches and Centennial Grove to dogs in June, July and August. Check the town pages before you pack.
That leaves the trails. Dogtown Common's 3,600 acres of woods and boulders are open to dogs all summer, Ravenswood Park in West Gloucester welcomes them under Trustees rules, Halibut Point State Park in Rockport takes them on a leash, and the fenced Gloucester Dog Park at Stage Fort Park has separate small-dog and large-dog areas. Go early: by ten on a July morning the granite is hot and the ticks are out, and tick season here runs April to November.
- Gloucester beaches: closed to dogs May 1 to September 30
- Rockport beaches: closed to dogs June 1 to September 15
- Essex beaches and Centennial Grove: closed June, July and August
- Summer walking: Dogtown Common, Ravenswood, Halibut Point on a leash, the dog park
The rental
A rental asks the dog to wait alone in a strange house, and most dogs cannot do it on day one
The hard part of a vacation dog is not the beach ban, it is the four hours you want at the beach while the dog waits in a house it has known since Saturday. Many rentals say no dog alone inside, more say no dog on the furniture, and a dog that barks the afternoon away in a Rockport cottage is a complaint the owner hears about by dinner. Read the pet terms before you book.
The rest is heat and crowds. A car in the Good Harbor lot is no place to leave a dog for even a short swim, and downtown Gloucester and Bearskin Neck at midday are hot pavement, dropped ice cream and a stroller every ten feet. Late June brings St. Peter's Fiesta, the fireworks are July 3, and the Schooner Festival fills Labor Day weekend; a dog that is fine at home can come apart at fireworks in a strange house.
- Rental pet terms: alone indoors, on furniture, in the yard, and any size limit
- A plan for the beach hours that is not the car or a crate all afternoon
- Fireworks on July 3 and Fiesta week if your dates overlap
- Water, shade and a morning-and-evening walking schedule
Before you arrive
Line up the evaluation before the drive, in six steps
Our free evaluation is the gate to daycare, overnight stays and walks, and it runs on weekdays between 6:30 and 9:30 AM by appointment. It is a temperament test plus a few supervised hours in a playgroup, the same for a visitor from Connecticut as for a dog from Lanesville. Book it for your first weekday morning, and daycare days can follow from the next day. Grooming needs no evaluation.
If your license is from another state, or your vaccine records live on a phone rather than paper, tell the front desk when you book the evaluation and we will say what we need to see. Summer weeks fill, so reserve the daycare days and the overnight night you already know you want along with the evaluation, not after it.
- 01
Two weeks out, send the new customer form and tell us your dates
- 02
Ask your vet at home for proof of Rabies, DHPP and Bordetella, and pack the license paperwork
- 03
Book the evaluation for your first weekday morning here, between 6:30 and 9:30 AM
- 04
Reserve the daycare days or the overnight night you already know you want
- 05
Add the Pup Van if the rental is in Rockport, Gloucester, Essex or Manchester-by-the-Sea
- 06
Use FIRST15 at checkout for 15 percent off the first daycare visit
How Dogtown fits
Daycare for the beach hours, a suite for the Boston day, a bath before the drive home
A full day at Dogtown is $42 and a half day $33: your dog spends the beach hours in a playgroup of 7 to 10 dogs on the turf yard and the indoor play floors at 210 Eastern Ave, with pools to cool off in, instead of pacing a rental. The Pup Van collects from and returns to the rental for $10 each way inside the four towns, so a family with one car never needs to detour to Eastern Ave.
A whale watch, a day in Boston on the Rockport line or a wedding on the North Shore is an overnight stay at $78 a night, with the dog in playgroups by day and monitored around the clock. The bath before you load the car is from $55 for a small dog, priced by size, with no evaluation needed. Solo walks from home run from $25 for 20 minutes; availability depends on the address and the season, so ask whether we cover your rental.
Nearby
The summer residents guide, the beach calendar and the heat page
The summer residents guide is for the households that are here from June to September every year and want a standing arrangement rather than a one-week fix. The Cape Ann dog beach calendar lists every town and every date, so you can see how a September week lands against Rockport's September 15 reopening. The summer heat page covers humidity, hot sand and the hours to walk.
The Rockport service-area page shows the Pup Van route for a cottage on the Neck or up in Pigeon Cove, and the fireworks page is the one to read if your dates include July 3. If you fall for the place and come back to stay, the moving here page covers licensing, vets and the beach calendar for people who unpack for good.
At Dogtown
Short-notice care for a rental week
Daycare for the beach hours, an overnight suite for the day trip, the Pup Van to the cottage door and a bath before the drive home.
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.
Can my visiting dog come to Dogtown for just one week?
Is there any beach on Cape Ann where dogs are allowed in July?
Do you need my dog's license if we are from out of state?
Can the Pup Van pick up from a rental?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Sources
- City of Gloucester beaches, detailed information
- Town of Rockport beach and park regulations
- Town of Essex dog licenses and information
- Discover Gloucester festivals
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
Book the evaluation for your first morning here.
Send the new customer form with your dates, bring the vaccine records, and daycare, a suite or a bath can follow the same week.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
