Where dogs are not allowed on the North Shore: refuges, sanctuaries and summer beaches

Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island bans dogs, horses and other domestic animals, with an exception for animals that assist people with disabilities, and its hiking page puts it plainly: dog walking is never permitted at the refuge. Public use is limited to designated areas, the dunes are closed, and from April 1 to early August most of the refuge beach closes to everyone for nesting piping plovers, terns and other shorebirds. Sandy Point State Reservation, the DCR land on Plum Island, is on DCR's own list of places dogs are not allowed.

Mass Audubon applies one rule across its wildlife sanctuaries: dog walking and horseback riding are prohibited, and visitors are asked to leave pets at home, with service animals welcome. On the North Shore that covers Eastern Point Wildlife Sanctuary in Gloucester, Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield, Joppa Flats Education Center in Newburyport and Marblehead Neck Wildlife Sanctuary. Plan the birding trip and the dog walk as two separate outings.

The Trustees welcome dogs on many properties but bar them from what they call Resource Protection Areas on all their land: working farms and gardens, coastal dunes including shorebird nesting areas, designated children's play areas, historic and cultural buildings and museums, and highly sensitive horticultural resources and National Natural Landmarks. At Coolidge Reservation, the property page bars dogs from Gray (Magnolia) Beach and dog walking from the Ocean Lawn. At Greenwood Farm in Ipswich, the trail to the marsh islands is closed to every visitor.

DCR parks work the same way. Even where dogs are welcome on a ten-foot leash, they are barred from DCR buildings, restrooms and visitor centers, playgrounds, swimming pools, cabins and yurts, and from coastal beaches and designated inland swimming areas from May 1 through September 15, unless otherwise posted. Water supply land is the third pattern: Lynn keeps pets out of its Lynn Woods reservoirs, and the Chebacco Woods committee bars dogs from swimming in any of its ponds.

The summer closures stack up. By June 1, Good Harbor, Crane, Wingaersheek, Plum Cove, Cressy and the Rockport and Essex beaches are all closed to dogs, along with DCR's swimming beaches, and most stay closed into September. That is the stretch when daycare earns its place: a full day at Dogtown is $42 and a half day $33, in a playgroup of 7 to 10 dogs matched by size and temperament, with a turf yard, pools and platforms outdoors and indoor play floors for the hottest afternoons.

The Pup Van collects and returns dogs for $10 each way in Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea; outside those towns, ask us about pick-up. Every new dog starts with a free evaluation on a weekday between 6:30 and 9:30 AM, so book it in spring, before the first closures on April 1, and the summer is covered before the sand is.