Overnight stays with daycare
Dog boarding with daycare in Gloucester: play all day, a suite at night
Dogtown built its overnight stays on the daycare, not the other way round. This page sets out the timetable of a day and a night, why the same evaluation clears your dog for both, how rest is balanced against play, and how the arrangement differs from a kennel that happens to have a yard.
The timetable
A weekday runs from the 6:30 AM window to lights down, and the windows mark the turns
From the dog's side, an overnight stay is a run of daycare days joined by nights. In the morning window the overnight guests come out of their suites and join the same matched groups as the dogs arriving from home, on the turf yard with its pools and platforms or the indoor play floors. Watch the play at ten in the morning and you could not pick out which dogs slept here.
The day guests leave in the 4 to 6:30 PM window on weekdays, or 4 to 6 PM on Saturdays, and the building changes pace. The overnight guests eat the food you packed and settle in their own suites with the bedding we provide and the comfort item from home; ask the front desk about the evening routine. Sunday is closed to day guests; the building opens only for overnight hand-overs, 8 to 10 AM and 4 to 6 PM.
- The same matched playgroups as the day guests
- A suite of their own after the 4 to 6:30 PM window
- Sunday: overnight hand-overs only, 8 to 10 AM and 4 to 6 PM
| Time | Day guests | Overnight guests |
|---|---|---|
| 6:30 to 9:30 AM | Arrive and join their groups | Out of the suite and into the same groups |
| Morning | Play, water and rest in matched groups | The same, side by side with the day guests |
| 12 to 1 PM | Half-day dogs leave or arrive | Stay with their groups |
| Afternoon | Play, rest breaks, enrichment if booked | The same, plus any bundle enrichment |
| 4 to 6:30 PM | Collected and taken home | Wind down as the building empties |
| Evening and night | At home | Dinner from packed food, the suite, 24/7 monitoring |
One evaluation
The evaluation clears your dog for the day and the night, because the day is the harder part
Dogtown uses one free evaluation for daycare, the Academy, walks and overnight stays. For a stay with daycare that is not a shortcut. The overnight guest spends most of its waking hours in a group of 7 to 10 dogs, so the question that matters is how it greets, plays, takes a break and recovers. The suite at night asks far less of a dog than the playgroup does by day.
The evaluation answers that question on a weekday morning between 6:30 and 9:30 AM: a temperament test, then a few supervised hours in a group. It also gives the handlers a baseline, what your dog looks like relaxed and what it looks like when it has had enough, and that baseline follows it into every day of a stay. Bring Rabies, DHPP and Bordetella records and the current city license, and send the new customer form beforehand.
- 01
Send the new customer form
- 02
Book the free evaluation for a weekday between 6:30 and 9:30 AM
- 03
Your dog meets the team, then spends a few supervised hours in a group
- 04
The handlers place it by size, play style and temperament
- 05
Book the nights; by day it plays in the group it was matched to
Rest and play
Rest is built into the day, and the right balance depends on the dog
A full day of nonstop play would leave a dog overtired rather than content, so every group's day includes rest breaks and water stations between bouts of play. We do not publish a fixed rest-to-play ratio, because it differs from dog to dog: a two-year-old Lab and a nine-year-old spaniel in the same building need different days. The handlers read the dog in front of them and give it a quiet spell when it needs one.
On a stay of several nights that judgment matters more, because tiredness builds from one day to the next. Puppies and seniors usually need more rest than play, while a high-energy adolescent may need something other than more running. Enrichment fills that gap: a lick mat at $5, a puzzle game at $7, the sniff room at $7 or a supervised treadmill session at $10. The Dogtown Deluxe bundle, $15 a night, adds a daily treadmill or enrichment session and a stuffed Kong or Toppl.
- Rest breaks and water stations in every group's day
- No fixed ratio: the balance is set dog by dog
- More rest for puppies and seniors
- Enrichment as a calm alternative to more play
Compared with a kennel
A kennel with a yard gives turns outside; a stay with daycare gives a whole day in company
In a traditional kennel the dog's base is its run, and the yard is somewhere it visits in turns, often alone or with a few others, between long stretches back inside. That model suits some dogs, particularly those that do not enjoy other dogs. At Dogtown the base is the playgroup: the dog spends the daylight hours with a handler and 7 to 10 matched dogs, and only the night belongs to the suite.
The difference shows at bedtime and at pick-up. A dog that has played, sniffed and rested in company all day is ready to sleep; a dog that has watched a door all day has energy with nowhere to go. It also changes who the stay suits. A dog-social dog thrives on it. A dog that is uneasy in groups is better served by a sitter or a quieter arrangement, and we will say so at the evaluation.
Price
$78 covers the daycare day and the night; daycare alone is $42
The suite is $78 a night and the daytime playgroup is included, with no separate daycare charge for an overnight guest. For comparison, a full day of daycare on its own is $42 and a half day $33, so if you will be home every evening, daycare days are the cheaper way through a busy week. Our overnight stays page sets out what else the nightly rate includes.
Bundles are optional: the Dogtown Classic, $10 a night, brings a homemade pupsicle or puppy cup each day and 10 percent off grooming. The Pup Van runs at $10 each way in Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Dogtown sits at 210 Eastern Ave in Gloucester. A bath before pick-up, $55 to $95 by size, sends a dog home without the yard still on its paws.
At Dogtown
One stay, two services
The daycare playgroups that fill the day, the suites that end it, and the enrichment and van that fit around both.
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.
Is daycare included in an overnight stay?
Does my dog stay in the same group every day?
Can a daycare regular switch to an overnight stay easily?
Is a stay with daycare too much for an older dog?
What happens if my dog does not enjoy the group?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Keep reading
Next step
Play by day, sleep by night.
Book the free weekday-morning evaluation once, then reserve nights in the Dogtown app. $78 a night with the daycare playgroup included.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
