New job
Starting a new job with a dog at home
A new job changes your dog's day more than yours. The hours alone, the time breakfast happens and the moment the door closes all move at once, usually with little notice. This guide is the transition: what the dog notices, the fortnight either side of day one, and how to choose between a walker and a playgroup.
What changes
The hours alone change overnight, and abrupt changes are what unsettle dogs
A new job rewrites the dog's clock in a single Monday: an earlier alarm, a door that closes at a new time and an empty house for longer than it is used to. The ASPCA lists an abrupt change in when or how long a dog is left alone among the known triggers for separation anxiety, next to moves and changes in who lives in the house. A dog that coped with three hours alone during your job search may not cope with ten.
The change is often bigger than it looks on paper. Between jobs, on leave or after a stretch of remote work, the dog had you at lunch and a walk whenever you needed a break. The first weeks of any job are also the least predictable, with training days, late meetings and a commute you have not yet timed in bad weather. Plan for the hardest week, not the typical one, and loosen the plan once you know the job.
- Departure moves earlier and the return moves later
- The midday company the dog had disappears
- Training days and late finishes in the first weeks
- A commute you have not yet timed in winter traffic
Before day one
Use the weeks before your start date, because evaluations happen on weekday mornings
The window that matters is the one before the job, because every Dogtown evaluation runs on a weekday between 6:30 and 9:30 AM, by appointment, which are exactly the hours you are about to lose. One visit opens daycare, walks and overnight stays: a temperament test, then a few supervised hours in a group of 7 to 10 dogs. Bring Rabies, DHPP and Bordetella records and your current town license, and use FIRST15 for 15 percent off the first daycare visit.
Use the same fortnight to rehearse the new morning. Leave at the new time on ordinary days, first for a coffee and then for a longer errand, and hand over a stuffed food toy as you go; the ASPCA describes a food puzzle at each departure as a cue that this absence is a safe one. Keep the goodbye and the hello flat and brief. A dog that has practiced the new morning a dozen times meets your first day as an ordinary day.
The first two weeks
From fourteen days out to the end of week two: the transition, step by step
Treat the start date as the middle of the plan rather than its beginning. The week before it sets up the care and rehearses the morning; the week after it tests the mix while the job is still settling down. Read the walker's photo and note, or the daycare report card in the Dogtown app, each evening, and judge the plan by the dog that meets you at the door rather than by the price of a pack.
Most dogs do best with a week of overlap: care booked even on days you might have managed without it, so the dog never learns that the new schedule means hours of worry. By the end of week two you will know whether a walk is enough or the dog needs a playgroup, and whether your hours fit the 4 to 6:30 PM weekday pick-up window or call for the Pup Van.
- 01
Fourteen days out: send the new customer form and book the free evaluation for a weekday morning
- 02
Ten days out: leave at the new departure time on ordinary days, handing over a food puzzle at the door
- 03
One week out: the evaluation, then a trial half day at $33 or a first 30-minute walk at $35
- 04
Day one: the planned care goes ahead however the dog seems that morning, with a calm exit
- 05
Days two to five: read each walk note or report card and adjust the length of care, not the whole plan
- 06
Week two: settle the standing mix and buy the pack that matches it
Walk or daycare
Walk, daycare or both: which Dogtown service fits a new job, and which does not yet
A midday walk suits a settled adult that sleeps well alone and mainly needs a break and a sniff. Our walks are solo and led by Dogtown staff, 20 minutes for $25, 30 for $35 or 60 for $55, with a photo and a note afterward; ten 30-minute walks cost $315. Whether we reach your street depends on the address and the season, so ask before the start date. Daycare suits a young or social dog, or one that unravels after hours alone.
Many working households use both, daycare on the longest days and a walk on the rest. A full day is $42, weekday drop-off opens at 6:30 AM and pick-up runs to 6:30 PM, and a full-day 10-pack is $380. What does not fit yet is the $700 unlimited membership, which makes sense only once you know the job's real hours, and a first overnight stay booked as a test on the night before day one.
| Your new job and your dog | The mix that usually fits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Eight-hour day near home, dog sleeps alone | A 30-minute walk at midday | $35, or $315 for ten |
| Long days, young or social dog | Daycare two or three days, walks on the rest | $42 a day plus $35 a walk |
| Dog that panics when left | Daycare on every workday while you train | $42 a day, or $380 for ten |
| Training weeks with late finishes | Full days with the Pup Van at both ends | $42 plus $10 each way |
| Hours not settled yet | Single days and walks, no membership | Pay as you go |
The logistics
On Cape Ann the drop-off windows, the van and the dark months shape the working week
Build the job around three fixed points. Weekday windows are 6:30 to 9:30 AM, 12 to 1 PM and 4 to 6:30 PM, Saturday's are 8 to 10 AM, 12 to 1 PM and 4 to 6 PM, and there is no daycare on Sunday. A job that starts at 7 can still begin with a 6:30 drop-off at 210 Eastern Ave. A job that ends at 6 leaves half an hour of margin, which is thin when snow slows the roads off Cape Ann.
The Pup Van covers Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea at $10 each way, for mornings when the detour to Eastern Ave does not fit. From November to February the dog loses daylight walks as well as your company, and a midday walk gives some back. Saturdays recover the week: Gloucester's beaches take dogs again from October 1 at the time of writing, Good Harbor on even-numbered days until its April 1 closing.
- Weekday drop-off from 6:30 AM, pick-up until 6:30 PM
- The Pup Van at $10 each way in the four Cape Ann towns
- No daycare on Sunday; that day is for overnight guests only
- Morning and evening walks in the dark from November
At Dogtown
Care for the working week
Daycare for the long days, solo walks for the dog that copes alone, and the Pup Van for the mornings the commute wins.
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.
How long before a new job should I start getting my dog ready?
Is a dog walker or daycare better when I start a new job?
My dog has never been alone for a whole workday. What should I do?
What if my new job runs past the 6:30 PM pick-up?
Should I buy a daycare pack before I know my new schedule?
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
Book the evaluation before your first day
Evaluations run on weekday mornings between 6:30 and 9:30, so book one while those mornings are still yours.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
