Puppy overnight stays
Puppy boarding in Gloucester: first nights away, done gently
The first night a puppy spends away from home sets the tone for every stay after it. Done well, it is a big day of play, a good dinner and a solid sleep. Done badly, it is a puppy crying in a strange room. This page covers how Dogtown handles a puppy's first overnight stay in Gloucester, and how to prepare for it.
Who it fits
Which puppies are ready for a first overnight stay
A puppy is ready when three things line up. It has finished the vaccinations we require, Rabies, DHPP and Bordetella, and holds a current city license; in Gloucester that comes from the City Clerk at 9 Dale Ave for $20 plus a small fee. It has passed the free evaluation and spent a few supervised hours in a group without shutting down. And ideally it has already had a daycare day or two here, so the building and the handlers are familiar before the lights go down.
Typical cases: the family with a spring puppy and a summer wedding; the couple whose puppy arrived in March and whose Fourth of July trip was booked a year earlier; the household heading to the Cape for a week that would rather not spend it housebreaking in a rental. Rockport bans dogs from its public beaches from June 1 to September 15 anyway, so a puppy misses less of a beach trip than you might think.
It is the wrong moment for a puppy who has just come home. A pup that has been in the house for a week has enough change to cope with. Give it a few weeks of settling, book the evaluation, do a daycare day or two, then try one night. Ask the front desk about the minimum age for overnight stays before you plan the dates.
- Rabies, DHPP and Bordetella complete, plus a current city license
- Free evaluation passed, with a few hours in a group
- Ideally a daycare day or two already behind it
- Not in the first weeks after coming home
The first night
How a puppy's first overnight stay runs
Drop-off is a weekday or Saturday window, the same ones daycare uses. Puppies do best arriving in the morning window so the day is long and familiar before the night: play with its matched group, a nap, more play, dinner from the food you packed. By the time the daycare dogs go home, a puppy has usually done the hard part of the day and is ready to lie down.
Puppy groups are small and matched for size and temperament, and a puppy's day has more rest in it than an adult's. Our handlers pull a puppy out for a quiet break before it gets overtired rather than after. The suite at night has a bed we provide, your comfort item and 24/7 monitoring. Crying in the first half hour is normal; a puppy that is still unsettled gets a handler's attention, not a closed door.
Morning is a regular Dogtown morning: out, breakfast from your portions, back into the group. Pick up in a window that suits you, or leave the puppy for the day and collect in the afternoon so the stay ends on a play note. The report card in the app tells you how the night went in plain words, including whether the crying stopped.
- 01
Finish the vaccine series and get the city license
- 02
Book the free evaluation for a weekday morning between 6:30 and 9:30 AM
- 03
Do a daycare day or two so the building is familiar
- 04
Book one night, dropping off in a morning window
- 05
Pack pre-portioned meals, any medication and one item that smells of home
- 06
Collect the next day and read the report card before booking a weekend
Price
$78 a night for a puppy, with the Classic bundle as the natural add-on
A puppy's suite is $78 a night, the same as any guest. The Dogtown Classic adds $10 a night and includes a homemade pupsicle or puppy cup each day, plus 10 percent off grooming. The Deluxe at $15 more adds a stuffed Kong or Toppl, a daily treadmill or enrichment session and the memory-foam bed, and suits an older puppy with more energy to spend.
Two add-ons earn their place on a puppy stay. A lick mat at $5 after the last play session settles a wound-up pup before bed in the suite. And a bath before pick-up, $55 for a dog under 25 pounds, sends the puppy home clean; it is also a gentle introduction to the grooming table. Grooming needs no evaluation.
| Option | Rate | Why it suits a puppy |
|---|---|---|
| Overnight suite | $78 a night | Same suite, more rest built into the day |
| Dogtown Classic | +$10 a night | Daily pupsicle or puppy cup for a teething mouth |
| Dogtown Deluxe | +$15 a night | Kong or Toppl, daily enrichment, memory-foam bed |
| Lick mat | $5 | A calm settle before bed |
| Bath before pick-up | from $55 | A first, short visit to the grooming table |
Why Dogtown
Why Dogtown for a puppy's first nights away
Playgroups of 7 to 10 dogs matched by size and temperament mean a fourteen-week puppy is not thrown in with adult labs at full speed. Certified staff run the groups and the overnight monitoring, and a puppy's day is paced around its need to sleep. The building is 10,000 square feet, with an indoor floor for the days when a nor'easter shuts the turf yard, so a puppy gets its play whatever the coast is doing.
There is a longer game too. A puppy that learns Dogtown at four months has a place to go for every trip, groom and long workday for the rest of its life. Puppies from Rockport and Manchester-by-the-Sea ride the Pup Van from the start and learn that the van means play. Tiny Tails Puppy School runs here too, for pups of 8 to 16 weeks.
- Groups matched by size, so puppies are not in with the big dogs
- More rest in the day than an adult's schedule
- Handlers who respond to a crying puppy at night
Getting here
Drop-off windows and the Pup Van for a puppy
Weekday windows are 6:30 to 9:30 AM, 12 to 1 PM and 4 to 6:30 PM; Saturday 8 to 10 AM, 12 to 1 PM and 4 to 6 PM; Sunday is overnight guests only, 8 to 10 AM and 4 to 6 PM. For a first night, use the morning window so the puppy has a full day here first. Dogtown is at 210 Eastern Ave in Gloucester.
The Pup Van picks up and drops off in Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea for $10 each way; ask us for pricing elsewhere. For a young puppy still learning the car, a short ride in the van with a familiar driver is often easier than a long goodbye at the front door. Skip the Rockport line for the puppy's leg: MBTA rules keep dogs off peak trains.
At Dogtown
The pieces of a puppy's first stay
Suites, the daycare groups a puppy learns first, and the Pup Van for the ride over.
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 old does a puppy have to be for an overnight stay?
Will my puppy cry the first night?
Can my puppy stay in the same group as its daycare friends?
What should I pack for a puppy's stay?
Should I do a daycare day before the first overnight stay?
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
A gentle first night.
Finish the vaccine series, book the free weekday-morning evaluation, do a daycare day, then reserve one night. $78 a night, with the Classic bundle at $10 more for a daily puppy cup.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
