Dogtown for Beverly, MA dog owners: daycare, boarding, grooming and training

From downtown Beverly, Route 22 follows Cabot Street and then Essex Street north to Route 128 at Exit 47. Head north on 128, across the Annisquam River into Gloucester, and stay on it until the highway ends; Eastern Avenue and 210 Eastern Ave are a couple of minutes beyond. Call it about 25 minutes outside rush hour, by our estimate. Summer Fridays and the evening commute on 128 are slower, and the downtown stretch of Cabot Street adds a few minutes at busy times.

Beverly is outside the four Pup Van towns. The van's set rate of $10 each way covers Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea; for a Beverly address, ask us about pick-up and we will tell you whether that day's route reaches your street and at what price. Most Beverly owners drive, and the windows suit an early start: drop-off from 6:30 to 9:30 AM on weekdays, pick-up from 4 to 6:30 PM.

Check which way your morning points before you buy a pack. If you drive south toward Boston, Gloucester is behind you, and a daycare drop-off turns into close to an hour of extra driving there and back. If your day already runs north, to a job on Cape Ann or along 128 past Beverly, Eastern Ave is on the way, and full days are the easy habit to build.

Every Beverly dog six months or older must be licensed by April 1 each year through the City Clerk's Office at City Hall, 191 Cabot Street. The fee is $20 for a spayed or neutered dog and $25 for one that is not. Skipping a year costs more than the license: the city charges a $50 failure-to-license fee for each dog not registered in the prior year plus a $20 late fee for each year missed, and the missed years must be paid before the current one.

Renewal forms arrive with the annual census mailing. You can pay online through the city's payment site, or mail the application with the fee, a copy of the rabies certificate and a self-addressed envelope, and the license comes back by post. At Dogtown we ask for the current Beverly license and the Rabies, DHPP and Bordetella records at the free evaluation; a dog whose license lapsed can join a group as soon as it is renewed.

Dogtown Professional Training is fear- and force-free and built on positive reinforcement. Sessions start from $94, programs are quoted after a short assessment, and enquiries hear back within the hour on weekdays. For a Beverly family the format matters as much as the method: weekly sessions mean a drive up 128 each time, Canine Campus includes pick-up and drop-off (ask whether your address is covered), and a one- or two-week board and train ends with go-home lessons.

The evaluation is a temperament test followed by a few supervised hours in a group, on a weekday between 6:30 and 9:30 AM by appointment. It is required for daycare, Academy, overnight stays and walks, and not for grooming, so a Beverly dog that only needs a bath books straight in online. Cats book the same way, into a quiet studio away from the dog floors.