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

From the center of Ipswich, Route 133 heads east out of town, runs through Essex past the head of the Essex River, and crosses Route 128 in West Gloucester at Exit 53. Take 128 toward its end at the rotaries, and Eastern Avenue is a couple of minutes beyond; 210 Eastern Ave sits on the Rockport side. The whole run is about 30 minutes outside rush hour, by our estimate. Summer weekends through Essex center are the slow part, so build in extra time from June to August.

Ipswich sits outside the four Pup Van towns. The van's set price of $10 each way covers Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea; for an Ipswich street, ask us about pick-up and the front desk will tell you whether that day's route can reach you and what it would cost. If you drive, half an hour each way favors full days over half days: drop off between 6:30 and 9:30 AM, collect between 4 and 6:30 PM, and the full-day 10-pack at $380 brings each day to $38.

The Ipswich Town Clerk registers dogs for the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, and every dog six months or older must be licensed no later than March 31. At the time of writing the fee is $15 for a spayed or neutered dog and $20 for an intact dog, with a reduced fee for the first dog of an owner aged 70 or over. After March 31 the town adds a late fee of $10 for each month or part of a month, so the cost of waiting grows every few weeks.

The clerk takes registrations online, by mail or in person at Town Hall, 25 Green Street, and asks for a current rabies certificate and proof of spay or neuter for new dogs and renewals alike. Bring the same rabies paperwork and the current Ipswich license to your dog's evaluation at Dogtown, along with the DHPP and Bordetella records. We ask for the license from the town where your dog lives, not a Gloucester one, and a dog joins a playgroup only once both are on file.

The free evaluation runs on weekdays between 6:30 and 9:30 AM by appointment: a temperament test with our team, then a few supervised hours in a group so we can see where your dog fits. Plan the first trip for the early end of the window and leave a few minutes for the desk. Send the new customer form before you come, and enter FIRST15 when you book to take 15 percent off the first daycare visit.

Grooming is the exception to all of this. A bath or a full groom books straight in, online or in the Dogtown app, with no evaluation. Ipswich cats are welcome too: the cat room is a quiet studio away from the dog floors, with a Full Bath at $95 and Minimal Trims at $45, and a cat that cannot be groomed safely is referred to a vet rather than pushed through.