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

Leave Salem on Route 1A north over the Essex Bridge. On the Beverly side, Route 22 begins where Cabot, Rantoul and Water Streets meet, and follows Cabot Street and then Essex Street north to Route 128 at Exit 47. From there it is 128 north to its end in Gloucester and a couple of minutes along Eastern Avenue to number 210: about 35 minutes outside rush hour, by our estimate, with downtown Beverly the slow part.

Salem is outside the four Pup Van towns, so ask us about pick-up for your street before you plan around it; the $10 each-way rate covers only Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea. If you drive, the weekday windows are 6:30 to 9:30 AM, 12 to 1 PM and 4 to 6:30 PM, and Saturdays run 8 to 10 AM, 12 to 1 PM and 4 to 6 PM. From Salem a full day nearly always beats a half day, since one round trip covers it.

Salem's fenced dog park is at Leslie's Retreat Park on the North River, off Route 114 and North Street. Every dog there needs a Pooch Pass, an annual tag valid from April 1 through March 31 that costs $25 per dog. To get one you show the dog's municipal license, current vaccinations and proof of spay or neuter, and sign a waiver of liability; dogs must be at least six months old.

Inside the second gate, dogs may be off leash under voice control. A guardian must be 18 or older and may supervise no more than three dogs at once, visitors from 10 to 17 need an adult with them, and children under 10 are not allowed inside the fence. Toys and sports equipment stay out. Those rules suit a dog that already plays well with strangers; a dog still learning group manners is better off building them in a matched playgroup with a handler watching.

Daycare is $42 a full day or $33 a half day, in a playgroup of 7 to 10 dogs matched by size and temperament, on the turf yard with its pools and platforms and the indoor floors. An Academy day, $89 in full, layers a session with our trainer onto the play. Overnight suites are $78 a night with playgroups by day and monitoring around the clock, and Sunday is reserved for overnight drop-off and pick-up.

Training is fear- and force-free and built on positive reinforcement, from $94 a session, and enquiries hear back within the hour on weekdays. A Salem sidewalk is a real test of leash manners; Calm & Connected and the one-week Foundation board and train both work on leash skills and impulse control. New dogs start with the free evaluation, on a weekday morning between 6:30 and 9:30, before daycare, Academy, overnight stays or walks.