Board and train for dogs in Groveland, MA

Choosing between Foundation and Advanced

Foundation is a week of basics: obedience, leash skills, place, stay, recall, impulse control and household manners, plus one go-home lesson. It suits puppies, young dogs and new rescues finding their feet.

Advanced is two weeks and adds distraction proofing, outings away from the building, neutrality around dogs and people, confidence building and two coaching lessons. It suits adolescents who are fine in the kitchen and impossible in public. Gabby recommends one or the other at the assessment, and if fear or guarding is the real issue she may suggest Dogtown’s six- to ten-week behavior-modification program.

Training spots around Groveland

The Pines Recreation Area, with its trails and dog park, is the natural home base for practice. Check the posted rules at the entrance before letting your dog off leash in the fenced area, and keep the leash on everywhere else.

Build up in steps. Begin with your own street, move on to the quieter edges of the Pines, and save busier moments, like game days at the ball fields or the town center at school pick-up, for when your dog can hold a sit while people pass. Johnson’s Pond and Veasey Memorial Park are worth a look later; confirm their current dog rules with the town first.

• Start at home with the exact cues and rewards from the go-home lesson
• Add your street, rewarding loose-leash steps and check-ins
• Then the Pines, with other dogs at a comfortable distance
• Then busier places, one new difficulty at a time

Who leads the training

Gabriella Pope, known as Gabby, is Dogtown’s Director of Training & Canine Behaviorist. She holds a B.S. in Biochemistry, has more than ten years of hands-on work with behaviorally complex dogs, and has fostered dogs through Cape Ann Animal Aid. She runs the assessment that starts every program and shapes your dog’s plan.

Her approach looks for the why behind a behavior, whether that is fear, frustration or simple adolescence, before deciding how to change it. For a Groveland dog that drags you down the street, the answer might be leash skills and impulse control; for one that lunges because it is worried, it might be confidence building at a slower pace.

Getting there, paperwork and price

From Groveland, Route 97 to I-95 south and then Route 128 north to its end in Gloucester is the usual drive. If mornings are tight, the Pup Van can collect board-and-train dogs from town; ask for van pricing from Groveland when you send the enquiry, since the $10 flat fare covers only the four Cape Ann towns.

Groveland licenses come from the Town Clerk at 183 Main St; the clerk’s page notes fines for dogs unlicensed after March 31. Your vet records need to cover Rabies, DHPP and Bordetella too. There is no published price: each stay is quoted after the assessment, and our cost page explains why.