Add a Groom to the Last Day of Your Dog's Boarding Stay
Lillian Ruff Pet Spa
If your dog is boarding with us and you are the one coming home tired, the single most useful thing you can add to the booking is a bath on the last morning. Same building, same address, no second trip back across Suffolk County a week later when you have finally unpacked.
Board at 835 Portion Rd, ask for a bath and brush on the final morning, and collect a dog who smells like a dog again. It has to be asked for when you request your dates — grooming is a separate appointment, not an automatic extra on a boarding stay.
Why the last day is the right day for the bath
People sometimes ask whether they should get the dog groomed before they travel. You can, and if the coat is already in trouble you should. But as a piece of timing it is backwards. A dog who arrives spotless on Monday has still slept on bedding for six nights by Sunday. The bath does its work on the way out, not on the way in.
The other reason is that the last day of a boarding stay is usually dead time anyway. Boarding check-out runs 7:00am to 11:00am. If you land late at night, your dog is going home the following morning regardless — that final morning is already spoken for. Putting the bath in it costs you nothing in extra nights and saves you an appointment you would otherwise be booking in two weeks, in traffic, on a Saturday.
Every boarding night here already includes a full day of daycare at no extra charge, so your dog is up, moving and handled by people all day. Grooming is not a strange new event dropped on a dog who has been sitting in a kennel. It is one more thing that happens in a building they have been living in all week.
Bath and brush or full groom: which to book after a long stay
Most of the time, the honest answer is the bath and brush. A dog who has been away for a week does not usually need a new haircut — the coat has not grown enough to justify one. What it needs is a wash, a real brush-out, nails, ears and a dry.
| Service | Published price | Best after a boarding stay when… |
|---|---|---|
| Bath & Brush | $35–$120 by weight | The coat was in decent shape going in, or the dog was groomed shortly before you travelled. |
| Full groom with haircut | $70–$155 by weight | The dog was already overdue before the trip, or the stay was long and the coat has kept growing through it. |
Price is set by the dog's weight, so tell us the breed and rough size when you ask and you will get a straight number rather than a range.
Book the bath and brush
- Short or smooth coats that just need the kennel smell off
- Dogs who were groomed within a few weeks of leaving
- Seniors, and dogs who find long table time hard
- Any first-time boarder — keep the last morning simple
Wait, or book the full groom deliberately
- You want a shave-down decision made under time pressure — don't; talk it through first
- The dog is anxious and the stay was already long
- The haircut was done days before you flew out
- You are hoping a groom will fix matting that has gone solid — see below
What a coat actually looks like after a week away
Nothing dramatic, and nothing that a bath cannot handle — but there are predictable spots, and they are the same ones every time. Dogs living away from home sleep more, lie on the same side, wear a collar or harness through more of the day, and drink out of shared bowls. Friction and moisture do the rest.
If a coat has gone past brushing, dragging a comb through it for an hour is not a kindness and we will say so rather than doing it. The alternative is a shorter cut than you wanted. That is a conversation, not a surprise — we will call you before anything changes.
One more thing. Groomers have hands on every inch of a dog, so we notice lumps, hot spots, ear odor and sore skin. We will point them out and write them down. We do not diagnose and we do not treat — anything on that list is a call to your vet.
Nine times out of ten, a dog coming off a week away needs a bath, a proper brush-out and their nails done. Not a new haircut.
The paperwork that actually stops people
Suffolk County Code § 302-13 requires a current health certificate from a licensed veterinarian before any dog is accepted at a boarding kennel, covering rabies, distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza, parvovirus and coronavirus within the previous year — unless the vet certifies an approved three-year vaccine — and bordetella within the previous six months. That six-month bordetella clock is the one owners most often have lapsed without realizing. Check it with your vet, and confirm current requirements with us, well before your travel dates.
How to add grooming when you request your boarding dates
Request the boarding dates
Start online at the salon site. Boarding check-in runs 2:00pm to 7:00pm, check-out 7:00am to 11:00am.
Say "groom on check-out day" in the same message
Name the service — bath and brush, or full groom — and your dog's breed and weight. Treat it as a second booking rather than an add-on that happens by itself.
Sort the vaccination records now
Not the night before. First-time boarders also need a 30-minute meet and greet, so build that into the timeline. Our boarding page puts the eligibility plainly: "Pet must be non-aggressive, comfortable in a kennel, able to socialize, and free from bite history."
Pin down the pickup time and the food
Boarding check-out and the grooming day run on different clocks, so agree an actual pickup time instead of guessing. Bring your own food, or we can provide it at $5 per day.
Worth being clear about this: our East Northport salon at 16 Laurel Rd is grooming only, Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm. Boarding and daycare run out of Ronkonkoma alone, at 835 Portion Rd, seven days a week. So the board-plus-bath combination exists at Ronkonkoma and nowhere else. If your trip already routes through Ronkonkoma — Long Island MacArthur Airport is in the hamlet, and the Ronkonkoma station is a major Main Line park-and-ride — the dog is on the way rather than a detour.
Questions people actually ask
Is the bath included in the boarding price?
No. Boarding is $60 a night for a regular 4x4 private kennel or $75 for a premium 4x6, and every night includes full-day daycare at no extra charge. Grooming is priced separately by weight: $35–$120 for a bath and brush, $70–$155 for a full groom with haircut.
Will my dog be groomed the morning I collect them?
That is the idea, but grooming runs 9am to 5pm and the boarding check-out window is 7am to 11am, so the two do not line up automatically. Agree a pickup time when you book rather than assuming.
Can I do this at the East Northport salon?
Not the boarding half. East Northport is a grooming salon, Tuesday to Saturday. Daycare and overnight boarding are Ronkonkoma only.
My dog gets stressed. Should I skip the groom entirely?
Sometimes, yes — and we would rather you asked. For a nervous dog coming off a long stay, a bath and brush with nails is usually the right call and a full haircut is not. Tell us how the dog handles handling and we will tell you honestly what we would book.
What if my dog needs a full haircut, not just a bath?
Book it, but say so up front so the time is set aside. A full groom is a longer appointment and it cannot be upgraded on the morning if the calendar is already spoken for.
Do you do hand-stripping, show grooming or color?
No, and we do not groom cats. Straight, well-executed pet grooming is what we do.
Book the stay, then book the bath.
Request your boarding dates and tell us you want grooming on check-out day — we will confirm the service, the price for your dog's weight, and the time to collect.
See pricing & book ›835 Portion Rd, Ronkonkoma, NY 11779 · Open 7 days, 9–5
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