Dog Boarding Near Long Island MacArthur Airport (ISP)
Lillian Ruff Pet Spa
If you are flying out of Long Island MacArthur and your dog is not coming with you, the useful thing to know first is where we are: 835 Portion Rd, Ronkonkoma, NY 11779. The airport is in Ronkonkoma too. Boarding runs seven days a week, which is the part that usually decides it — flights leave on Sundays, and so do people.
Call your vet and ask when your dog's bordetella was last given. Suffolk County requires it within the previous six months for any boarding kennel. Almost every other vaccine on the list runs on a one-year clock, so bordetella is the one people arrive without.
Boarding in Ronkonkoma, the same hamlet as the airport
Long Island MacArthur Airport (ISP) is in Ronkonkoma, in the Town of Islip. Our full-service location has a Ronkonkoma 11779 address as well. That is about as close as a boarding kennel and a departure gate get to sharing a mailing address, and it is the reason this location gets the "we fly out early, can we drop the dog on the way" calls.
We are not going to quote you a drive time or a route — you will plan that better than we can, and traffic on a travel day is its own animal. What we can tell you is what the stay itself looks like, what the county requires on file, and which parts of the schedule are fixed.
Open seven days, so weekend departures and weekend returns both work
The hours differ by service, and it is worth reading them separately rather than assuming one set covers everything.
| What | When |
|---|---|
| Boarding check-in | 2:00pm - 7:00pm |
| Boarding check-out | 7:00am - 11:00am |
| Daycare | 7 days a week, 7am - 7pm |
| Grooming | 9am - 5pm |
Read those two boarding rows carefully, because they are the ones that catch people out. Check-in is an afternoon and evening window. If your flight is at six in the morning, you are not dropping the dog off on the way — you are checking in the evening before and paying for that night. That is normal, and it is a calmer arrival for the dog than a pre-dawn handover anyway.
Check-out is a morning window. If you land in the evening, your dog comes home the following morning, so count that night in when you are budgeting the stay.
Every boarding night includes a full day of daycare at no extra charge. Daycare runs 7am to 7pm, so a boarding dog is not sitting in a kennel from check-in to check-out — the kennel is where they sleep.
The Suffolk County vaccination proof you need before the stay
This is county law, not a house rule we invented, and it applies to every boarding kennel in Suffolk. Under Suffolk County Code § 302-13, no dog may be accepted at a boarding kennel unless the owner provides the facility with a current health certificate from a licensed veterinarian.
| Vaccination | Required within |
|---|---|
| Rabies | Previous 1 year, unless it is an approved three-year vaccine certified by the vet |
| Distemper | Previous 1 year (same three-year exception) |
| Hepatitis | Previous 1 year (same three-year exception) |
| Parainfluenza | Previous 1 year (same three-year exception) |
| Parvovirus | Previous 1 year (same three-year exception) |
| Coronavirus | Previous 1 year (same three-year exception) |
| Bordetella | Previous 6 months |
Bordetella is the only one on that list running a six-month clock. A dog who was fully covered for last summer's trip can be out of compliance for this one with nothing else having changed. Ask your vet for the date, not just the certificate.
The county also requires boarding facilities to keep records for each dog for twelve months from the last day of use, so the paperwork is not a formality we can wave through. Separately, New York State requires a dog to be licensed and rabies-vaccinated from four months of age under Agriculture and Markets Law § 109.
One honest note on bordetella: it does not fully prevent kennel cough. What people call kennel cough is properly canine infectious respiratory disease complex, and the AVMA counts roughly eleven contributing pathogens. The vaccine is required, it helps, and it is not a force field. Any cough, any medical question — that is a conversation with your vet, not with us.
Confirm current requirements with your vet and with us before you travel. Codes change, and you do not want to find out at check-in.
Planning the drop-off and pickup around a flight
Book the meet and greet
First-visit evaluations run about 30 minutes. Do this well before travel week, not the day before — it is the step that has the least flexibility in it.
Check in between 2pm and 7pm
Usually the day before an early flight. Bring the health certificate and vaccination records with you.
Meals happen at 8am, 1pm and 6pm
Bring your own food, or we can provide it at $5 per day per dog. Custom schedules are available for puppies, seniors or medical diets.
Collect between 7am and 11am
If you land at night, plan on collecting the next morning rather than hoping for a late handover.
When boarding is not the right call
We would rather say this plainly than take a booking that goes badly. Quoting our own eligibility standard: a pet must be non-aggressive, comfortable in a kennel, able to socialize, and free from bite history. If your dog genuinely cannot settle in a kennel, a trusted sitter at home is a better trip for everyone, and the meet and greet exists partly so we can figure that out together before you have a boarding pass in hand.
The best boarding stay is the one you planned three weeks before the flight, not three days.
Adding a bath so they come home clean
Plenty of people book a bath onto the end of the stay, and it is a sensible add-on — you come home tired and your dog comes home smelling like a dog who has had a week of daycare. Grooming at this location runs 9am to 5pm, which sits outside the 7am-11am check-out window, so a bath on collection day changes your pickup timing. Tell us when you book and we will work the schedule out with you rather than surprising you on the day.
Bath and brush is priced by weight, $35 to $120. A full groom with a haircut is $70 to $155. If the stay is a long one and the coat is prone to matting, the full groom is often the better use of the money — a bath on a matted coat tightens the mats rather than fixing them.
Questions people actually ask
Can I drop off the morning of an early flight?
Boarding check-in is 2:00pm to 7:00pm, so for an early departure you check in the evening before and that night counts as a boarding night. It is also a gentler start for the dog than a rushed pre-dawn goodbye.
What if my flight home is delayed?
Call us as early as you can. We would much rather hear from you from the gate than wonder at 11am. Confirm how a delayed return is handled when you book so there are no surprises — do not rely on a blog post for that detail.
Is my dog in a kennel the whole time?
No. Every boarding stay includes a full day of daycare at no extra charge, and daycare runs 7am to 7pm seven days a week. The kennel is for sleeping and downtime.
My dog needs medication late at night. Can you manage it?
Medications that require timing outside 7am to 10pm are a limitation for us. Raise it before you book — for some dogs a veterinary boarding arrangement is simply the safer answer, and we will say so.
Can I board at your East Northport salon instead?
No. East Northport, at 16 Laurel Rd, is grooming only and is open Tuesday to Saturday. Daycare and overnight boarding are Ronkonkoma only. If you are coming from the Huntington side, plan the trip to Portion Road.
What is the difference between the $60 and $75 kennel?
Size. The regular kennel is a 4x4 private kennel at $60 a night; the premium is a larger 4x6 private kennel at $75 a night. Both are private, and both include the full day of daycare.
Get the stay on the calendar before the flight.
Book online, or call us to set up the first-visit meet and greet and confirm what your vet needs to send over.
See pricing & book ›835 Portion Rd, Ronkonkoma, NY 11779 · Open 7 days · Boarding check-in 2–7pm, check-out 7–11am
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