Dog Grooming for Coram and Middle Island Dog Owners
Lillian Ruff Pet Spa
If you live in Coram or Middle Island and you are weighing up a trip to our Ronkonkoma salon, here is the useful version: what the visit actually gets you, the paperwork Suffolk County genuinely requires before a boarding stay, and the days when you can skip the haircut entirely and just book a bath.
We are at 835 Portion Rd in Ronkonkoma, a hamlet in Suffolk County, open seven days a week. Grooming runs 9am to 5pm. The same building holds doggy daycare, overnight boarding and a retail shop, so one trip can cover more than one errand instead of turning into three separate ones.
A muddy dog almost always needs a bath and brush, not a haircut. Bath and brush is $35 to $120 depending on your dog's weight. A full groom with a haircut is $70 to $155. Both book online at lillianruffpetspa.com/grooming.
Before you head to an off-leash dog run
We get asked about dog runs constantly, and the honest answer is that we cannot tell you what your own town asks for, because we have not checked it. A groomer repeating half-remembered permit conditions is exactly how somebody ends up loading the car and then turning around at the gate. Call your own town's parks department or animal shelter office first, and get whatever they require in hand before the first visit rather than at the entrance.
The one set of rules we know first-hand, because our other salon is on Laurel Road: the Town of Huntington's off-leash run is at the Huntington Animal Shelter, 106 Deposit Road, East Northport, open Monday to Friday 8am–6pm and weekends 9am–4pm. The permit is free, but it requires Huntington residency, a licensed dog, current rabies, spay or neuter, a minimum age of four months, and no more than two dogs per visit. That is Huntington's arrangement and Huntington's alone — we mention it only to show how much a permit office can ask for, not as a guide to anywhere else.
What we can tell you with certainty is the statewide floor. Under New York Agriculture and Markets Law § 109, a dog must be licensed and vaccinated against rabies from four months of age. That is the document most often out of date, and it is the one permit offices, boarding kennels and daycares across the state will ask to see.
From a muddy afternoon to a clean dog
The most common mistake we see is booking a full groom because the dog is filthy. Dirt is not a reason to cut hair. If the coat underneath is sound and the length still suits you, a bath and brush does the job for less money and less time on the table.
A bath and brush is enough when
- The dog is muddy, sandy or smells like pond water
- The coat brushes through to the skin without catching
- You are happy with the current length
- It is a shedding coat and you want the loose undercoat out
Ask for the full groom when
- The comb stops before it reaches the skin
- The face, feet or sanitary areas have grown in
- Mats have formed behind the ears, in the armpits or on the back legs
- You have skipped two or three appointments in a row
If the coat is matted tight to the skin, we will tell you honestly on arrival that brushing it out would hurt more than clipping it off, and we will talk it through with you before anything happens. Nobody enjoys the short haircut conversation, but it beats an hour of a dog being dragged at by a comb.
Planning the visit
Decide bath or haircut
Run a comb through the thickest part of the coat — usually behind the ears or the back legs. If it reaches skin, book the bath and brush.
Book online
Appointments go through lillianruffpetspa.com/grooming, where the pricing and the open times are both visible before you commit.
Tell us what the coat has been through
Swimming, mud, a skipped few months, a new medication, a sore spot you have noticed. It changes how we approach the bath.
Say if you want more than grooming
If daycare or a boarding stay should sit alongside the appointment, mention it when you book so the timing can be arranged properly.
Ticks, and why the bath is where they turn up
Suffolk County owners know the drill, but the numbers are worth having in front of you. The New York State Department of Health splits its deer tick surveillance into two fixed windows: nymphs from May to September, and adults from October to December. Both matter, for different reasons.
In Suffolk County in 2025, nymph density measured 61.04 ticks per 1,000 square meters, with 26.6% of them carrying Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme bacterium. Among adult ticks collected between October and December 2025, 52.8% tested positive — roughly double the nymph rate. Suffolk is not the state's worst county for tick density; it ranked eighth for nymphs in 2025. It does, however, lead New York in raw Lyme case count, with 3,152 cases recorded in 2024.
A wet coat parted down to the skin is the best look at your dog anyone gets. If we find something attached, we will show you and tell you where it was. We are groomers, not veterinarians — we do not diagnose anything and we do not treat anything. Anything that looks like more than dirt goes to your vet.
Bordetella vaccination does not fully prevent kennel cough. What is commonly called kennel cough is canine infectious respiratory disease complex, and the AVMA associates roughly eleven pathogens with it. Vaccinating lowers risk; it does not remove it.
Daycare on the days a walk is not happening
Daycare runs seven days a week, 7am to 7pm, which is a wider window than the grooming salon keeps. It is the practical option on a working day when the weather has ruled out anything outdoors.
| Option | Price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Full day, 4+ hours | $35 | Standard rate |
| Half day, under 4 hours | $30 | Standard rate |
| 5-day pass | $162.50 | Saves $12.50 |
| 10-day pass | $300 | Saves $50 |
| 20-day pass | $550 | Saves $150 |
Passes do not expire, but they are non-refundable, so buy the size you will realistically use. Sales tax of 8.75% applies. Pickup after 7pm is $5 per 15 minutes. If you would rather not pack food, we can provide it at $5 per day per dog.
Daycare and boarding both begin with a 30-minute meet and greet, a first-visit evaluation. That is where play style gets sorted out honestly — some dogs love a busy room and some do not, and it is better to find that out in half an hour than at the end of a full day.
The boarding paperwork people get caught by
This is the part worth reading twice, because it is county law rather than a house rule. Suffolk County Code § 302-13 governs boarding kennels. No dog may be accepted for boarding unless the owner supplies the facility with a current health certificate from a licensed veterinarian.
| Vaccination | Required within |
|---|---|
| Rabies, distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza, parvovirus, coronavirus | The previous one year — unless it is an approved three-year vaccine certified by the veterinarian |
| Bordetella | The previous six months |
That six-month bordetella clock is the single most useful line on this page. Everything else runs on an annual cycle that lines up with your dog's yearly vet visit, so it tends to stay current by accident. Bordetella does not. It lapses quietly halfway between check-ups, and people discover it the week they are trying to book a stay. Check the date on the certificate now, not the night before. Confirm current requirements with your vet and with us — rules change, and we would rather you arrive covered.
Boarding is $60 a night for a regular 4x4 private kennel and $75 for a premium 4x6. Every stay includes a full day of daycare at no extra charge. Meals go out at 8am, 1pm and 6pm, and custom schedules are available for puppies, seniors and medical diets. Check-in is 2pm to 7pm and check-out is 7am to 11am. One limitation to flag early: medications that must be given outside 7am to 10pm are outside what we can reliably cover.
On eligibility, the standard is stated plainly on our boarding page: "Pet must be non-aggressive, comfortable in a kennel, able to socialize, and free from bite history." If that describes your dog, the meet and greet is the next step. If it does not, say so when you call and we will tell you straight whether we are the right fit.
Check the bordetella date today. It is the one that lapses without telling anybody.
What we do not do
If you need hand-stripping for a wire coat, or show preparation, we are not the right salon, and we would rather tell you before you book than after.
835 Portion Rd is the full-service location: grooming, daycare, boarding and the shop under one roof, open seven days. If you are coming in from Coram or Middle Island, the sensible booking is a bath and brush alongside a daycare day, so one trip covers both instead of two.
Questions people actually ask
Do I need a permit or a health certificate to book grooming?
The health certificate rule in Suffolk County Code § 302-13 is written for boarding kennels, not for a grooming appointment. Separately, New York State does not license or register pet groomers at all, and there is no state inspection regime for grooming, daycare or boarding. What we ask for at a grooming appointment is its own question — call us and we will tell you before you come.
My dog is just muddy. Is a bath enough?
Usually, yes. Book the bath and brush, $35 to $120 by weight. Save the full groom for when the length actually needs changing or the comb is catching. You will spend less and your dog will spend less time on the table.
How do I book?
Online at lillianruffpetspa.com/grooming. The booking page shows what is genuinely open, so you can pick a time that fits your schedule rather than guessing at one.
Can my dog board and be groomed on the same visit?
Ask us when you book. The two run on different clocks — grooming is 9am to 5pm, while boarding check-in is 2pm to 7pm and check-out 7am to 11am — so mention both up front and we will tell you what fits together.
What if my dog's bordetella has lapsed?
Then boarding has to wait until your vet updates it and issues a current certificate. That is county law, not our preference. Grooming and daycare are separate questions — call us and we will tell you exactly what we need for each.
Do you take cats?
No. Dogs only.
Book the bath, check the bordetella date.
Pick a time online, tell us what the coat has been through, and we will tell you honestly whether it needs a haircut or just a wash.
See pricing & book ›835 Portion Rd, Ronkonkoma, NY 11779 · Open 7 days, 9–5
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