East Northport or Ronkonkoma? Which Lillian Ruff Salon
Lillian Ruff Pet Spa
Lillian Ruff has two salons, and they are not the same salon twice. East Northport does grooming and only grooming, Tuesday through Saturday. Ronkonkoma is open seven days and also does daycare, boarding and retail. Which one you want depends less on where you live than on what you are actually asking for.
If you want your dog washed, brushed or clipped and back home at the end of the appointment, book East Northport at 16 Laurel Rd. If you need your dog looked after — for a day, a weekend, a week — that is Ronkonkoma.
The short version: East Northport is grooming only
The East Northport salon at 16 Laurel Rd is a grooming room. The published service list is short and deliberately so: bath and brush, and full groom with haircut. Both are priced by your dog's weight. Your dog comes in, gets worked on, and goes home with you at the end of the appointment.
What it does not have is a kennel, a daycare floor or a shop. There are no runs out the back. Nobody stays overnight. If you call asking whether we can keep your dog while you are at a wedding in the city, the honest answer is no — not at that address.
That is not a limitation we are apologizing for. A room that only does grooming is a quieter room. There is no daycare noise coming through the wall while a nervous eleven-year-old terrier is standing on the table. For a lot of dogs that matters more than the convenience of one-stop shopping.
It also means the day is built around appointments rather than around a building full of dogs coming and going. If your dog is the kind who arrives already wound up from the car park, that is worth something.
East Northport handles
- Bath and brush, priced by weight
- Full groom with haircut, priced by weight
- Prices published before you book, not quoted at the door
- Online booking, so you can see real availability
- Drop off and collect within one appointment — nothing stays overnight
East Northport does not do
- Daycare
- Overnight boarding
- Retail — no shop floor, no food or toys
- Sunday or Monday appointments
- Cats, creative coloring or show trims — at either salon
If what you want is not one of the two services above, ask when you book rather than assuming. It is a much shorter conversation than turning up expecting something that was never on the list.
What Ronkonkoma offers that 16 Laurel Rd does not
The Ronkonkoma salon at 835 Portion Rd is the bigger operation. Grooming, yes — but also daycare, overnight boarding and a retail area. It is open seven days a week, 9am to 5pm.
It is a short drive from the East Northport catchment, which is worth knowing if you have ever assumed the two locations were interchangeable. They are not, and the difference is entirely about what happens after the groom finishes.
| What you need | East Northport | Ronkonkoma |
|---|---|---|
| Grooming | Yes | Yes |
| Daycare | No | Yes |
| Overnight boarding | No | Yes |
| Retail | No | Yes |
| Open Sunday or Monday | No | Yes |
| Book online | Yes | Yes |
Pricing is published by dog weight rather than by location: bath and brush runs from $35 to $120 and a full groom with haircut from $70 to $155, smallest dogs to largest. You can see the bands before you commit on the grooming page. That is rarer around here than it should be — of eighteen Long Island salons audited from their own websites, only three published any pricing at all, and only seven let you book online.
Opening days: Tuesday to Saturday versus seven days
This is the single most common reason someone ends up at the wrong salon. East Northport runs five operating days a week — Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 9am to 5pm. It is closed Sunday and Monday.
Ronkonkoma is open all seven, same 9 to 5.
So if the only window you have is a Sunday, East Northport cannot help you no matter how close you live to Laurel Road. Ronkonkoma can. And if you work Monday to Friday, note that Saturday is the only weekend day East Northport is open at all — worth checking the booking page for it rather than assuming there is a Sunday fallback.
16 Laurel Rd sits on the same street as two other grooming businesses, which tells you something about how many dogs live in this hamlet. East Northport is an unincorporated hamlet in the Town of Huntington, ZIP 11731, with a population of about 20,000 across roughly five square miles. Larkfield Road is the hamlet's main commercial spine and its historic core — the name itself dates to 1868, when the railroad moved the Northport station and conductors started calling the stop east of Northport.
If you need grooming plus something else on the same visit
Trips where the groom is only half the errand are the clearest case for Ronkonkoma. A few that come up constantly:
If none of those describe you, there is no advantage to the longer drive. A bath and brush is a bath and brush.
Neither salon grooms cats, does creative coloring, or does show grooming. And no groomer can guarantee a medical outcome — if we find something on your dog's skin, in an ear, or under a mat that looks like it needs treatment, we will tell you what we saw and point you at your vet. We do not diagnose.
Choosing when either would work
Plenty of people in Northport, Elwood, Greenlawn, Commack, Fort Salonga and Dix Hills are genuinely within reach of both. If you have a real choice, here is how to make it in about thirty seconds.
Is it Sunday or Monday?
Then it is Ronkonkoma. Nothing else to weigh up.
Do you need anything besides the groom?
Boarding, daycare, a bag of food — Ronkonkoma. Just the groom — East Northport.
How does your dog handle a busy building?
Some dogs settle better in a room where nothing else is going on. If yours is anxious, reactive or getting on in years, East Northport is the quieter of the two.
Which one is closer?
If you got this far without a tiebreak, take the shorter drive. For most of the Huntington side of the catchment that is 16 Laurel Rd.
The wrong salon is not a small inconvenience — it is a dog in the car for a trip that was never going to work.
One thing that makes this easier than it used to be: you do not have to call to find out. Both salons take grooming bookings online through the booking page, so you can see what is actually available on the day you want before you pick a location.
Questions people actually ask
Can I board my dog at the East Northport salon?
No. East Northport is grooming only — no daycare and no overnight boarding. Boarding and daycare are at the Ronkonkoma salon, 835 Portion Rd, which is open seven days.
Is East Northport open on Sunday?
No. East Northport is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9am to 5pm, and closed Sunday and Monday. Ronkonkoma is open all seven days, 9am to 5pm.
What grooming services does East Northport actually list?
Two: bath and brush, and full groom with haircut, both banded by your dog's weight. If what you have in mind sits outside those two, ask when you book instead of assuming it is included — it saves everyone a wasted trip.
Do the two salons charge different prices for grooming?
Grooming is priced by your dog's weight, not by which building you walk into. Bath and brush ranges from $35 to $120 and a full groom with haircut from $70 to $155, depending on size. The bands are published on the grooming page so you can check yours before booking.
My dog is nervous. Does that change which one I should pick?
It can. East Northport is a grooming-only room with no daycare or boarding activity in the building, so there is less going on around your dog. That suits some anxious and older dogs. It is not a rule — plenty of nervous dogs do fine at either — but if noise is the trigger, it is a fair reason to choose Laurel Road.
Can I buy shampoo or food at 16 Laurel Rd?
No, there is no retail at East Northport. The retail area is at Ronkonkoma. If you want to pick something up on the same trip as the groom, book that side.
Just need the groom? Book Laurel Road.
Pick your day, see the price band for your dog's weight, and confirm it online — no phone tag.
See pricing & book ›16 Laurel Rd, East Northport, NY 11731 · Tue–Sat 9–5
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