Sunday Pickup: What Seven-Day Boarding Hours Buy You
Lillian Ruff Pet Spa
Most of the friction in boarding a dog is not the boarding. It is the edges — the drop-off on the day you leave, and the pickup on the day you get back. Our Ronkonkoma location runs seven days a week, so Saturday and Sunday are ordinary operating days here, with the same check-in and check-out windows as any Tuesday.
Boarding check-in is 2pm to 7pm and check-out is 7am to 11am, seven days a week, Sunday included. A Sunday-morning return means a Sunday-morning collection. A Sunday-afternoon departure means you can drop off the same day you go.
Open every day of the week, Sunday included
Ronkonkoma is our full-service location: grooming, doggy daycare, overnight boarding and the retail shop, all at 835 Portion Rd, open seven days a week. That matters for boarding specifically, because a kennel that closes for a day does not stop having your dog on that day — it just stops letting you collect. Where Sunday is a closed day, a Sunday return becomes a Monday collection, and you spend Sunday night without your dog for scheduling reasons rather than travel reasons.
The hours here are not one single block, so it is worth being precise about which window applies to what:
Those windows hold on a Sunday the same way they hold on a Wednesday. There is no reduced weekend schedule to work around.
Weekend departures and weekend returns both work
People tend to think about the pickup and forget the drop-off. Both ends of a boarding stay are weekend-shaped for most travelers, and both are covered.
Works cleanly
- Saturday or Sunday drop-off, 2pm to 7pm
- Saturday or Sunday collection, 7am to 11am
- Leaving Friday evening, home Sunday morning
- Leaving Sunday afternoon, home the following weekend
- An early flight out of Long Island MacArthur, which is in Ronkonkoma
Needs a plan
- Landing Sunday at 6pm — you will collect Monday morning
- A red-eye that gets you home mid-morning — cutting it close to 11am
- Wanting a groom on the collection morning
- Medications that need dosing outside 7am to 10pm
Better to say that plainly than let you find out at the counter. If your flight lands Sunday evening, the honest answer is that your dog stays the extra night and you collect first thing Monday. What seven-day hours buy you is a collection morning and a drop-off afternoon on every day of the week — not a 24-hour door.
Pickup runs 7am to 11am, Sunday included
Check-out is an early window: 7am to 11am, every day. For most people that works out well. Collect at 7:30 on a Sunday and your dog is home, fed and asleep on the floor before most of the day has happened. The thing to watch is the far end of it — 11am is the edge, so if your morning is going to be tight, plan for the earlier half of the window rather than the last twenty minutes of it.
Every boarding stay includes full-day daycare at no extra charge, so part of the stay is spent on the daycare floor rather than added to the invoice. Feeding runs at 8am, 1pm and 6pm, with custom schedules available for puppies, seniors or medical diets.
| What | Detail |
|---|---|
| Regular kennel | $60 per night, 4x4 private |
| Premium kennel | $75 per night, 4x6 larger private |
| Full-day daycare with every stay | Included, no extra charge |
| Food, if you would rather not pack it | $5 per day, per dog |
| First visit | 30-minute meet and greet / evaluation |
On eligibility, our own wording is worth quoting rather than paraphrasing: a pet must be “non-aggressive, comfortable in a kennel, able to socialize, and free from bite history.” That is what the meet and greet is for — thirty minutes, before you have a trip booked around it. It is a much better conversation to have on a quiet weekday than the afternoon before you fly.
Adding a bath before a Sunday collection
A dog coming off several nights away smells like several nights away. A bath and brush at the end of the stay is a sensible add-on, priced the same as any other — $35 to $120 depending on the dog's weight. A full groom with a haircut runs $70 to $155.
Timing is the part to think through, and the arithmetic is simple. Grooming runs 9am to 5pm. Boarding check-out runs 7am to 11am. Those two windows only overlap between 9 and 11 in the morning, which is a narrow slot for a bath and a collection on the same day.
Either way, say it when you book the boarding, not when you arrive. Grooming here is by appointment and books online at lillianruffpetspa.com/grooming — the morning of collection is not the moment to find out what is open.
Setting your dates when you book
Book the meet and greet first if you are new
Thirty minutes, before you commit to travel dates. It settles the kennel-comfort and socializing questions in advance.
Count nights, not days
Drop off Friday afternoon, collect Sunday morning, and you are booking two nights. Confirm how your dates are counted when you reserve so there is no surprise on the invoice.
Get the vaccination paperwork sorted early
Suffolk County sets the requirement, not the salon, and the paperwork comes from your vet. See the warning below — the six-month clock catches people out.
Flag food, medication and grooming together
Own food or ours at $5 a day, a dosing schedule, a bath before pickup — easier to arrange once, up front.
Pick your collection morning deliberately
7am to 11am, any day. If your travel lands you home after that window, book the extra night rather than hoping.
Suffolk County Code § 302-13 requires a current health certificate from a licensed veterinarian before a dog can be accepted at a boarding kennel: rabies, distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza, parvovirus and coronavirus within the previous year (unless it is an approved three-year vaccine certified by the vet) — and bordetella within the previous six months. That bordetella window is the one owners most often have lapsed without realizing, because everything else runs on an annual rhythm they already track. If you are leaving on a Saturday and your vet's office is closed for the weekend, a lapsed bordetella found on Friday afternoon is a genuine problem. Check it weeks out, and confirm current requirements with both your vet and the salon.
The bordetella date is the one worth writing on the calendar. Everything else is annual; that one is not.
Our East Northport salon at 16 Laurel Rd is grooming only, Tuesday through Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday — no boarding or daycare there. If you are in East Northport, Commack, Greenlawn or Northport and need overnight boarding, Ronkonkoma is the location that does it: a short drive, open every day. Long Island MacArthur Airport is in Ronkonkoma, which suits an early departure, and the Ronkonkoma LIRR station is a major Main Line commuter and park-and-ride hub if you are traveling by train.
Worth knowing while you are at the vet: bordetella does not fully prevent kennel cough. What people call kennel cough is properly canine infectious respiratory disease complex, with roughly eleven contributing pathogens per the AVMA. The vaccine is required and it helps — it is just not a guarantee, and it is fair to know that going in rather than after.
Questions people actually ask
Can I really pick up on a Sunday?
Yes. Check-out runs 7am to 11am seven days a week, Sunday included. The location is open every day, so Sunday is not a special arrangement — it is a normal collection morning.
What if I get home Sunday evening instead of Sunday morning?
Then you book through Sunday night and collect Monday between 7am and 11am. Seven-day hours give you a collection window every morning, not an all-hours door — so book the extra night deliberately rather than arriving at 8pm.
Can I drop off on a Sunday too?
Yes — check-in is 2pm to 7pm, every day of the week. A Sunday-afternoon drop-off before a Monday-morning departure works fine.
Is daycare charged on top of boarding?
No. Every boarding stay includes full-day daycare at no extra charge.
Do I have to bring my own food?
Bringing your own avoids a diet change on top of a new environment, which is why most people do it. If you would rather not pack it, food is $5 per day per dog.
My dog needs medication — is that a problem?
Usually not. The one limitation to raise up front is timing: doses needed outside 7am to 10pm are a constraint, so tell us the schedule when you book rather than at drop-off.
Pick your collection morning, any day of the week.
Book online and tell us about food, medication or a bath before pickup.
See pricing & book ›835 Portion Rd, Ronkonkoma, NY 11779 · Boarding check-in 2–7pm, check-out 7–11am, seven days
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