Brad Bettridge, the owner of Hounds Town Brookhaven, swipes his tablet with a smile.
He pulls up photos of pups — fast asleep at home on their dog beds.
“These are our dogs after a day of daycare,” he said. “Our customers call it the Hounds Town hangover.”
He scrolls to a recent post in his location’s Facebook group, showing a snoozing dog.
“Day 1, Day 2 … and the hangover continues,” the owner wrote.
That’s how it goes among the “townies.”
“At Hounds Town, we just let dogs be dogs — bring them into that natural pack environment rather than just hanging out by themselves,” said Bettridge, who opened his franchise location in 2024 at 2 Old Dock Road in Yaphank, just south of the Long Island Expressway.
The rise of businesses like Hounds Town reflects a broader shift in American households.
Roughly 90 million U.S. homes now have a dog — up from about 65 million in 2000, according to the American Pet Products Association. That surge has fueled demand for daycare and boarding businesses built around socialization and group play, where dogs can interact and burn off energy while their owners are at work.
At Hounds Town, there are no toys to fight over in the spacious playrooms and no humans constantly entertaining the dogs.
Again, just dogs being dogs. And the townies are loving it.
“Business is good,” Bettridge said.
How it happened
Bettridge didn’t originally plan on running a dog boarding and daycare.
The Hauppauge resident, a Mount Sinai High School graduate, spent about 15 years practicing law — first as an Assistant District Attorney in Suffolk County, then as a litigation attorney.
Eventually, he said, he was looking for something different.
He wanted to follow a passion. That meant working with golf, or dogs. “But no one’s going to pay me to teach them about golf,” he said with a laugh.
The idea began to germinate during a trip to Florida.
Bettridge said he hated boarding his dogs at traditional boarding facilities when traveling. His wife suggested trying a place one of her coworkers used: Hounds Town.
What he saw immediately clicked.
“There were no cages. The dogs were just running around having fun,” he said.
When he signed up his own dogs for a stay, he noticed something else.
“I saw a sign saying ‘Franchises Available,’” Bettridge recalled. “I said, that’s what I want to do.”
Hounds Town Brookhaven officially opened for business on Nov. 9, 2024.
Today, Bettridge employs eight people and shares his days with dozens of dogs instead of courtrooms.
“It’s a lot more fun hanging out with dogs than lawyers,” he said.
Denise Sciangula of Medford, who’s rottweiler Dakota has been going to Hounds Town Brookhaven since it opened, told Greater Long Island her pup is “obsessed with the place.”
“On the mornings that she goes, from the second I say ‘wanna go to Hounds Town?’ she jets down the stairs and waits by the front door,” she said. “I had been a customer of other [daycare] locations — sometimes multiple at once — but the care, attentiveness and cleanliness is what made me switch to Brookhaven full time.”
If you go
Hounds Town Brookhaven operates around a simple concept: pack play.
Dogs spend the day socializing in group playrooms designed around size and temperament — a setup meant to mimic the natural pack environment dogs experience in the wild.
The Yaphank facility features five indoor playrooms, with dogs split up by size and energy level, and an outdoor area used when weather allows.
For more photos, follow Hounds Town Brookhaven on Facebook
Prior to attending daycare and/or boarding, all dogs must first pass a free temperament evaluation and show no signs of aggression toward staff or other dogs. They must also have current rabies, distemper and bordetella vaccinations.
Females must be spayed by six months and males neutered by one year.
Once accepted, each dog receives a free day of daycare and can attend without reservations (reservations are required for overnight boarding only).
Bettridge and the rest of the staff also host in-store events, doggie birthdays and PAWty days, such as the Valentine’s Day party, Leaf-A-Palooza, where the dogs got to romp in a courtyard full of leaves, and the Mardi Gras bash, to name a few.
All the pups at Hounds Town Brookhaven got to partake in this year’s Mardi Gras PAWty. (courtesy)
“The parties are what really make it such a great place and keep it fun,” Sciangula said. “There’s always new and creative themes. I consider my dog my child since I don’t have human ones, and being able to get Halloween costume pics, Easter bunny pics, Santa pics, etc., and sharing them on social media like my friends do with their own children is truly special.”
The boarding dogs join the same daytime playgroups, spending most of their stay in Yaphank socializing.
“Our boarding dogs are out playing for about 11 hours a day,” Bettridge said.
They only go into their rooms to eat and sleep overnight.
“One thing I especially appreciate is that Dakota always comes home just as clean as when I dropped her off, even on days she isn’t there for grooming,” Sciangula added.
“It gives me real peace of mind knowing she’s in such a caring and well-maintained environment.”
You can book your pup’s free evaluation at Hounds Town Brookhaven through the website or by calling 631-775-0250.
A couple of ‘townies’ from Hounds Town Brookhaven during Leaf-A-Palooza in the fall. (courtesy photos)
Hounds Town Brookhaven owner Brad Bettridge with Willow, a female bulldog and doggy daycare regular. (Credit: GLI/Mike White)
