The Dog Watch Cafe is located in beautiful Stonington Borough, directly overlooking Dodson Boatyard. We offer a casual seaside atmosphere perfect for kicking back with good friends and family. Live music and entertainment on the weekends and special events throughout the year guarantees a great time. Spectacular harbor sunsets are on the house!

Dog watch, in marine or naval terminology, is a watch, a period of work duty or a work shift, between 1600 and 2000 (4 p.m. and 8 p.m.). It is split into two, first and last dog watches. Compared to a normal watch, each of these dog watches is curtailed (cur-tailed).

Family owned: Clay Burkhalter, Wendy and Dave Eck

The name may have come from the fact that someone tasked with one of these 'half' watches was said to be 'dodging the watch', taking or standing the 'dodge watch'. This became shortened to 'dog watch'. An alternative folk etymology is that those sleeping get only 'dog sleep' in this watch.

The reason behind this watch's existence is that in order for the crew to rotate through all thewatches it was necessary to split one of the watches in half. This allowedthe sailors to stand different watches instead of one team being forced to stand the mid-watch every night. The choice of time also allows both watches, if there are only two, to eat an evening meal at about the traditional time.