LET THE DOGS OUT, NZ’s FIRST ADOPTABLE DOG CAFÉ TO OPEN IN CHRISTCHURCH
Source: stuff.co.nz (Extract) (Extract)
Posted: Oct 24, 2019
The country’s first adoptable dog café is coming to Christchurch, complete with all the puppachinos, pupcakes and dog fortune cookies hungry hounds can gobble up.
Man’s best friends will become coffee companions at The Barkery, where patrons can cuddle, play and dine with rescue dogs from Canterbury shelters and adopt those who need a home.
The Barkery, scheduled to open its doors to humans and dogs alike in mid-2020, was dreamt up by dog lovers Jack Penniket and Ally Mullord in March.
Penniket wanted to create a space where dogs could enjoy a tasty treat, and where his 2-year-old bearded collie Albie could play.
Their point of difference from the raft of dog-friendly dining options available throughout the country would be the dogs brought in daily from local shelters, including the Dogwatch Sanctuary Trust and Christchurch Bull Breed Rescue, for customers to meet.
Perspective pup parents who wanted to take a dog home would be referred to the shelter to start the adoption process, with the café offering a place to meet and get to know each other, he said.
In the early days there would be up to five adoptable dogs on site, with more to come if things went well, Penniket said.
“Our dream is to have an abundance of dogs everywhere but it comes down to availability and safety so we’ll start small and go from there.”
The Barkery would be the first adoptable dog café in New Zealand, and would operate with a similar model to Catnap Café, on Colombo St, by separating food preparation areas from dog zones with a quarantine door. Unlike Catnap, he hoped it would be possible to avoid charging customers to meet the animals or limiting interactions by time.
“There’s a big stigma about rescue dogs not being great in social environments so we want to be really careful about picking dogs who are happy to be there and show how amazing they can be.”
He hoped to increase the rate of rescue adoptions in Canterbury. Only 12 per cent of pet dogs in New Zealand are adopted from shelters, but an animal in need arrives at an SPCA centre every 30 minutes.
Diners would be welcome to bring their own pooches to play at The Barkery, but they would be kept segregated from the rescues for safety, he said. The café would cater for dogs of all descriptions, with dog-orientated food such as puppachinos – a frothy treat served in a small cup – pupcakes, dog fortune cookies and treats. For humans, cabinet food would be on offer.
Penniket was in the process of searching for a suitable venue and hoped to have a place secured and fit-out complete by June next year. A PledgeMe would open early next year. In the meantime, The Barkery planned to host pop-up events at local eateries to trial the model.
Other Christchurch cafés welcoming dogs include Fava, which has dog treats at the counter. Dogs are also welcome at Hello Sunday and C1 Espresso and visiting pups get the star treatment at Emporor’s New Clothes, which puts their portraits up on Facebook.
