“Dogs in DC are a mix of their best friend and their child,” says Lyssa McEachern, District Dogs’ business-development manager. “People want to go everywhere in the city with them.”
Bark Social and Snouts & Stouts share a price point: about $365 for an annual membership, $40 or so for a monthly membership, and day passes that cost $10 on weekdays and $15 on weekends. Barkhaus is a bit less expensive: Yearly memberships are $250, monthly memberships $30, and day passes $10 every day of the week. Dog lovers without dogs can enter all three for free. All animals have to provide proof of vaccination.
Though Silverman and Kurtzman believed the dog-bar concept had a lot of potential, they felt its execution left much to be desired. In those early days, Kurtzman says, “most people would describe [the dog bar] as a dirt patch with an Airstream trailer or a shipping container or a shed serving canned beer, with plastic chairs that you could buy at Walmart for $2. No shade, no TVs, no wi-fi. It was very basic.
Though Silverman and Kurtzman’s plans predated Covid, Bark Social arrived at an opportune time: amid a pandemic-sparked puppy boom and months before the widespread availability of vaccines, when many people were desperate for safe outdoor places to socialize. The dog bar was a hit. A year after opening, Bark Social put its guest total at “more than 5,000 furry and human visitors” a week.
Thalia Eigen and Andy Donohoe said they come to the park “every two weeks or so—which is kind of a lot,” Eigen acknowledged, “for not having a dog.” During the pandemic, McEachern says, District Dogs saw a massive influx in reservations: Training skyrocketed from four or five classes a week to 20, daycare increased by 30 percent, grooming by 50 percent. As we now move, in fits and starts, toward a reopened world, new dog owners who have grown accustomed to working and playing with their pets at their side are loath to give up that intimacy.
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