There are a number of cat cafes opening in cities around the world, and at some, the cats are available for adoption. So why not something similar for dogs?
Sarah Wolfgang, the owner of the Dog Cafe in Los Angeles thought the same thing and decided to open one that features rescue dogs available for adoption. It recently opened and is America’s first dog cafe.
Sarah is no stranger to dog rescue, having volunteered for 16 years at various animal shelters. “My dedication to helping dogs truly started when I began to volunteer and foster for a private shelter in Korea at the age of 14 to cope with the loss of my first childhood dog, a brilliant and loving poodle named Shadow,” she wrote on Indiegogo.
“The shelter was eventually scheduled to close and the 120 dogs would be put down if the shelter could not relocate.” Sarah and a group of volunteers eventually saved all 120 dogs by finding them homes.
Of course, as animals and food are not usually allowed to “co-habitate”, the cafe is divided into two parts – a place to drink and eat and a place to meet the dogs.
Just as at any regular cafe, there are coffee, teas and beverages to enjoy. In an extra nice touch, the coffee they sell is made by Grounds and Hounds Coffee Co., which donates 20% of all Southern California proceeds to local rescue partners.
But unlike virtually every other cafe, you can also enjoy interacting with adoptable dogs!
Sarah says that they “make every effort to find each dog his or her best home”.
“Each dog that we bring to our cafe, we make a promise to – to never, ever let them be in a shelter environment again. It’s a personal promise I make to every single dog that walks through our doors,” Sarah wrote on Facebook.
“Because of this, our adoption process is very lengthy. Our adoption application process alone usually takes a week, from there if everything seems perfect we do a home visit to ensure the adopters were honest with their application and to ensure the dogs are going into a safe environment.”
After this, they allow the adopter a 1 to 2 week trial adoption so as to really make sure the adoption takes. So far, Sarah says, they’ve all worked out! However, if they don’t, the dogs will always be welcomed back.
She said that the adoption process takes around a month and because of this, the cafe will never do same day adoption events.
“Despite the amount of applications we’ve received during our 3 month soft opening, we have only adopted out 3 dogs to 3 AMAZING homes.”
What a cool concept. I’m all for any venture that helps raise awareness about shelter dogs and helps them find loving homes.
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