Love Dogs & Coffee? The Barkery combines both

The Barkery is New Zealand’s first adoptable dog café. The aim is to help rescue dogs find their forever homes. Furthermore it will also allow you to visit with your canine friend and get your coffee hit. The Barkery will be a social space to foster connections between people and local rescue dogs.

Share My Pet believes in connecting Kiwi communities via the love of pets. Recently we had a chance to conversate with Ally and Jack. They are the Christchurch based dynamic duo of the dog world -founders of The Barkery.

We had an informal chat about dogs, dreams, and what it’s like to be creating New Zealand’s first dog adoption café.

The Barkery will lead the way for getting your caffeine and dog fix in one place. In addition to being able to meet and greet dogs available for adoption, it will also have a separate dog-friendly corner at the café. The cafe will be a great place for those individuals who want to spend time rescue dogs.

Like a Dog with Two Tails

Founders of The Barkery, Ally and Jack, are co-workers with a dream to create something special – a place where second chance dogs can play, make new human friends, and hopefully find their furever home. Ally and Jack are very happy at the steady progress their project is making.

The concept of cat cafes in already well established in New Zealand. Therefore, Ally and Jack decided to start something similar for canines in NZ. Both are passionate about dogs and want to create something that will leave a positive paw-print in their community. The pair believe in establishing something that will benefit both animals, people and the wider community. And hopefully, an avenue to help rescue dogs find their fur-ever homes.

Community collaboration and the sharing of expert knowledge surrounding dogs have been a key factor in turning a dream into reality. In their very early planning phase, Ally and Jack reached out to Christchurch animal welfare groups and received a heartwarming response and bucketloads of support. They have developed an amazing working relationship with The Dogwatch Sanctuary and Christchurch Bullbreed Rescue. The canines at the café will be living in either of these two center’s. They are looked after, fostered, trained, and temperament tested at the shelters. The Barkery offers an opportunity for dogs to visit the café for day outings to meet & greet, play, and have some fun. Prospective new owners, animal lovers, and those in need of a cuddle with a canine are all welcome to visit the café too.

How will it Work?

The Barkery will be completely pet-centric, meaning that it’s all about the dogs. The experts at the rescue centres will decide which dogs will visit the café. Therefore the number of dogs will vary each day. As this is part of each dog’s rehabilitation journey, the experience needs to be positive for each dog involved. Happy, confident dogs who enjoy the extra attention and cuddles will be visiting daily. Those that are shy and need a little longer to warm up and enjoy lots of pats may be visited directly at the shelter.

“The aim is to provide shelter dogs with an opportunity to get further socialisation, love and visibility to their forever homes”.

What is the Drive Behind The Barkery?

The aim of The Barkery is to boost successful adoption rates in Christchurch and help rescue dogs. Along with raising awareness for the amazing and tireless work of those involved with the rescue center’s. Rescue Centre’s are totally voluntary run, and public donations are what keeps them going. Jack and Ally are passionate about increasing the foot traffic to animal shelters. For them, every happy-ever-after created for one of the rescue dogs is a complete win.

Ally and Jack are also advocates for the health benefits of being around pets and animals. Our furry companions bring laughter and joy into our lives. There is a lot of research to prove how much pets reduce our stress, lower blood pressure, and bring about feelings of happiness. The importance of our mental and physical health is well known. And thankfully there is a ton of evidence to prove that animals and pets play a huge role in providing us with these feel-good vibes.

Dreaming big, eventually, Jack and Ally would like to see The Barkery expand to every city in New Zealand. Helping rescue dogs find their furever homes is their dream. How incredible would this be!

Your help is important – this is what you can do

To keep up to date with all progress and events follow The Barkery on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thebarkerychch/

Share events with your friends and local dog groups and join in the fun.

Support the centres involved. Offer your time and love as a volunteer or foster an animal in need. Give a donation and help to spread the word about the amazing work they do. For more information check out Christchurch Bullbreed Rescue and Dog Watch Sanctuary Trust

Sign up to The Barkery mailchimp list and receive all latest news and information .

What’s next?

The Barkery hopes to be opening their doors in spring of 2021. Currently Ally and Jack are waiting on building consents, having found their ideal location to build on. It should be noted a PledgeMe campaign is planned in the near future to raise some funds. Keep your eyes peeled!

“Petting, scratching and cuddling a dog could be as soothing to the mind and heart as deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer.”

So if you love the concept of pet friendly cafés please read about our visits to the following;

Neko Ngeru Cat Café in Wellington

Catnap Café -Christchurch

Share My Pet– helping to build a healthy community of animal lovers and pet owners in New Zealand. Pet sharing is a wonderful way to give your pet additional companionship, love, and care. As someone who doesn’t own a pet, you can now join our pet sharing community and be an important part of a pet’s life. It’s a win/win situation for everyone.

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