The Dog Cafe aims to be first of its kind in America

Los Angeles is home to many cafes, including a few with outdoor seating where patrons can enjoy a cup of coffee with their dogs. This weekend, patrons at one Downtown location were able to enjoy a drink and play with some puppies looking for a permanent home. Call it a “pup-up” cafe.

The Dog Café was situated in downtown Los Angeles for only four days. Patrons could buy their coffee outside from coffee trucks and then enjoy it inside while playing with the dogs. Admission cost $15 at the door, but there was also the option to buy in advance at the cafe’s Indiegogo page and even schedule your guaranteed playtime.

Aside from getting dogs — provided by the local shelter Wags and Walks — adopted, the goal -this weekend was to raise enough money to make the cafe a permanent fixture. According to the cafe’s Indigogo page, the founders are trying to raise at least $200,000 to cover rent, renovations, furnishing and staffing. Thus far, they have raised $14,626.

The Dog Café is Sarah Wolfgang’s latest venture in volunteering with shelter dogs. She began helping to place dogs in foster and permanent homes in Korea, and she started her own animal relocation program for special needs animals before coming to America.

“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,” Wolfgang said on her Indigogo page.

The idea for the Dog Café is a generally simple one. More than 5,000 dogs were adopted last year in Los Angeles County. People tend to adopt the shelter dogs that have the most personality, or, at the very least, seem happy to see humans through a cage. Often the metal enclosure dampens the experience because neither the dogs nor potential adopters are comfortable. A pound or a shelter can be sometimes be an overwhelming environment with rows upon rows of caged dogs barking and yipping in chorus.

“After recently moving to the U.S., I realized there was a greater intake of dogs than there were adoptions,” Wolfgang wrote.

The Dog Café sets to change that. Wolfgang hopes to find homes for at least 104 dogs in the first year.

“I realized a dog café would be the perfect solution to giving these shelter dogs a second chance at a forever home,” she said on the website.

The Dog Café takes away the cages and allows the dogs and people to freely interact with each other. In this way, a dog’s personality can truly show without the impedance of a shelter environment, making them more likely to be adopted. On the other hand, even if your apartment does not allow dogs, the Dog Café provides an opportunity to spend time with a canine companion as an alternative to adopting one. It’s a win-win situation.

“I think it’s a neat concept,” said Amy Rotchford, a local resident who was walking by to check out the sounds of barking as she shopped in Downtown. “My husband and I have two rescue dogs right now and before them, our first German Shepherd was a rescue we got when he was 3 years old. And they have all been amazing, caring pets.”

Wolfgang checked with Los Angeles Department of Health to ensure the Dog Café was legal. According to Wolfgang, there shouldn’t be any problem as long as the area where the coffee is made and served is separate from the where the dogs are located.

Grounds and Hounds Coffee Co. supplies the caffeine for the Dog Café in addition to donating 20 percent of all of their profits to partner rescue operations. The dogs are from Wags and Walks, a rescue shelter located in West Los Angeles. They do not take in specific breeds or sizes, but rather handpick their dogs based on personality, according to their website.

There are a variety of options to donate to Wolfgang’s dream of opening a permanent Dog Café. A donation of $25 guarantees entrance and coffee for one day within the first month of opening while $75 allows the donator to drop-in up to eight times within the first year of opening. For dog enthusiasts, a donation of $500 gives them the opportunity to hold a private puppy party. The café provides the puppies for up to nine attendees and includes 12 drop-in opportunities.

The Dog Café is the first of its kind in the United States. Wolfgang hopes it can be an opportunity to give dogs that have been deemed “unadoptable” a second chance at finding a home. The cafe will remain a pop-up business until Wolfgang raises enough funds to make it a permanent business. The concept seems to have been well received by many dog-lovers.

“I think if I could play with the dog I would take it home because I would know he liked me and I like dogs,” said 7-year-old Dree Rotchford, who visited the cafe.

The pup-up was open on 838 South Los Angeles Blvd. on Jan. 22 to Jan. 25.