It was around six months ago that I initially wrote about the arrival of Hounds & Hops to Seneca One Tower. At the time, owners Jarod Miller and Bob Manley had formulated a plan to create an uber-dog-friendly mecca in the heart of downtown, including the buildout of an outdoor dog park facility under the 190 overpass along Exchange Street. Along with the outdoor features and amenities, there would be indoor grooming and other conveniences for both pups and their owners (including craft beer). Phase 1 of this highly anticipated business has been launched. Now, it’s time for Phase 2.
As of late, there has been a call for dog daycare services at Hounds & Hops, to go along with all of the other canine-centric features. I spoke to Jarod and Bob about Hounds & Hops’ newest undertaking, to get a better handle on what’s to come. Here’s what they had to say:
“Phase 2 – the dog daycare – will be in a 6000 square foot space on the other side of the building,” they explained. “It’s the perfect time to be doing this. Companies are trying to get people to come back downtown to work, and people don’t want to leave their dogs at home, especially since the pandemic, because a lot of dogs aren’t use to being alone during the day. We will help to bring people back to the office, because they can bring their dogs to work with them. We will have an active dog daycare for small dogs, big dogs, and even challenge dogs because we will have Bark Rangers who will be playing with them and even helping to train them. The goal of the challenge dogs will be for them to graduate, so that they can be with the ‘general population.’ Our groomer Christina Tredo is considered the resident dog whisperer. We certify all of our employees through a third party for safety standards and overall attention to detail. We interviewed 40 groomers to find the people that really love dogs, because we love dogs. Currently we have two groomers and we’re almost ready to hire a third. And for people that want to come downtown to catch a concert or go to lunch, they can drop their dogs off with our groomers, or with our Bark Rangers, grab a beer at our beer store, head to their destination, and feel comfortable that their dogs will be taken care of. Or they can stick around and enjoy the fun!
“Douglas Development has been approved for the outdoor dog park under the 190, which will be 5000 square feet of space for dogs to run around. We will have 30,000 square feet of indoor space to work with as well. We will have dog training events, a pet shop for products and merch, ball pits, splash pads, twirly slides… there’s so much space to work with. Once it’s all set up, this might just be the largest of its kind in the country. It will be like a Wonka Land for the dogs, and their owners.
“Phase 3 will be the indoor dog park and the beer garden, and then Phase 4 will be the dog boarding program, with training. We are going to scale this pretty quickly. Our motto is ‘Make you best friend better one beer at a time.’ We will become a downtown destination, not just for dog owners, but for anyone that loves animals and wants to be social. Relatively speaking, Buffalo has not been very dog friendly to date. Now we’re going to turn downtown into a field of dreams.
“We are also happy to be working with the City’s Animal Shelter. We have had a number of adoption events. Every Wednesday we bring one dog to the Seneca One building. That dog gets groomed for free, and then we have a Yappy Hour, which is like a meet and greet from 4pm to 6pm. Over the course of eight weeks we have had excellent successes, with some dogs being adopted within the first five minutes. We’re kind of like agents for the dogs.
“At this point, we’re asking people to fill out a dog daycare survey to collect data. The responses have been coming back like gangbusters. We’re hoping that people tell us what they envision, and what they hope for. We’re here to provide people and their dogs with a top of the line experience that is second to none.”
Hounds & Hops Survey – Dog Day Care at Seneca One
Our one-of-a-kind full service canine campus is quickly taking shape at Seneca One and we need your feedback! In addition to our fun and popular Grooming & Bottle Shop, our next offering is top notch dog day care. Your input is greatly appreciated as we launch this new offering as well as other exciting services and amenities. Thank you for helping Buffalo redefine ‘Dog Friendly’!
Get connected: Hounds & Hops | Seneca One Tower | 1 Seneca Street, Buffalo, NY | (716) 277-8875 | Instagram | Full Service Canine Care and Craft Beer Social Destination
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