BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jack the golden doodle loves going to the dog park to play with his sister Nala, but the aftermath isn't always so fun for his humans.
"He would get muddy and everything, and then it would just turn into a 3 hour process with taking him for a bath, it was just a disaster," Megan Sitarek told 2 On Your Side. So she and her fiance, Steve Morlock, are building a place where dogs can play, and their parents can relax.
"One day, we were just like, 'I wish there was a place that we could go that was indoors, so that we could go in the middle of the winter when it was storming, or when it was raining in the spring,'" Megan said.
Now under construction at 4939 Genesee Street near Transit, Barkology will be Buffalo's first and only indoor, outdoor, dog park and bar. The turf in the outdooor area went in last week, but even though it's not quite ready for customers yet, Daybreak's Lauren Hall brought her furry friend, Gucci, for a little pup-sized sneak peak.
One of the top questions Sitarek and Morlock have been getting is: do you have to have a dog to go?
"You do not! We want everyone to come, everyone to enjoy," Sitarek said. "Even if you just want to come for a beer or a bite to eat. It's for everyone."
The dog-park-plus-bar concept is already popular in the south, where most are outdoor attractions only. At Barkology, there will be a doggy daycare during the day, with the bar open nights and weekends.
Sitarek and Morlock have been working to bring it to life in Western New York for more than two years.
"We were supposed to sort of open last February, and then covid hit so we completely stopped it," Sitarek said. "Then last summer, we got back into it when we couldn't take our dogs anywhere."
Barkology is tentatively set to open April 17th, "pawfect" timing for anyone who has grown especially attached to their pooch in the pandemic.
"There's days when you work all day at home or at the office, and your dog's home, and then you want to go out for a drink with your friends, and then they're home again all night," Sitarek said. "So it's a place where you can just come and bring your dog and have fun with your friends."