On Sunday, ABC11 got a sneak peak of West Street Dog the week before opening Monday, Aug. 9.
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"We did everything we could with the decor to kind of make you feel like you're out in a yard and looking into a bar from the outside," co-owner Laura Muntel said.
The co-owner says the idea of the pet-social bar has been in the works for three years, but was put on pause due to the pandemic. Now, they're officially ready to open up.
West Street Dog is separated into two sections so that dogs can roam free in a playground and artificial turf on one side; while the other is a leashed area.
"We made it where the grass has a drain underneath it," Muntel said. "So you can easily clean it, it flushes out and doesn't hold the smell."
Downtown Raleigh residents are already giving feedback, and Muntel says it has all been good, "They're just so excited to have something that they can bring their dog to and just hang out, have a beer and chill."
Before dogs can go into the exclusive, indoor, air-conditioned play area, they must buy a membership. To get one, they'll need to do a meet and greet, show proof of vaccinations and be spayed and neutered if they're older than six months old.
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"We want to make sure everyone's vaccinated," Muntel said. "Dogs need vaccines too. Rabies is a requirement in the state so we want to make sure everybody's up to date on that. And the bordetella, which is the dog cough vaccine, and the distemper. So, those are really highly contagious illnesses so we just want to make sure everybody's good and then we also want them to be spay and neutered so we don't want any hanky panky," she added, laughing.
Charlie McGoogan and his wife took their dog, Lucy, to a meet and greet Sunday.
"This will be a great option because like I said, she's also hairy and gets pretty hot so, you know, our options in the summer are something indoors or something early in the morning or late at night so this is a great, great opportunity," McGoogan said.
There's also daycare and boarding on site.
To set up a meet and greet, dog owners can email weststreetdog@gmail.com.