This one is for the dogs....

Cone Head

Okay folks,
I know I have been absent from my blog for a bit and there are several reasons why. Tonight though is a story that I feel is quite unique to my time in Korea. This is a saga that has gone on for well over a week and I feel compelled to tell the story nearly in its entirety now that success has been achieved.
There were whispers of these things called dog cafes amongst many of our friends and several blogs. So four of us adventurers trekked out on Halloween weekend in search of this mysterious place called Bau House. So off we go. Bus to Seoul on a Friday night. (check) Look for an Italian restaurant right in front of us that is worthy of an entire other blog post. (check) Get on the Gagnam subway line...go 17 stops. (That is a lot of stops folks) Out to some university area I have never been to in the dark. Cool...looking for a dog cafe on the second floor of some random building...cool. 3 hours later not finding the cafe and having made an huge loop of a strange area... not quite as cool. Taking the bus home after midnight...not quite as cool. Not seeing any dogs in this mysterious dog cafe. SUPER not cool. Defeated
Chapter 2: Today
Step one go to church followed by the now routine Dos Tacos fix in Gagnam (check). Meet up with friends in the area where millions of people pass by (check). Two of us dare to trek out the 17 subway stops in search of this cafe again (check) and with new directions and daylight we have SUCCESS!

Sarah got all the calm ones

"Bubba"

Now to the explanation of what this is. First NO this is not a place where you eat dog. Come on people would I ever? I mean really! You cannot even buy human food in here. You go up three flights of stares into an open area set off by a pet gate. (first clue you are in the right place) When you walk through the gate you are greeted by some nice folks and lots of dogs of every shape and size. More varieties than in all of Korea. This is what you do. To be allowed to sit there for any amount of time you purchase a beverage. They have teas, coffees, milkshakes, everything. Then you are free to pet and socialize with all of the dogs around. You can even bring your own dog for a small fee per half hour. You can choose to buy a variety of healthy dog treats for your new friends from a display wall and just sit amongst canine companionship. I believe some are rescue dogs, some are dogs that are left by owners who are away, but all are clean and brushed and at various times different dogs come out to play so they don't get overwhelmed or overfed by everyone. I would say the only tough part was I didn't know any of there names so Sarah and I just made up names. Hence Cone Head in the picture above and Bubba who came and sat right next to me as soon as I got there. The place is really really clean as caretakers are constantly and I mean constantly walking around with mops and cleaning items of all sorts. I also watched very carefully how they handled any dogs that looked like they were going to have "words" with one another. They used very safe and humane ways of handling them and often one or the other would just be sent out of the play room for awhile so I, as a dog owner was very impressed. Now trust me when I tell you that I did NOT actively invite Cone Head to come sit on our table or others that jumped up in our booth. They do like the cookies and they like the attention and sometimes we had several gathered around us. It was just so good to have the unconditional love even for a little while. If you are not a dog fan, then sure it isn't a place for you to go. For me, I would totally go back and probably will. It is a popular place and for those of us who need a puppy "fix" it was so awesome. So I do want to say a big thanks to Sarah for getting me lost and found in this canine adventure. It was so so so worth it! Enjoy the photos here and on facebook.

Food Hogs Surveying Tables

Let sleeping dogs lay...wherever

Blessings to all of you my friends.