Give some local love to this Colorado Springs dog bar

(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A dog bar in Colorado Springs is being recognized nation-wide as one of the best in the country. Pub Dog Colorado was nominated as part of USA Today’s 10 Best Dog Bars in America and to secure their spot, the business needs the southern Colorado community’s help.

“It’s their first time being nominated for Best Dog Bar in America, so this is a huge deal for them,” Alexea Veneracion, Director of Communications for Visit Colorado Springs, said. “We really want to get them in the top ten and we need all the community to support to make that happen.”

The business opened its doors in 2017 after Tara Downs was inspired following a trip to Europe where dogs are frequently spotted inside of restaurants.

Pub Dog up for 10 best dog bars in the U.S.

“They let dogs everywhere in Europe, I came home from that trip being like, ‘why can’t we do that?’ so that kind of started the ball and did a ton of research,” Downs said. “Then my dad, after I submitted to him about 65-page business plan, he said, ‘Okay, I’ll help you.'”

Fast forward to today, the business survived the pandemic, expanded its doors, and created lasting connections with regular customers. Downs shared that while her father is “no longer with us,” she still comes to work and feels him there in spirit.

The nomination took Downs by surprise, she recalled thinking the email was spam. Luckily, she did not disregard the message and expressed the impact this has on the business.

“We feel very honored because we don’t have money backing us like a lot of these other places do, like it’s just us,” Downs said. “We’re just trying to figure it out every day and do what we can and make it better and work on it and make our customers happy.”

There were a handful of customers when the doors opened for lunchtime on Tuesday, some were new, while others were regulars. James Hamill was immediately recognized by staff, he alongside his son’s dog Rocky, have been coming to the southern Colorado spot for the past four years.

“We come here, we try to come here twice a week, sometimes three times,” Hamill said. “He (Rocky) loves it here. I love it here. I love the food here. I love the refreshments.”

At twelve years old, Rocky was an older dog in the play area, and while he was not running laps with the puppies, he certainly enjoyed watching them. Years ago, this place helped him to gain more socialization with other dogs.

“Years ago, they didn’t have the field house, they just had this area here, it was great,” Hamill explained. “He’s a little older now, but he loved all the other dogs to socialize with, and it helped his socialization in over a year. After about a year, he was even much more comfortable with dogs, period.”

Voting is still open online, currently, Pub Dog Colorado is ranked number six on the leaderboard.

“Just the response is really, really cool, not only from locals but from all over the country,” Downs said. “I mean, we’ve got a map where it shows where people are from and it’s just amazing to me how far people traveled to come see us, so I think it’s a testament to how unique we are.”

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