Tag Archives: pets

Seattle City Councilmember Hollingsworth aids in Capitol Hill dog rescue — UPDATE

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While her counterparts on the Seattle City Council were enjoying the Veterans Day holiday — or preparing proposed amendments to the city’s 2025 budget, District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth was coming to the rescue of a neighborhood pooch.

Monday, Hollingworth lent a hand after Seattle Police helped secure a dog seen being beaten over the weekend inside a Capitol Hill apartment building.

“We appreciate CM Joy Hollingsworth stepping in and taking the dog to a veterinarian since animal control is closed today because of the holiday,” a spokesperson for the King County Regional Homelessness Authority tells CHS.

The spokesperson tells CHS the man seen in the video allegedly hurting the animal had been previously arrested before the dog was rescued from the unit Monday.

How Hollingsworth ended up involved in the situation is apparently a tale of social media, politics, and a love for animals. Continue reading →

Lord Byron, friend and Capitol Hill explorer, remembered

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Image courtesy Cristi Russo

A map of Lord Byron’s roamings from lordbyron.pet

The King of Cat-paw-tol Hill is dead. A memorial grows at 20th and Denny to mark his passing.

Lord Byron, whose years of exploring and making this corner of the city his own earned the orange tabby a place among neighborhood royalty, was 8.

“The best thing about LB was the way he brought people together,” his family tells CHS about the cat’s passing. “It’s what we ❤️ about Capitol Hill and Seattle.”

“Also, he would want everyone to vote,” they added.

Lord Byron, it is true, often had the community and its snacks and soft couches and excellent chin scratches in mind. And Lord Byron always had an angle. Continue reading →

Next for shuttered Capitol Hill Gaybucks? New E Olive Way home for All the Best pet supply store

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(Image: All the Best Pet Care)

The former Capitol Hill “Gaybucks” shuttered by the coffee giant in 2022 as part of a ripple of shutdowns over what it said were public safety concerns amid an ongoing labor battle will have new life as a shopping stop for the neighborhood’s fur baby families.

All the Best Pet Care has announced it is moving into the 4,000-square-foot commercial building that has stood on E Olive Way and served as a home to a string of restaurants and big chains like Boston Market and Starbucks since 1937.

Lake City Way-born All the Best is marking its third store in the Central Seattle area with the opening joining its longtime Madison Park shop and a new store in the Midtown Square development in the Central District.

“We know that something as simple as a change of diet can bring about huge improvements in the lives of our fur kids, and we want to share that knowledge with our community,” All The Best co-CEO Jim Castleberry said in the announcement. Continue reading →

Below 12th Ave, Pupper’s Play and Stay can help break the Capitol Hill dog freeze

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(Image: Pupper’s Play and Stay)

(Image: Pupper’s Play and Stay)

By Nova Berger/CHS Reporting Intern

8,400 square feet of Capitol Hill business space with a history canine customers is back in motion with a new dog boarding venture that is emphasizing connection for the social animals and directly addressing some of the damage done to doggie confidence by pandemic limitations.

Pupper’s Play and Stay owner Rob Rosemont is trying to break the Seattle Dog freeze by emphasizing the importance of dog to dog contact on the social well being of Capitol Hill dogs. With a giant, nearly 9,000-square-foot space, Pupper’s offers both daytime playtime and nighttime boarding as well as some add ons like walks in Cal Anderson and individual playtime. The process is customizable to the owner, and every dog undergoes a temperament evaluation to ensure they receive the best care tailored to their personality and needs​.

“The dog’s so nervous the first couple times. But after three or four visits, it starts to wag its tail and play with other dogs.” says Rosemont.

Pupper’s is doing its thing in a space that has long been home to Capitol Hill dog-related business. Most recently, Tails of the City called the underground space below 12th Ave home before moving to Georgetown. Above ground, eXit Space School of Dance has moved in and is bringing its energy to the NOD Theater.

For Pupper’s, the customer base is growing. The pandemic actually brought even more dogs to Capitol Hill. During COVID, approximately 23 million households nationwide acquired pets according to the ASPCA. Seattle saw a 30-40% rise in pet adoptions, reflecting a broader national trend of people seeking companionship during lockdowns.

Now that owners have returned to more traditional workdays, a lot of those dogs are stuck at home, Rosemont says.

“On Capitol Hill ,they sit in one to two bedroom apartments. Their owners only have time to take them out once or twice a day.” Continue reading →

‘Luxury spa services, gourmet treats and premium pet nutrition’ — Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming coming to Broadway

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(Image: Woof Gang)

Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming, a rapidly expanding franchise of pet food, supplies, and grooming services, is coming to Capitol Hill with promises of luxury spa days and fresh-baked treats along Broadway for the neighborhood’s booming population of fur babies.

“It’s been a fur-rific ride of rapid growth and expansion for us, and we’re pawsitively thrilled to be bringing our personalized grooming services and high-quality products to even more pet parents in these lively and vibrant cities,” a message from company CEO and fast food industry veteran Ricardo Azevedo said about the western expansion of Woof Gang with new franchise agreements rolled out in Arizona, Idaho, and Washington, according to the announcement.

“To enter three major states in such a short span of time is truly a testament to the power of our brand and our leading position in a thriving and dynamic industry,” Azevedo said in the announcement.

The chain’s Seattle expansion, part of a wave of what the company says is nearly 400 new locations in development across the country, will come in Capitol Hill’s Harvard Market shopping center above Broadway and Pike. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill and Central District don’t make the cut for Seattle’s plans for new off leash areas

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There will be no Capitol Hill or Central District locations on the list of planned expansions for new off leash areas in Seattle.

Seattle Parks announced the results of its studies and selection process and has designated two new areas near West Seattle Stadium and Othello Park to be developed to include an official city “Off Leash Area.”

The parks department also named a roster of areas suitable for future off leash development when funding is available  — none of those will include Central Seattle locations, either. Those future sites include Ravenna Park, Brighton Playfield, and East Queen Anne Playfield. Continue reading →

Puppies, live music, and beer — Boneyard indoor dog park and tavern coming to the Central District

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Dogs love beer including this good one we spotted at Chuck’s (Image: CHS)

The Central Seattle dog park experience is about to change with the addition of Boneyard, an indoor dog park and tavern set to join S Jackson.

Dagmar Rehse, dog lover and Boneyard owner, wanted to create a way for Seattleites and their furry friends to spend and enjoy time together away from their homes — even when it is raining cats and dogs in the city.

“Nine months out of the year you see these dog owners going to dog parks and suffering in the elements to let their dogs play,” Rehse said. “I wanted to create something more comfortable for the humans while their dogs are frolicking around.”

The new space at the corner of 26th and Jackson will be an indoor dog park and tavern, with boarding and doggy daycare for the dogs, and a bar for their owners to play “drink” at. While Rehse doesn’t live in the area, she did notice that the dog friendly neighborhood was missing this kind of hangout. It is also in an area beyond the higher rent neighborhood cores where the rent on a 3,267-square-foot space needed to give rover room to run pencils out.

And while there are many dog-friendly drinking venues around the Central District and Capitol Hill, the Boneyard is the only one centered on making a great, safe space for canine companions. It will also offer something no other beer hall around can offer — fur baby babysitting for dog owners who want a break while they crack a cold one.

Boneyard will be the first space that Rehse has opened, built by her love for dogs and a wish for a place where dog and owner can enjoy themselves together outside of their home. Continue reading →

How Urban Animal plans to become nation’s first worker-owned veterinary co-op — and what it means for the people who care for Capitol Hill fur babies

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(Image: Urban Animal)

(Image: Urban Animal)

 

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After more than a decade of providing walk-in veterinary care to Capitol Hill, Urban Animal will be transitioning to a co-op business model — the first of its kind in the nation. Drawing from 24 years of veterinary experience, founder Cherri Trusheim is responding to her observations of increasing corporatization and high levels of burnout within the industry.

“It is an emotionally taxing field to work in and sometimes the job lifespan isn’t too long,” Trusheim said. “We’re having a hard time finding veterinary professionals because corporate has come in and designed these jobs for them in a way that’s not sustainable.”

Trusheim’s vision for the cooperative emphasizes giving employees a say in how they provide veterinary care and other business decisions. The business will be owned by workers, which is different from other co-op models, where ownership falls on the consumers or producers of the product. Trusheim says there’s a lot of variance between each cooperative.

“For me, it was really that governance piece. Giving people a voice and not just giving them money,” Trusheim said. “Really having a voice at the table because burnout is, that feeling of overwhelm coupled with helplessness, you just don’t feel like there’s anything you can do to make it different.” Continue reading →

Urban Animal — including its Capitol Hill clinic — set to become state’s nation’s first worker-owned veterinary co-op

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Founded in 2012 on the edge of the First Hill “Pill Hill” medical neighborhood, Urban Animal is reorganizing as a cooperative and giving the chance to its 110 employees across three Seattle locations including Capitol Hill’s E Thomas to become owners of the veterinary clinic that serves more than 50,000 clients.

“The veterinary industry is in the eye of a perfect storm due to factors such as employee burnout and private equity buyouts, which are diminishing the number of qualified veterinary professionals,” Urban Animal founder and veterinarian Cherri Trusheim said in the announcement. “Urban Animal is presenting this groundbreaking solution to set the bar for the industry and beyond.” Continue reading →

With Cal Anderson and Volunteer ‘de facto’ dog parks, Seattle taking its doggone time creating new off-leash areas

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Dogs at play at a community created dog park in the Central District

If venturing to Cal Anderson or Volunteer Park, one can expect to see dogs off leash roaming freely with their furry friends. However joyous those games of fetch and chase may seem, the city has been cracking down and ticketing owners for having their fur babies off leash.

“It continues to be against park code to have your dog off leash outside of an OLA [off leash area] and there is an animal enforcement team that issues tickets for infractions,” said Rachel Schulkin, director of public affairs for Seattle Parks and Recreation.

Yes, Cal Anderson is getting renewed energy and planning around making it a safer, cleaner community space. And, yes, they are rebuilding the play area for human kids. But what about the fur kids?

Multifamily housing developer, dog owner, and long-time Seattle resident Benjamin Maritz has a unique perspective on the issue. Martiz lives near Volunteer Park and works in affordable housing around Capitol Hill and the Central District. He likes to walk his poodle mixes in Volunteer and Cal Anderson.

“Both of these places are very much de facto off leash dog parks, and I’ve let my dogs off leash—especially when there are enough other dogs off leash to where it’s operating as an off leash dog park,” Maritz said. “I don’t ever see any issues. Occasionally, the dogs will share the space with some folks playing rugby or soccer.”

What sets Maritz and his poodle apart from other Hill area dog families is the developer had some land available to try to do something about the lack of off-leash space, and opened a community site on some currently underutilized property. Continue reading →