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Dogs get their own private members’ club in LA
STORY: At this Los Angeles members-only club, scoring an invite is all about who you know.“The humans are a guest of their dog, who is the member.” :: Santa Monica, CaliforniaThis is DOG PPL…A private dog park where canines and their owners can socialize while enjoying high-end amenities.Alex Esguerra and Liam Underwood founded the club two years ago after becoming frustrated with what they say is a shortage of clean and safe dog parks in Los Angeles.:: Liam Underwood, Co-founder, DOG PPL“Getting a membership at DOG PPL, sure, you get access to the park but you get access to so much more. We have parties here, we have events here, we have programming, we have yoga classes, we’ve had a hundred tons of snow dumped into the park because most of our dog members had never seen snow before, we found out, so we were like, okay, why don’t we bring the snow to them?”Memberships cost $120 a month. And like other clubs, not just anyone can join.Safety operations manager Keitel Frankle says dogs go through a temperament test first.:: Keitel Frankle, Safety Operations Manager, DOG PPL“They’re not jumping through hoops or having to stand on their back legs or anything like that.” //“And so we’re so experienced in seeing those kind of orange and red flag behaviors that can kind of build a picture of a dog that isn’t necessarily going to be a good fit.” Once in, the canines get access to a clean and luxurious place to hang out.So-called “rufferees” keep an eye out in case any of the dogs get too excited.And for the humans, there’s a lounge, bar, work areas and social events.Co-owner Esguerra said it’s been called the “SoHo House” for dogs, a play on the name of a popular private members’ club. :: Alex Esguerra, Co-founder, DOG PPL“I think that they relate the two because they imagine Soho House is a membership club that really invests in their people and they curate community and programming and hospitality, you know, to the finest degree to kind of give people, you know, a different type of lifestyle. We want to do the same for dogs.”While the focus is on the dogs, their humans say they’re happy to ‘sit’ and ‘stay’ for a while, too.:: Oliver Damavandi”It’s facilitated a lot of things for me, from business, personal. Yeah. I met a really pretty girl here.”:: Cailin Nomad “I’m from LA, so everything they like kind of people judge about LA, I think is like, what makes LA so unique. I have so many friends that are members of like Soho House and other like, social clubs. It’s kind of a similar thing, even though it’s for the dogs, it’s also for the people.”
