The Boston Globe
Dogs played on the lawn of Park-9 Dog Bar at The Station. Erin Clark/Globe Staff
Dogs of all breeds ran around Park 9 at The Station at Fenway on a warm Friday evening.
Small and large dogs played together at the dog park bar while their owners sat and relaxed with drinks. Craig McNulty, 39, who works at Cahill Swift, a management consulting firm, said he brings his dog, Gronk, to Park-9 at least four times a week.
“Fenway doesn’t have a fenced-in dog park. It’s fantastic for us. There’s no traffic or anything like that. It’s just the perfect time to bring our dog out here and meet all his canine friends,” McNulty said as he petted Gronk.
In a city where socializing and pet care often compete, Park-9 offers a solution. Last year, the company opened a location in Everett that combines a dog park and a bar so people can have fun with their friends without having to worry about leaving their pets at home. Park-9 recently launched the Fenway pop-up, which will be open through the end of October. The group plans to revamp the pop-up next spring.
The Park-9 location in Everett has outdoor and indoor dog parks, a bar that serves beer, wine, cocktails, and doggie daycare. The Fenway location is outdoors. Both locations have rangers who separate dogs if they get too frisky.
Dog bars have popped up all over the country, from Missouri to Oklahoma, Maryland, Nebraska, Washington, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Colorado, and Florida. Each location features a dog park, a bar, and sometimes even a full-service restaurant.
Park-9 was founded by Harvard College alumna Emily Gusse, her wife Tess Kohanski, a Boston University graduate, and her brother Chris Kohanski.
The business was started because the three men wanted to bring the dog park bar idea to New England for their dog, Nora.
Nora is a golden retriever who loves spending time outside but gets too hot easily, which causes her to have seizures. She can’t stand to run in most dog parks because of the hot flooring.
While traveling in Minnesota with Nora, Gusse and Kohanski wanted to stop somewhere the dog could cool off. They spotted a dog park that seemed different from most of the others.
It was a dog park-bar where dogs ran off-leash while owners relaxed and socialized over drinks.
Guesse wondered why a similar dog bar didn’t exist in New England. The idea for Park-9 was born.
The Park-9 dog bar chain is different from “dog-friendly” bars because dogs are allowed to run off-leash. Most dog bars and parks in Massachusetts require dogs to be on a leash, primarily for safety reasons. The parks’ rules and regulations state that leashes are allowed up to eight feet long, allowing dogs to run while the owner maintains control of their pet.
“There’s no place you can legally walk a dog off-leash between the Commons and here,” said Alex Rossetti, 27, who works at Boston IT Service.
At Fenway, Rossetti said he was fined if he let his dog run around. He once bought one for $125.
Leash exceptions are found in designated dog recreation areas, such as Downer Avenue Playground, Garvey Playground, Ronan Park in Dorchester, Peters Park in the South End, and DeFilippo Playground in the North End. Downtown, there is The Friends of the Public Garden, which has a subgroup called Common Canine. The Common Canine, located in the Boston Commons, is an off-leash area and rotates through different sections of the park.
As the list of places to let your dog roam free without restrictions grows, Park-9 is the only one in the area that includes a treat for humans as well as pups.
“It’s really interesting and fun to have a beer and watch a dog,” McNulty said.
It’s also one of the only places in Everett that has resources to keep dogs from overheating in extreme temperatures, like a pool, sun shades and air conditioning.
On Friday night, Jessica Amanambu’s dog Roman wagged his tail and ran across the park to play with the other dogs. Amanambu, 24, said she drives 20 minutes from Dorchester to bring her dog to Park-9 because she likes the bar environment.
Amanambu, a project manager and scientist at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, said his miniature dachshund Roman can jump with other dogs and play more freely because the park is fenced.
“There is no dog park like Park-9,” Amanambu said. “It is not a real dog park because it is enclosed, the staff helps and there are drinks to relax.”
Mat Giladi, 25, an incoming student at Stanford University’s business school, said Park-9 rangers secure the park so he doesn’t have to constantly watch his dog. Giladi, who currently lives in the South End, said he can work on his laptop while his girlfriend talks to her mother on the phone.
He brings Basel, their eight-month-old Bernese Mountain Dog, to Parc-9 because it’s a perfect place for dog owners to offload the responsibility of walking their dogs, while still taking time to spend with their friends.
“I don’t need to sacrifice one for the other,” Giladi said.
As the day draws to a close and the owners begin to tire, the dogs are still full of energy, sprinting from one end of the park to the other.
