New York Gets Its First Dog Café This Month

The genius who first thought of opening a café where people could play with cats did the whole world a favor. Now cat cafés have opened up in cities and countries all over the world. New Jersey just got its first cat café, and New York has had a cat café since 2014. Now dog people are finally getting their day, because New York City's first dog café is set to open this month.

According to Grub Street, a dog café with the very dignified-sounding name of Boris & Horton will open on 12th Street in the East Village in mid-January, and is scheduled to be fully in operation by the end of the month.

Unfortunately, Boris & Horton will not actually be providing a staff of friendly puppies for people to play with. Unlike the cat cafés, Boris & Horton requires customers to bring their own dogs.

"We're shooting for a different look and feel than the cat café," owner Logan Mikhly told Grub Street. "We want it to feel as much as possible like your typical coffee shop, but you have the added benefit of hanging out with your dog."

That said, a coffee shop designed for dogs and people is likely to quickly become a de facto dog café anyway. A person without a dog could easily come to a place like that and be pretty much guaranteed to be able to meet some nice puppies brought in by other customers.

There will also be dog-adoption events on weekends. So any dog lovers not in possession of their own dogs will be able to rectify that situation quickly, then bring their dogs back to Boris & Horton to continue the cycle. Other animal lovers should check out this list of cat cafés, penguin bars, and other places you can drink with animals.