Natalie Moore is the owner of Ruff Canine Club, which will be the first dog park-bar in the Richmond region when it opens near Scott’s Addition. (Mike Platania photos)
The latest entertainment option headed to the Scott’s Addition area has something to offer for both humans and their four-legged friends.
Ruff Canine Club, which looks to be the first dog park-bar in the Richmond region, is preparing to open at 1924 Ellen Road with nearly an acre of grass for customers’ dogs to play and a bar serving beer, wine and hard seltzer.
Behind the concept is Natalie Moore, a Tennessee native who moved to Richmond last year after finishing a graduate degree in public policy from UVA.
Moore said she got a job locally as a fundraiser for Dominion Energy’s political action committee in the midst of pandemic lockdowns. During that time, she and her boyfriend made friends in town with the help of their dog Fitzgerald.
“We had our dog in our little apartment (in Carytown) and it had a small turf area. Everyday we’d take drinks out there because we had nothing else to do,” Moore said.
“Our dogs would play and we’d stand along the fence and have beers after a day of Zoom. That’s how we made so many of our friends. I just wanted it on a bigger scale.”
She eventually decided to turn the idea into a business after researching other dog park bars throughout the country. A few trips to the likes of Fetch Park in Atlanta led Moore to start looking for a space in the Richmond area.
“It is a new concept, but they are popping up everywhere,” she said. “I traveled around and decided to make the jump, after two years of grad school.”
Ruff signed a lease in February for a roughly 1-acre plot adjacent to biotech firm Grenova’s new headquarters, not far from The Diamond.
The dog park area is entirely outdoors and will feature dog agility equipment, while the human entertainment comes in the form of a bar that’ll include eight taps pouring local beer plus wine and hard seltzer.
The fare at Ruff’s bar will include a $1 peanut butter and jelly sandwich dubbed “Never Grow Up.”
Moore said it also has a kitchen that’ll serve sandwiches, soups and salads as well as shareable dishes like salsa and pimento cheese.
Ruff will operate with a membership model, with rates for one and two dogs going for $275 and $430 annually, or $30 and $45 monthly. Day passes are also available for $10, which Moore said are a good way for prospective members to see if their dogs will enjoy the park.
Moore said Ruff won’t have any breed restrictions but will require dogs to be up to date on vaccinations. Dogs and their owners would only be asked to leave due to behavioral issues.
“If people have a dog that’s risky, we’ll ask them to come, get a day pass and try once before they commit to a membership. A lot of it is personality-driven,” Moore said. “We have a no-tolerance policy. If your dog acts up, we’ll have to ask you to leave.”
The park’s staff has come largely from other dog daycares, Moore said. If two dogs begin fighting, the employees are trained to intervene without making contact with the animals.
“They’ll be monitoring dogs and they’ll be trained to assess behavior as well,” Moore said. “They’re trained in how to intervene and defuse those situations before they happen.”
Wi-Fi is available at the dog park as well, something Moore said also stemmed from her experience working from home last year.
“If people want to bring their dog and work here, they can,” she said. “I know a lot of people are going to be staying working from home and there’s nothing worse than having your dog bug you all day while you’re on a Zoom meeting.”
Ruff is leasing the space from Spy Rock Real Estate Group, which spent $2.7 million on Ruff and Grenova’s land last year. Moore said Spy Rock is helping with the building, contributing $500,000, and said she put in $200,000 of her own funds to get the business open.
Commonwealth Commercial’s Ben Bruni represented Ruff in the lease. Architecture AF is the project’s architect and RGI General Contractors is handling the build out.
Ruff will have a phased opening, with the first half of the park and the bar opening in October. The second half of the land, which will also have a stage for live music, is scheduled to open in early 2022.
Natalie Moore is the owner of Ruff Canine Club, which will be the first dog park-bar in the Richmond region when it opens near Scott’s Addition. (Mike Platania photos)
The latest entertainment option headed to the Scott’s Addition area has something to offer for both humans and their four-legged friends.
Ruff Canine Club, which looks to be the first dog park-bar in the Richmond region, is preparing to open at 1924 Ellen Road with nearly an acre of grass for customers’ dogs to play and a bar serving beer, wine and hard seltzer.
Behind the concept is Natalie Moore, a Tennessee native who moved to Richmond last year after finishing a graduate degree in public policy from UVA.
Moore said she got a job locally as a fundraiser for Dominion Energy’s political action committee in the midst of pandemic lockdowns. During that time, she and her boyfriend made friends in town with the help of their dog Fitzgerald.
“We had our dog in our little apartment (in Carytown) and it had a small turf area. Everyday we’d take drinks out there because we had nothing else to do,” Moore said.
“Our dogs would play and we’d stand along the fence and have beers after a day of Zoom. That’s how we made so many of our friends. I just wanted it on a bigger scale.”
She eventually decided to turn the idea into a business after researching other dog park bars throughout the country. A few trips to the likes of Fetch Park in Atlanta led Moore to start looking for a space in the Richmond area.
“It is a new concept, but they are popping up everywhere,” she said. “I traveled around and decided to make the jump, after two years of grad school.”
Ruff signed a lease in February for a roughly 1-acre plot adjacent to biotech firm Grenova’s new headquarters, not far from The Diamond.
The dog park area is entirely outdoors and will feature dog agility equipment, while the human entertainment comes in the form of a bar that’ll include eight taps pouring local beer plus wine and hard seltzer.
The fare at Ruff’s bar will include a $1 peanut butter and jelly sandwich dubbed “Never Grow Up.”
Moore said it also has a kitchen that’ll serve sandwiches, soups and salads as well as shareable dishes like salsa and pimento cheese.
Ruff will operate with a membership model, with rates for one and two dogs going for $275 and $430 annually, or $30 and $45 monthly. Day passes are also available for $10, which Moore said are a good way for prospective members to see if their dogs will enjoy the park.
Moore said Ruff won’t have any breed restrictions but will require dogs to be up to date on vaccinations. Dogs and their owners would only be asked to leave due to behavioral issues.
“If people have a dog that’s risky, we’ll ask them to come, get a day pass and try once before they commit to a membership. A lot of it is personality-driven,” Moore said. “We have a no-tolerance policy. If your dog acts up, we’ll have to ask you to leave.”
The park’s staff has come largely from other dog daycares, Moore said. If two dogs begin fighting, the employees are trained to intervene without making contact with the animals.
“They’ll be monitoring dogs and they’ll be trained to assess behavior as well,” Moore said. “They’re trained in how to intervene and defuse those situations before they happen.”
Wi-Fi is available at the dog park as well, something Moore said also stemmed from her experience working from home last year.
“If people want to bring their dog and work here, they can,” she said. “I know a lot of people are going to be staying working from home and there’s nothing worse than having your dog bug you all day while you’re on a Zoom meeting.”
Ruff is leasing the space from Spy Rock Real Estate Group, which spent $2.7 million on Ruff and Grenova’s land last year. Moore said Spy Rock is helping with the building, contributing $500,000, and said she put in $200,000 of her own funds to get the business open.
Commonwealth Commercial’s Ben Bruni represented Ruff in the lease. Architecture AF is the project’s architect and RGI General Contractors is handling the build out.
Ruff will have a phased opening, with the first half of the park and the bar opening in October. The second half of the land, which will also have a stage for live music, is scheduled to open in early 2022.
there needs to be a bridge over the tracks there so people can get back and forth
So does this place have the food/alcohol ratio requirements other places would have to serve alcohol, or does having a private club set up remove that need?
Any restaurant that isn’t part of a hotel has to meet the food/liquor ratio, and I imagine they hope to sell a lot of beer and wine. Beer and wine do not count as alcohol sales (it counts as non-alcohol revenue along with the food). Only liquor sales count as alcohol for the ratio.
I hope they incorporate a way to segregate the smaller dogs from the larger dogs.
Very cool concept! It’s a great idea and I hope it is very successful. Scott’s is a great part of town to implement this. If this venture is a success, I wonder if she will look to open a second location Manchester, RVA’s other uber-hot, up-and-coming urban core neighborhood that’s booming by leaps and bounds?
There are lots of these places down south. I went to one in SC near USC about 5 years ago and they didn’t charge any monthly fees. All size dogs ran around and had a good time. The tables were right in the middle of the dogs and it was a great time. Went there several times and never saw any problems. They sometimes had a live band and served lots of bar-type food. I wish them luck….thought about it myself when I first came home from there.
What a great idea! Sounds like an excellent way to incorporate fun for the pets and their owners under one roof.
Great idea! Hope this is successful – great to see small businesses like this start up!
Why don’t they have anything for birds? My parrot, Pancho, is very friendly and sweet.