Reader: It's a Shame People Can't Get Drunk With Their Pets in Public

"The dog park has always been my favorite place to hang," says Christine Peters. "It's that zen feeling, all your problems go away and you're just hanging out watching dogs play. They have no ego, no issues, no agendas." Unlike people. Since Peters opened the Bark Bar in West Highland,...

By Patricia Calhoun

January 15, 2015

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"The dog park has always been my favorite place to hang," says Christine Peters. "It's that zen feeling, all your problems go away and you're just hanging out watching dogs play. They have no ego, no issues, no agendas." Unlike people. Since Peters opened the Bark Bar in West Highland, she's had plenty of issues -- with neighbors, and then with the city's zoning department, which ultimately determined that she would have to close her place.

So today the Bark Bar will pour its last drink at a goodbye party with 50 percent off all booze and merchandise until the taps run dry; Peters is hoping to reopen in a new space...in a new town."I want a fresh clean start in a place where we truly are seen as an asset in the community," she says. "To me, when God closes a door he opens an airplane hangar."

And the comments about the Bark Bark could fill that hangar. Here's just a taste;

Says Dennis:

It is a damn shame people can't get drunk with their pets in public.

Says Sammy: Open a biker bar in its place!! :D show these neighbors it could be worse. I'm going to miss that place.

Did you visit the Bark Bar? Have you been to other pet-friendly patios? Which do you recommend?

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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