Kansas City dog lovers know all too well that at this time of year, it can be tough to get your dog enough exercise. That's inspired a new business idea for one KC couple.
What is the name of your indoor dog park?
What are your dogs' names and ages?
Gomez, 1 year old
Joey, 2 years old
Kangaroo "Kanga," 8 years old
Gomez, a 1-year-old Aussie-poo.
Where will the indoor dog park be?
In Waldo at 79th Street near Kansas City Bier Company
Why did you decide on doing a Kickstarter?
Before we tell the community we are going to do this super cool thing and we invest a lot of our own money and invest a lot of time, we wanted to build a Kickstarter to make sure people will actually back it.
Joey (right) and Kanga (left), two loveable girls.
Why did you make your Kickstarter goal $5,000?
This is our business idea and part of that is us taking financial ownership of that. We don't expect or want the community to pay for the whole thing. Crowdsourcing is an awesome option for a lot of different business ventures.
Whatever you put into it is an early investment into the park that you are going to use anyway. Part of being an early backer gets you a few additional perks on top of that. The lowest level is $10, which gets you a day pass to the park, which costs $10 once the park is open, but it also gets your name as a contributor on the website.
What do you hope comes out of DOG Park KC?
The hope and the dream is that [dog owners] form friendships and bonds while they are there - that their dog will become best friends with another dog and then maybe by association they might become good friends with that owner. And then they'll plan times - like, "Hey, we are going to go on Thursday night because we know Buster is there and we know our dog loves Buster."
This is a mockup of what the indoor space will look like.
What is your ultimate goal for DOG Park KC?
If it were to completely capture the dream, it would be a space the community owns. This is not our park. It's something where we did all the government paperwork and we made sure the lease was signed and that it was built, but at the end f the day, those were things we did but it's not our park. The idea is for it to be Kansas City's park, for it to be Waldo's park and for the community to take ownership of it and for it to be their own. At the end of the day, the park is just a building. We want the community that is built there to be what is important.
How can people learn more about DOG Park KC?
Visit our Kickstarter page, our Facebook page or the DOG Park KC website.
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Terra Hall can be reached at terra.hall@kshb.com.
