Dogs ’n drafts

The Boneyard could become Dane County’s first indoor-outdoor canine-centric park and bar

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If all goes according to plan, Madison’s far east side will be home to Dane County’s first indoor-outdoor dog park and bar.

The Boneyard is slated for a two-acre parcel at 1018 Walsh Road. Co-owners Steve Ritzer and Jeff Kuhl are hoping for an April 2021 opening. The site is behind the east side Walmart, bordering one branch of Starkweather Creek, on a street mostly populated with storage units and offices.

The Boneyard is meant to be more than a bar where people can bring their dogs. There will be both on-leash and off-leash areas where customers will be able to enjoy an alcoholic beverage while Fido romps. A mobile vet might come to do checkups, and dog groomers could cut hair and nails, says Ritzer. The Boneyard could add events as circumstances allow: “There could be yoga sessions,” Ritzer says. The owners would like, at some point, to add live music in the evenings. 

The business plan submitted to the city’s Alcohol License Review Committee also lists a “dog washing station to get cleaned up before going home,” plenty of poop pick-up stations, and lots of water stations for the furry set as well.

Ritzer has two dogs and describes himself as a frequent visitor of area dog parks. Some days he takes his dogs with him on his construction jobs; when he can’t, he takes his dogs to daycare. He and Kuhl, who had been doing some house flips, were looking for another business venture, and joked that they should open a dog day care. In doing further research, they found a dog park/tavern business in Texas called MUTTS Canine Cantina, and the process of launching The Boneyard began. 

According to Ritzer and Kuhl, they know of only a few other examples of similar businesses in the United States, with another two in Texas and one each in South Carolina and Colorado.

Capital Brewery’s beer garden and Wisconsin Brewing Company’s outdoor patio both allow dogs, but aren’t geared specifically toward dogs and have no off-leash component. A more similar establishment, Bark & Brew, is located near Green Bay, and as of January, a dog daycare and bar was being planned for Menomonee Falls.

Many times, dog owners have to choose between going out with their human friends and hanging out with their pet. At The Boneyard, they will be able to do both, says Ritzer. “People want to be able to hang out with their friends, and include their dog. Yet there are a lot of dogs left sitting home alone.” He hopes The Boneyard can also be a space welcoming to those without dogs: “Nobody [here] should be bothered by a dog.”

Dogs will not be allowed off-leash indoors. Most of the seating will be outside; the indoor area is largely intended for bad weather. Indoors will include the bar and some seating. Outdoors there will be a large patio area. The off-leash area will not include drink service, but may include scattered picnic tables.

COVID-19 has set the planning back somewhat, but given The Boneyard’s outdoor emphasis and large indoor space (a 60 foot by 40 foot metal Cleary building), it fits right in with social distancing. 

Health rules don’t allow a kitchen onsite if there are also dogs present, so the plan is for food to be available via food carts located in the parking lot. 

Proof of vaccinations and spaying/neutering will be required for all dogs in the off-leash area, according to documents filed with the city.

Due to an administrative error, the discussion of The Boneyard’s alcohol license has been referred to the August meeting of the ALRC, but that leaves plenty of time for a neighborhood meeting to be scheduled and for the city to further investigate a few legal questions mentioned at the July ALRC meeting, including location of the food carts. 

Ritzer and Kuhl wanted to apply for the alcohol license early in the process, ideally before starting building (the property is currently an empty lot) to make sure the project was a go. “It may take a couple of meetings to make everyone comfortable because this is a new idea and to assure people that we have thought this through,” says Kuhl. 

Kuhl, an area real estate agent, used to have an adopted retired greyhound but does not have a dog right now. “I’m excited about having many dogs in my life in the next year," he says, "I’m really excited to form relationships with dog groups, fostering and rescue groups and the Dane County Humane Society” for fundraising and adoption events.

[Editor's note: This article has been corrected to note that this would be the first of its kind in Dane County, not Wisconsin. There is a similar operation near Green Bay.]