A new pet urgent care is hoping to open this weekend in Buckingham.
Urgent Animal Care of Arlington at 249 N. Glebe Road hopes to start caring for furry best friends by the weekend, per co-owner Kayleen Gloor. The business claims it’s the first “sole dedicated [animal] urgent care in any capacity within Arlington,” though others like Bond Vet in Clarendon bill themselves as combination urgent and primary care for pets.
The veterinarian urgent care is from the team behind Clarendon Animal Care, which has locations in Clarendon and on Columbia Pike.
ARLnow first reported the pet urgent care was making its move to Buckingham back in January. It’s in the space once home to a SunTrust Bank branch, which closed more than four years ago. Following the style of the shopping center, the clinic is topped by art deco neon signage that glows at night.
While initially the opening was planned for the winter, the need to upgrade power led to a push.
“Delays were due to increased power needs due to the equipment we have (new HVAC and X-ray machine), so we were waiting on the power upgrade in order to get final inspections,” co-owner Natasha Ungerer told ARLnow via email.
An urgent care clinic for a pet differs from an emergency room in terms of the severity of the issue and what can be treated. The clinic is intended for “pets in stable condition that cannot wait to see their regular veterinarian,” per the website, with issues “that fall between a primary veterinarian practice visit and an emergency.”
The conditions that can be treated at a veterinarian urgent care include:
- Serious cuts
- Vomiting and diarrhea
- Trouble walking
- Difficulty urinating
- Prolonged low appetite
- Limping
- Mild injuries
- Ear and skin problems
The clinic is appointment-based but walk-ins are often still available. The hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Mondays with weekend hours running from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The hope is to go to seven days a week, so adding Tuesday and Wednesday hours, starting in mid-July, Ungerer said.
Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that highlights Arlington-based startups, founders, and local tech news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1515 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn.
A longtime Arlingtonian has launched a company that seeks to provide a more personalized pooch poop removal service.
Wes Clough, a Gulf Branch resident who is a partner at a handful of local restaurants, founded Poop Patroller this year after running into some service quality issues with his previous pet waste removal company.
“My wife and I, we have dogs, we’re busy and to try and make our lives easier, we had a pet waste removal service for almost 10 years,” he said. “I watched that company get bigger, and in my experience, the service deteriorated.”
He would come home to his gate left open, and one time, his dog got out as a result.
“I thought, there has got to be a better way,” said Clough.
Running Poop Patroller, Clough focuses on customer service by, for example, using software to keep clients updated on the status of the service, including push notifications to confirm that their gates have been closed after the poop is scooped.
While some people cannot fathom the idea of outsourcing this work, he says there is strong interest among pet owners. He compared it to landscaping, with some people firmly in the camp of cutting their own grass and others hiring gardeners as soon as they have a yard.
The company uses compostable bags and donates a percentage of its gross revenue to the Lost Dog & Cat Foundation. Clough, a Yorktown High School graduate, moved back to Arlington after six years in the Navy and says he has watched the nonprofit grow, experiencing the good it does firsthand.
“We have adopted three dogs through them and have donated as well,” Clough said. “It seems like a focused organization that does a good job.”
He says steering some revenue to the nonprofit and using environmentally friendly bags is important because his clientele care about their money going to good causes and companies that share their values.
Running Poop Patroller, his first venture of this nature, is a big departure from being a partner in restaurants, he says.
“I’m finding social media interaction is more important than… before,” he said. “Also, because I’m doing this on my own, versus with partnerships, everything I have to do I have to do myself or hire people to help with startup and business development.”
Currently, the only patroller is Clough, who is able to handle the workload part-time. As he gains more clientele in Northern Virginia and Northwest D.C., he says he hopes he can hire some employees. Today, most of his clients are in Arlington, with a few in Alexandria.
“It would be great to have several full-time employees, I like the idea of creating jobs,” he said. “I’m not in a rush, though, I’m okay with growing organically.”
Just one month after both Loyal Companion stores in Arlington closed amid the chain’s bankruptcy, both locations are back as new pet stores.
In the Lee Harrison Shopping Center, Loyal Companion is still the sign above the storefront, but inside it has been converted into Wag N’ Wash, a pet store with a focus on pet hygiene.
Wag N’ Wash is a national chain with a few locations in the region, including one in Vienna.
As far as conversions go, the changes inside are fairly minor. Staff at the store, located at 2501A N. Harrison Street, said “it’s mostly the same stuff” with the same dog washing services Loyal Companion offered, just under a new name.
One of the few notable changes, staff said, is that eventually Wags N’ Wash will have a self-serve dog wash.
Meanwhile, a store manager at Dogma Bakery & Boutique said the new location near Clarendon — at 2509 Franklin Road — will have a soft opening later this week, perhaps on Wednesday, March 15, depending on when the shelves get set up. The store expects to be fully open next week.
(Updated at 11:20 a.m.) The building that hosts a Ballston area pet store is being offered for lease.
A leasing flyer says the 4,666 square foot, circa-1925 commercial building at 3902 Wilson Blvd is available for new a tenant starting in January 2024. That suggests that the existing tenant, Unleashed by Petco, will be closing later this year after its lease is up.
Unleashed opened in the space in September 2013, about nine-and-a-half years ago. It replaced the quirky, homegrown burger-and-hot-dog restaurant Wiinky’s.
The flyer notes that the free-standing building was renovated in 2013, when Petco moved in, and that the property has 19 parking spaces.
The only other remaining Unleashed store in Arlington is located at 5400 Langston Blvd. It opened in 2011. A Pentagon City location closed in 2021.
Among other pet-related businesses along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, the Loyal Companion pet store at 2509 Franklin Road in Courthouse just closed but is expected to be replaced soon by Dogma Bakery & Boutique.
Hat tip to Ray Caputo
Dogma Bakery & Boutique is expanding and taking over the Clarendon space that Loyal Companion is moving out of next week.
The Shirlington-based local pet store announced on Saturday that it was opening its third Northern Virginia location at 2509 Franklin Road in the Clarendon area. It’s taking over the space that Loyal Companion is leaving at the end of February.
Earlier in the month, Loyal Companion announced it was closing many of its pet stores across the country, including the two in Arlington, due to its parent company declaring bankruptcy. Both locations, in Clarendon and at Lee Harrison Shopping Center, were planning to close on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
Within weeks, though, Dogma committed to taking over the space.
While it’s taking over the space at the beginning of next month, Dogma owner Sheila Raebel told ARLnow the plan is to reopen by Tuesday, March 7. She said one of the biggest reasons to move in was the desire to keep Loyal Companion’s staff employed.
“The decision was made when I met the staff there and saw how hard they were taking the closure of their store,” said Raebel. “I couldn’t let that happen.”
Dogma opened more than two decades ago in Shirlington and expanded to Reston in 2017, with the new location focused on grooming. The Reston outpost closed during the pandemic and then was open for appointments only.
Separately, Raebel also announced the Reston location will be fully reopening next month.
Dog poop, a lackluster park and imposing tower façades.
These are lingering concerns for some county commission members and residents who recently reviewed designs for two proposed apartment towers from JBG Smith in Crystal City.
The developer proposes building two towers with a total of 1,440 apartment units where the restaurant Jaleo (2250 Crystal Drive) used to be, and where an 11-story office building stands (223 23rd Street S). The new towers would have ground-floor retail and a parking garage underground.
Architects went back to the drawing board after a meeting in July to improve designs, and generally, these improvements were welcomed during a Site Plan Review Committee meeting last week.
Still, commissioners, community members and county staff said a planned interim park should be more vibrant — with ample amenities to separate dogs and their droppings from other visitors — and the towers should have more pedestrian-scale architecture, so that walking by does not feel claustrophobic and shady.
“I do hope there will be signs saying ‘This is not a dog park’ because people will try their hardest to use it as such,” said Ben D’Avanzo, a nearby resident representing the Aurora Highlands Civic Association, during the meeting on Thursday. “There’s only so much we can do to control that and prevent what happened at Met Park happens here.”
Before Amazon began rebuilding the park, Metropolitan Park was best known for being a large patch of grass where dogs from neighboring apartment buildings relieved themselves.
The 2010 Crystal City Sector Plan envisions three park spaces, totalling some 26,000 square feet, but one of those parks would require JBG Smith to redevelop apartments at 2221 S. Clark Street. In the interim, as part of this project, JBG Smith will create a temporary 8,000 square-foot park on the southwest corner of 223 23rd Street S.
Commissioners had also criticized initial designs for the park near JBG Smith’s planned towers for being “just a lawn,” said Planning Commissioner James Schroll during a meeting last week.
“Some of the concerns we received from you guys is that there may be foot traffic cutting through this lawn and there were concerns pet owners would use it for dog relief, and we didn’t really want that,” said Amanda Walker, with OJB Landscape Architecture.
Landscapers added pet relief areas and plantings around the park’s edges to prevent people from creating desire paths. The park is designed to allow for flexible, removable furniture to accommodate concerts, fitness classes and picnics and become a “destination for the community,” Walker said.
“Right now, this looks good, but we’ve got lots of parks that look like this all over the area. It’s going to be hard to attract people to it in this interim period,” said Michael Dowell, representing the Crystal City Citizen Review Council. “If we really want to take a chance, let’s get some massive sculpture — that you can move…”
“… to the next interim park,” said Chris Slatt, representing the Transportation Commission at the SPRC meeting, completing Dowell’s sentence.
After spending all of their lives in kennels, nearly 70 beagles will soon be up for adoption through Arlington-based organizations.
The Animal Welfare League of Arlington and Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation began welcoming a number of rescued beagles into their facilities last week.
The dogs are now going through medical exams and being given a chance to adjust to their new life before being adopted out, both organizations told ARLnow.
There’s no set timeline yet for when the beagles will be ready to go to their forever homes.
Last year, inspections at an Envigo breeding and research facility in Cumberland, Virginia where thousands of beagles were being housed turned up dozens of animal welfare violations.
Finally, in July of this year, a judge ordered the release of thousands of beagles from the facility, with authorities having two months to find the dogs new homes. The plight of the beagles became an international story.
Several local shelters have lended a paw to the rescue efforts. AWLA in Shirlington took in 10 beagles while LDCRF, the non-profit beneficiary of Arlington restaurants Lost Dog Cafe and Stray Cat Bar & Grill, greeted 56 beagles at its Falls Church care center. The nearby Fairfax County Animal Shelter also took in 16 beagles.
Our #EnvigoBeagles are heading to their foster homes today! This will be the first time these dogs have ever experienced living in a house, sleeping in a bed, or going outside. Please consider donating to our beagles' fundraising page at https://t.co/ZfjWIsZIU0 pic.twitter.com/E2cyVGzTZY
— AWLArlington, VA (@AWLAArlington) August 8, 2022
Now the focus shifts to helping the beagles adjust to a world they’ve never encountered before.
“Nearly every experience for the beagles rescued from the mass breeding facility is a first,” Heidi Gioseffi from Lost Dog told ARLnow. “First sniffs of fresh air, first sunlight on their faces, first splash through clean water in a kiddie pool, first cuddles from caring humans, first chew toys, first ambling run outdoors, first collar with a name tag, first NAME to replace a code tattooed for life on the underside of their ear, first attempt to climb steps into a house. For volunteers witnessing their firsts is a joy one cannot fully describe. It is truly uplifting.”
While it can be a joy to watch these dogs experience all these new things, it also can be frightening for the animals. Chelsea Jones, AWLA’s spokesperson, says things like toys, dog parks, and, even, floors might be too much for them to handle right now.
“What might be super fun to a regular dog, might be kind of scary to these dogs that have never experienced it before,” Jones said. “So, we are just going really slow and kind of letting them experience the world at their own pace.”
Most of the dogs with AWLA are now in foster homes so caretakers can learn how they adapt and, so far, Jones said they are all doing “surprisingly well” with no major behavior challenges to report beyond not being house trained.
“They are beagles, though,” she laughed. “They do like to bark and are pretty chatty.”
That’s why AWLA named all of its beagles after percussion instruments, she said.
First Day of School Three Weeks Away –” It seems as if summer just started, but before you know it, the 2022-23 school year in Arlington will be starting. The first day of classes for Arlington Public Schools is Monday, Aug. 29.” [Patch]
Pet Adoptions Down Slightly — “The Animal Welfare League of Arlington reports that 2,444 cats, dogs and small animals were adopted from its shelter during the 12-month period ending June 30. That’s down slightly from the 2,587 in the preceding year, which may be a positive sign that things are calming down in the get-along-with-COVID world that is now being experienced.” [Sun Gazette]
Another Gun Seized at Airport — ” Transportation Security Administration officers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington stopped a Charlottesville man on Wednesday from bringing his loaded handgun onto a flight… The man told officials that he was in a rush to fly to Florida to attend a funeral and ‘forgot that he had his loaded gun with him,’ according to TSA.” [Patch]
Arlington Man Charged With Robbery — “The investigation determined the suspect entered into the business, selected a beverage and allegedly attempted to leave without paying. A female employee confronted the suspect, who ignored her and selected additional merchandise. The employee attempted to stop the suspect, during which he struck her before fleeing the scene on foot. During the course of the investigation, it was determined that the suspect had stolen merchandise from an additional business.” [ACPD]
West Glebe Bridge Demolition — “After months of being closed, much of West Glebe Road Bridge has finally been torn down ahead of eventual reconstruction. Demolition started earlier this week and is expected to finish by the week of Sept. 5. Demolition work is expected to continue Monday-Friday from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.” [ALXnow]
It’s Monday — Humid throughout the day. High of 91 and low of 76. Sunrise at 6:17 am and sunset at 8:13 pm. [Weather.gov]
Pet owners in Arlington now have another doggie daycare to choose from with the opening of Playful Pack.
The Rosslyn daycare and boarding center, located at 1528 Clarendon Blvd in the former LavaBarre space, is set to hold an open house this Saturday (June 20) between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. It plans to officially open toward the end of June.
Giveaways and dog treats are expected at the open house, Playful Pack co-owner Scott Parker told ARLnow. During the event, participants have a chance to visit the play areas and meet the owners and employees, according to a Facebook post. Dogs are also welcome, as long as they are leashed. Those interested can RSVP on the website.
Playful Pack is a daycare and overnight boarding center that provides physical exercises and games for dogs. Some of the activities scheduled at different store locations include frisbee, tug of war and story times, according to its schedule.
The owners chose to open a new store at Rosslyn because of the number of dog owners there.
“We just thought that there are so many people in Rosslyn with so many dogs and there’s no dog daycare there to take care of them,” Parker said.
The store has four other locations, in Fairfax Station, McLean, Alexandria and Annapolis, Md. The first store was opened in Fairfax Station in 2019 by Parker, his brother Tyler and Tyler’s wife Alyssa, according to previous ARLnow reporting. Scott Parker has opened numerous other businesses in Arlington like a beer hall, retro pizzeria, sandwich shop-slash-flower shop, barbershop and boxing gym.
Once it is officially open, Playful Pay is expected to operate between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. every day and charge $44 for a full day of care, with discounts for 5-day, 10-day and 20-day daycare packages. For overnight boarding service, the store is set to charge $74 per night and $45 for each additional dog, according to its website.
Playful Pack also works with shelters in Virginia, including Home Animals Rescue Team, Mutt Love Rescue, A Forever Home and LOVEPAWS, to help foster dogs find homes.
“We will usually have one foster dog per location staying with us at our facility, and we take care of that dog and feed it and just give it a place to stay while we help find a home,” Parker said. “And then in the meantime, we advertise the dogs there available to our client base.”
Primary and urgent veterinary care clinic Bond Vet and dog daycare and boarding facility District Dogs are set to open locations in Clarendon in June.
Both businesses are coming to The Crossing Clarendon retail center.
Bond Vet, a chain based out of New York City, will open at 2871 Clarendon Blvd on Tuesday, June 14, the company says.
Bond Vet chose Arlington as its first location outside New York City because of the “rich context” of Clarendon, Marketing Manager Brooke Goldstein told ARLnow. The shopping center is also home to Tatte Bakery & Cafe, Lululemon, an Apple Store and other higher-end stores and restaurants.
“We like to be part of a rich context with many different types of tenants, rather than going into an area where you’re only going to find soft goods or medical offices,” she said, “We felt that this was a good opportunity for that.”
The clinic also plans to open locations in Bethesda and D.C. neighborhoods, such as Capitol Hill.
An open house at the Clarendon clinic will be held between noon and 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 12. The event will feature dogs up for adoption from The Little Black Dog Rescue Group, pet portraits and raffles.
Bond Vet provides urgent care services such as treating rashes, wound care and gastrointestinal issues, as well as primary care services like dental cleaning, neutering and planned surgeries, according to the press release. The clinic, which offers walk-in and scheduled appointments, will be open every day between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m, including on holidays.
District Dogs, which provides daycare, spas and overnight boarding services for dogs, is set to hold its grand opening on Monday, June 6. The storefront at 2820 Wilson Blvd is also the company’s first location in Virginia.
There will be playrooms, full-service pet spa services, and behavioral training workshops. Customers can also rent private dog playrooms at the store.
Clarendon currently has a variety of pet care businesses, including two other veterinary clinics, Clarendon Animal Care and Caring Hands Animal Hospital, along with Chippin, a locally based dog food brand.
District Dogs is planning to open another Arlington location in Pentagon City, at Amazon’s HQ2, which is currently under construction but set to open its first phase next year.
Bond Vet, a New York City-based chain of primary and urgent care clinics for cats and dogs, is setting up shop in Clarendon.
Construction in the space at 2871 Clarendon Blvd, in the former Lilly Pulitzer storefront, is underway. Bond Vet aims to open its doors to local dogs and cats and their humans this summer.
The storefront, part of The Crossing Clarendon retail center, has been vacant since the purveyor of preppy pink clothing packed its portmanteau and left last May. Bond Vet signed a deal to take over the space late last year, Director of Real Estate and Development Lauren Heuser tells ARLnow.
“Things are moving forward,” Heuser said. “We’re actually ahead of pace from what we anticipated from a permitting standpoint, which never happens.”
The new location is part of Bond Vet’s first expansion outside of the New York area, where it has opened nearly a dozen locations since 2019. The full-service clinics offer urgent care and routine care, including wellness exams, vaccines and spay and neuter services, as well as surgeries, dental cleanings and international health certificates.
Outside of Clarendon, its foray into the Mid-Atlantic region includes Bethesda, D.C.’s 14th Street NW corridor and the Capitol Hill neighborhood. The company is also headed north into Boston, and will have 25 total locations by the end of 2022.
“[The expansion] was on the horizon ahead of the pandemic,” Heuser said. “During the pandemic, the development pace slowed down a bit, but we picked up again as soon as we felt like we could.”
Bond Vet leaders chose The Crossing Clarendon because they liked the new tenants Regency Centers has nabbed for the rebranded shopping center.
“We like to be part of a rich context with many different types of tenants, rather than going into an area where you’re only going to find soft goods or medical offices,” Heuser said. “We felt that this was a good opportunity for that.”
Recent tenant announcements for The Crossing Clarendon include New York-based seafood eatery Seamore’s, fitness center Life Time, and District Dogs, a daycare and overnight boarding facility for pooches.
“We’re certainly not a daycare but we like to create symbiotic relationships with pet care providers within the neighborhood,” Heuser noted.
Bond Vet is the third option for pet owners whose animal companion needs care sooner than what a primary veterinarian could provide but in a different setting than an emergency room, she says.
“We believe it provides enough availability for same day appointments across locations, and it keeps pets that don’t need to be in the emergency room out of the ER,” Heuser said.
(The pet-centric neighborhood will now have all three veterinary options covered, with Arlies award winners Clarendon Animal Care at 3000 10th Street N. and Caring Hands Animal Hospital at 2601-A Wilson Blvd, in addition to the new doggy daycare and a locally-based dog food brand.)
Bond Vet’s expansion comes as veterinary jobs and services have been in high demand over the last two years, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. The association says urgent care clinics appear to be taking on a substantial portion of that demand.
“From a competitive landscape, what we’re seeing all over the country is a high demand for veterinary care,” Heuser said. “So many people got new pets through the pandemic, and that trend has not slowed down.”
