ContentsA Place to Pet

by Camilo Sorreta

Barkin’ Trendsby Gabriel Mercado

A Dog’s Bestfriendby Jamie Gutierrez

It’s a Hard Dog Life, for Usby Diego Drilon

A Man’s Bestfriendby Elizabeth Papa

Blendin’ Barksby Joseph Silva

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went."

\Will Rogers

A Place to PetCamilo Sorreta

As you walk through the hot streets of Kati-punan in the mid-afternoon you feel parched, but not just that; you feel like you need a friend, but not just any friend. You want a furry friend, but your place doesn’t allow pets.

You wander around some more until you stumble upon a little hole in the wall café named Bar-kin’ Blends. Curiosity strikes as you walk through the archway of the building. You can see banners of dogs as you walk up the stairs. You go into the Human Zone side of the café, while the aroma of coffee and some food that you can’t quite make out is roaming in the air. You head to the counter and buy a ticket for the Dog Zone and order your free drink. As you wait, you read the rules and regulations of the Dog Zone as to not break any of them. Your eyes begin to wander. You can see the cupcakes with little dog faces decorated on them sitting behind the glass of the re-frigerator. You also observe the board titled “Our Bar-kin’ Buddies” and below that are the pictures of the different dogs they have at the café, your enthusiasm doesn’t quell. You hear them call for the next round of people that can go to the Dog Zone, excitement fills your heart. Then you go to the Dog Zone. As you go through the door, you put your belongings into the locker and change your footwear to the appropriate ones, and leave the landing for the gated Dog Zone beyond the second door inside. Then you see them. Excitement fills your heart as you see them walking, sleeping or playing. There they are. Dogs.

The Barkin’ Blends Café is in a small pavilion behind Shakey’s Pizza Parlor. It is incredibly conve-nient for students from the colleges and high schools along Katipunan to go and enjoy the café’s treasure. It is a small and homey café that make you feel like it is a café, yet it is so much more. Being in either the Dog Zone or the Human Zone, the atmosphere of the Barkin’ Blends Café allows for a more relaxing and fun environment.

The Human Zone is a comfy, quaint part of the café that has the feel of a real café which is what makes it very relaxing and chill. The simple design of the Human Zone is comfy and friendly. The walls of the Human Zone are colored with different shade of brown as to not jolt out at you like the bright and neon colors would. The tables are also a neutral color as to compliment the walls and the front counter. It may be a little cramped when full, but it is still friendly and

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cozy. The service is also fast, they dole out your drinks as fast as they can so that you can enjoy your drinks while waiting for your turn on the Dog Zone or just so that you can get a refreshing drink as soon as pos-sible. But most importantly the Human Zone is great for waiting, either by yourself or with friends. You can comfortably wait for your turn in the Dog Zone and talk to your friends or your fellow dog lovers about your mutual love of animals. Since the Human Zone is so cozy and relaxing people don’t mind waiting as much for their turn at the Dog Zone. Although the Human Zone is the more relaxing section of the café, the Dog Zone is where the most fun happens.

The Dog Zone is a fun and bright section of the café. Like I said before, the Dog Zone is where the most fun happens, why? That’s because you can see and interact with everything happening around you. You can see people playing with the dogs. The adults acting like children with the dogs and the children just playing and enjoying themselves with the dogs. It could be said that just playing with the dogs your-self is fun and enjoyable, or when you walk in for the first time to the Dog Zone; just seeing the dogs doing what they do is entertaining. You can see them either sleeping on the ground, running around, or playing with each other when you walk into the Dog Zone. Another experience that you might find pleasant is getting to know the dogs through the caretakers and the trainers. If you are ever curious about a dog, you can always ask one of the caretakers or trainers and they would be happy to entertain your questions. It’s also very accessible for people of all ages. I saw people young and relatively old enjoying themselves at the Dog Zone. This way I could bring my grandfather and my nephews to the café and they would both have the same amount of fun. But be careful because children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult, preferably a responsible one! There are so many things makes the Dog Zone so much fun!

Although I had said that the Human Zone is more relaxing and the Dog Zone is more fun, it does not mean that they are mutually exclusive. The Hu-man Zone can also be fun because you can enjoy your time while waiting. You can enjoy conversation with your friends, family or significant other over the won-derful and tasty food and drinks available. The Dog Zone can also be relaxing because it is relaxing to just be in the presence of dogs. Another way it can be re-laxing is by feeling the chill vibe when you let a dog sleep on your lap, or when watching the dog take a nap on the floor or on its bed. The wonderful mixture

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between relaxing and fun is what really separates this café from the others of its kind.

The ambiance enhances the experience that you get from the Human Zone and the Dog Zone. The food is great and the people are friendly and under-standing. They were very kind to me and my friend when they accidently sent our drinks to the Dog Zone. It has a very relaxing vibe, as everyone is relaxed and happy when seeing the dogs or just hanging out in the café. I could see so many smiling faces coming out of the Dog Zone and so many excited faces of the peo-ple waiting in the Human Zone. People have said that they enjoy the food and the relaxing atmosphere of the Human Zone and the fun and exciting atmosphere in the Dog Zone. So many people on internet forums have said how wonderful and creative the food is in the café. Not just that but people that I interviewed myself have said that they enjoy staying in the Human Zone, but were still very excited in going to the Dog Zone. People coming out of the Dog Zone have said that they really enjoyed their time in the Dog Zone and were down in the dumps about leaving, but were eager to go again. In other words, just being around dogs or simply eating in the café is both fun and relax-

ing Your two hours are up. You say your good-byes to your new furry friends. As you leave you can see the dogs that you played with, the dogs that were sleeping, and the dogs that are always roaming around, and you leave after one more wave good-bye. You feel so happy to have gotten to play with the dogs, yet you feel so heartbroken for having to leave. But now you know where to go to get your dog fix. As soon as you get home you reminisce about your time there. You fall asleep and dream about the dog café. You see your im-mediate family, your close friends and your significant other playing in the dog café. As soon as you wake up, you plan your next outing to this little hole in the wall café called Barkin’ Blends.

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A Dog's BestfriendJamie Gutierrez

A Dog's Bestfriend “Happiness is a warm puppy."

Charles M. Schulz

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Dona Lee does not look like your typical dog lover. At first glance, one would be intimidated by her physical appearance, and who wouldn’t be? She’s an 18-year old heavyset Korean woman standing at about 5 feet and 8 inches tall who almost always wears a serious look on her face. But despite this over-whelming first impression, Dona’s bite is actually soft-er than her bark.

I first came to know Dona during my soph-omore year of high school when she was still a very distant person who would sleep in the corner and mind her own business. As time passed however, she gradually shed her guarded demeanor, and I was able to see the softhearted girl behind that tough exterior. Though Dona gives off a brusque aura with the way she walks in heavy steps or the way she talks in fast, non-stop sentences, her caring and nurturing side re-veals itself whenever she talks about her love for ani-mals, most especially for dogs.

When I asked Dona why she shared a special connection with dogs, she admits that she doesn’t even remember how she came to have this deep sense of love for them. “I was trying to figure it out so much, and I realized that one of the main reasons why I love animals so much is not that I love animals per se, but because I love life.” Dona is passionate about dogs be-cause it is through her love for these furry compan-ions that she is able to realize her purpose and her hu-manity.

Ever since she was young, Dona has always been an animal lover. “I remember I was like three years old and I didn’t know the word veterinary medi-cine, and I was like thinking, ‘I’ll be an animal doctor’.” What is surprising; however, is the fact that she wasn’t fond of dogs back then.

Dona describes herself as an independent per-son by nature and because of this, she found dogs to be too needy and clingy. She didn’t believe that she would have the patience to be committed to a dog 24/7. “I didn’t want to have a dog, but I fell in love.” Dona’s ‘first love’ is her first real dog named “Chance” (pronounced as /shans/ which means luck in French), a German shorthaired pointer whom she got when she was in grade 7. She considers “Chance” as her first real dog because he was the first dog that Dona had full responsibility of. “He was different because I never thought I would actually like that company, that commitment that dogs provided you.” Dona shares that “Chance” was actually a hard dog to take care of because he required 3-4 hours of exercise daily, but still, she enjoyed taking care of him.

Dona’s ‘first heartbreak’ was when she had to give Chance to a new owner because her family couldn’t maintain a dog as big as him anymore. How-ever, Dona’s love for dogs never stopped, and in 2012 she got her second dog, a Whippet named “Lares” (pronounced as /lareese/, named after the Greek deity of the protector of the house).

“The thing about dogs is that you will never miss what you never experienced.” For Dona, having a special bond with dogs is something you can’t fully describe to someone who has never experienced it for him/herself. “I honestly don’t think I can explain to a non-dog owner what the hype is simply because it’s not something you think with your head, it’s some-thing you feel with your heart.”

As a dog owner, Dona finds dog parenting a very demanding and commitment-heavy responsibil-ity. “I don’t understand how people can have a lot of dogs. It’s like having a lot of kids, and you don’t plan on getting a big number of kids.” For Dona, there’s more to taking care of a dog than just giving it food and water. Dogs are pack animals that require a special connection with their owner. Dona believes that there should be a mutual sense of trust cultivated within a dog and its owner. “Dogs can feel whether you trust them or not.” For her, this is only achieved when a dog owner helps his/her dog achieve physical, mental, so-

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cial, and psychological growth. She believes that dogs are a reflection of their owner’s personality as much as a child is a reflection of their parents’ values.

Although it is a daunting task, being a dog owner and/or a dog lover is a worthwhile endeavor, and one that never stops. “Love is a choice,” Dona says. For her, love is a verb, an action that keeps the flames of our passion burning. “I was so scared that I would one day wake up and realize that I don’t love animals anymore,” Dona reflects. Perhaps it may seem unthinkable for a person as passionate as Dona to simply fall out of love with dogs, but for her, that pos-sibility exists. “Somehow, hearing that love is an active decision helps me get over my fear.” Despite her fears, Dona remains deeply in love until today. She is nur-turing her passion for animals as she will be taking up Veterinary Studies in Seoul University this coming February 2016. “Everything I do in life is because of my passion for animals.”

“So what makes dogs so special?” I quipped. As someone who has never experienced being a dog owner, I never knew exactly what it is that draws people towards dogs. Surely, there must be some-thing special about them that drive people like me to squeal in delight whenever they see a cute puppy or cry whenever the beloved canine character dies in a movie. What do dogs have that we are able to connect to them more easily than we do with bears, or mon-keys? Dona offered her two cents on the question and said that, “We as humans are so emphatic, and we are capable of empathizing with a lot of things especially animals. I think what make dogs so special are their ability to connect and to return the empathy. I’ve nev-er met a specie of animal that is as expressive as dogs are when it comes to empathy.”

I asked Dona a follow up question, “What is humanizing about being a dog-lover?” Given that dogs have the special ability to return our affections, how does loving them make us more human? There are plenty of self-confessed dog lovers in the world and they come in varying degrees. If there’s something special about dogs, then there must also be something special about the people who love them. Dona paused for a few seconds and commented on how tough this question was, but eventually she reached an epiphany. “Being a dog lover reminds you once again why hu-mans are special. Yes, I love my dog, but if someone asked me upfront, Lares or my friends, I would choose my friends. My bond with my dogs is completely dif-ferent with my bond with my friends. Having a special

bond with your dog makes you realize that that alone is not enough.” Dona adds that no man is meant to be an island, and that our nature as social creatures is something we often forget. “Being a dog lover re-minds you of that.”

When asked about the growing trend of dog café’s in the world, Dona says that she is not against it. She is part of the minority of dog lovers who are not anti pet shops or café’s. “First and foremost, it’s a busi-ness, but if it’s properly managed and built out of love for dogs, I am not against it. It’s hard to find dog lovers who support institutions like that. Who am I to de-prive others from their chance of bonding with dogs?” Dona believes that if pet shops or cafes are managed properly, they can be a gateway for forging bonds be-tween dogs and people. For Dona, anything that lets people see the good she is able to see in all dogs is not all bad. She is a person who loves sharing her passions with others. In fact, she plans on becoming a veteri-nary studies professor in the Philippines in the future. “I want to ignite others’ passion for animals. I want to guide those who chose to have a career path that takes care of animals”

There is more than one aspect to Dona Lee be-sides than just being a dog lover. She is also a friend, a science enthusiast, and an artist among many oth-er things. Dona Lee, the dog lover is special because dogs, and all animals in general are her true passion. Because of her intense love and understanding for an-imals, she is able to see a side of them that the ordi-nary person fails to appreciate. “I would like to tell all dog lovers out there that we are blessed to able to have a dog or pet in the house and experience such bonds that others are not gifted with. And if dogs could speak, I believe they would say ‘I love you’.”

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Dona Lee

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It's a Hard Dog Life, for Us.Diego Drilon

“Let sleeping dogs lie."

Robert Walpole

It's a Hard Dog Life, for Us.

It’s been a long week at the Barkin’ Blends Dog Cafe. From the moment he brought you into the cafe and left last week, you’ve been hoping that he still remembers and misses you. You’re exhausted and to-morrow’s a Tuesday. Your furry friends feel the same way, yet they’ve been through this for several months already. You wonder how the arf could they have man-aged to stay sane for this long. Admit it, being a dog in Barkin’ Blends Dog Cafe is an extremely stressful job.

You recall the very first time you set foot in the cafe, the moment you were placed in the dog-des-ignated area, the dog zone. In this place, you realized soon after that your life here will be nothing like it was back home. For once, you actually had to get to know the other dogs in order for you to survive, un-like when your owner’s friends brought over their dog and you shied away, staying close to your owner. Here, in the cafe, you had no owner to run to, only caretak-ers who seemed to care at least a bit more about you than the customers, but whom you just don’t trust as much as your owner. Like the caretakers, your life in the cafe was focused on being a service to customers for 9 hours a day, with the exception of the fact you were to be a dog, and not a human. Perhaps it was the same as it was back home, the memory is slightly distant, but you instead had to be someone else’s dog, entertaining these complete strangers that entered the still-quite-confusing-to-you dog zone. Thankfully, there’s a day when no customers are allowed in the dog zone, in other words, a rest day from your 12:00 to 9:00 job. Though it only happens once a week, every

Tuesday, you can tell that everyone in the cafe looks forward to it.

As you progressed through last week, a con-flict stirred within as you realized that as a dog in the cafe, you had to balance your appeal between custom-ers and your caretakers. From Wednesday to Monday, you remember albeit dreadfully, dozens of customers enter the cafe, all of which you and the dogs had to entertain and essentially, be the dog you were for your owner for them. You recall seeing some customers in particular almost every day in the cafe. Some have taken a liking to you, but still more attention is paid to some of the older residents of the cafe like Vader (Lhasa Apso), Smile (Pug), Skye (Siberian Husky), and Fiona (Chinese Shar-pei). You approach these fa-miliar human faces more often while at work, since there’s at least some trust you have in them, knowing they appreciate you and remember that you like the attention. However, your attention is immediately drawn away from the customers whenever a caretaker walks into the area. You noticed how some customers sigh when this happens, since whichever dog was on their lap or they were petting immediately leaves and completely forgets the customer. You remember again your first day in the cafe, a caretaker approached you and handled you almost just as well as your owner. He groomed you, bathed you, fed you, and introduced you to all the other dogs. After that experience, you became simply too grateful to him and the other care-takers, always wanting to show them that you appreci-ate their efforts to make the cafe seem almost as good as home. You, along with all the other dogs, constantly swarm and cuddle up next to the caretakers whenev-er they come in to check on the customers and dogs.

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You do this in order to somehow gain favor among the caretakers, in hopes they pay more attention to you during feeding hours, or groom and bathe you more thoroughly.

Aside from competing for attention between customers and caretakers, your daily life in the cafe during working hours consists of trying to keep your-self busy, since the day passes slowly and is usually un-eventful. You, like all other dogs, often need to urinate and sometimes defecate too, and like them, you do it right on the floor of the dog zone. To your dismay, however, as you first attempted to mark your territory earlier in the week, your mess was quickly mopped up by the caretakers, and you were left confused with as to where your claimed area went. Alongside your poor attempt at establishing dominance, you observed that other dogs take it to the next level. Fights occur reg-ularly which results in dogs gnawing and barking at each other, to which you fear you might find yourself participating in, since the stress the cafe puts on dogs needs to be somehow released. Fortunately, you find another way to vent this stress, which is simply just taking a nap on the dog-zone floor. However, you find yourself joining maybe six or seven other dogs sleep-ing under the many benches in the dog zone, which just goes to show how tired everyone gets after work-

ing in the cafe for a while.

Having finished your look at the week that has passed, you stare at the wide, full-wall window in the dog zone. You space out, reflecting on your short time here so far and the long time to come. Hopefully your owner will visit every so often, even if it is boring without him; however, you enjoy the company of hu-mans who seem to pay you and your new friends just about the same amount of attention. Regardless, you wonder still if the humans will ever be able to under-stand that what they experience in the dog cafe with dogs is almost nothing compared to owning a dog of their own. They enter almost every day with smiles on their faces, and exit with those same smiles, some-times even bigger than what they started out as. Perhaps they’re better off not knowing.

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Barkin' TrendsGabriel Mercado

“To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs."

Aldous Huxley

Barkin' Trends

As I walked in the Barkin’ Blends, I couldn’t help but stare at the abundance of cute dogs looking right back at me. They came in all shapes, sizes and color! There were Golden Retrievers, Poodles, Shih Tzus, there was even a pug! I couldn’t wait to inter-act with these delightful balls of fur. After paying the fee of Php.190 (a bargain if you ask me), I proceeded directly to the “Dog zone” as they call it. After about thirty minutes of playing with the dogs, I decided to take a break and entered into the animal café’s second side, the fragrant aroma of the freshly ground coffee beans instantly tickled my nose. This side is more like the usually café’s, serving coffee, food and des-serts. The staff was also quite witty when it came to the names of the orders. The staff named some sand-wiches and drinks after the dogs on the other side.For example, “Psyche’s Teriyaki” which was their ver-sion of a chicken teriyaki rice bowl and was named after a Beagle. “Finn-E Pasta” which was some sort of penne pasta, the named derived itself from a Golden Retriever. Lastly the “Clydehouse” which was a club-house sandwich and named after a small Poodle. They were all also quite delicious. All in all, this experience was really an enjoyable one for me, from the food to the dogs, which leads me to think that the rise of the popularity of animal cafés is due to our Filipino life-style..

First of all, you might be asking yourself, what

is an animal café? An animal café is just like your typi-cal café but with a twist; there is an area where you can interact with the animal specialized by that café for a fee. You can usually play, feed even cuddle with these animals while sipping on some delicious drinks.There is a reasonable time limit for the animal area as not to overpopulate it. There are numerous types of animal cafés found in the Philippines, there is Barkin’ Blends in our very own Katipunan, Cat Café manila in Mag-inhawa street, which is also quite near, and Miao Cat Café in Metro Manila. These cafés are getting more common and common and getting more and more attention from the Filipino population. As Filipinos, I believe we have a keen sense for adventure. We al-ways want to try something new and exciting. We love things we have not experienced before. That is one of the few reasons animal cafés have booming business lately, its allure on the adventurous who want to ex-perience something unique. The animal cafés unique-ness comes from its main selling point, its animals. Sure you can enjoy a delicious, freshly brewed expres-so in some other fancy café.,but where else can enjoy that expresso with the company of cute and cuddly animals that you can play and hang out with? None other than the various animal cafés!

Another reason why we Filipinos have such an affinity for the animal cafés is because we are drawn to love animals. We usually keep pets at home which serves as our partner, cuddle buddy, playmate and sometimes even our best friend. Pets are also good to help us exercise. Although there is a downside. You

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would usually have to clean up after them, feed them when they are hungry and make them take baths, which all seems like one big hassle. Not to mention the cost of actually buying a pet. With animal cafés, you could have all of the good and none of the bad. You could play with them without the thought of hav-ing to clean up their dirty business. Isn’t that great? Most Filipinos also cannot refuse the call of cute stuff. Whenever we see something adorable or cuddly, we can’t help but say “awww” or hug it as tight as we pos-sibly can. Animal cafés will give you just that; a perfect mixture of cute and adorable animals who are well trained to give you the best possible experience you could have without the trouble of actually owning a pet.

Filipinos also love food. We are used to eat-ing good and delicious meals. Animal cafés are more than just petting zoos. After playing with the dogs or if the customer is hungry, they can head over to the delicious side of the animal café where there’s usually an abundant menu suited to cool you off or to satisfy your craving. For example, Barkin’ Blends has a wide variety of food in their menu ranging from sandwich-es, rice meals and pastas. They even add a bit of hu-mor on their menu using the different puns for the order! They also have various drinks from Frappé, to coffee and milk teas. So not only is Barkin’ Blends for the adventurous, it is also for the hungry.

Visiting an animal cafés also solve another common problem, stress, which we Filipinos often encounter. With Metro Manila’s fast paced, survival of the fittest lifestyle, we are usually caught up in work, numerous deadlines and tasks we have to accomplish.We try our best to accomplish all these tasks as soon as we can,which in turn adds up to copious amounts of stress. This can make our works not as good as it could be or mediocre. Stress can also lead to more se-rious conditions like heart attacks and depression.

Stress may also lead to bad vices like smok-ing, drinking and gambling What animal cafés do is that it provides a temporary escape from our busy and fast-paced life without all the bad effects of vices. Visiting is sort of an anti-stress activity. With all the cute dogs and delicious drinks, it is hard not to for-get that you actually have responsibilities to deal with in the outside world.With the help of the many ador-able animals in the cafés it is almost impossible not to find an animal which you think is cute, which in turn will help relieve your stress through interacting with it. From my experience, the time i went to Bar-

kin’ Blends was the week I had a Math long test and the Literature midterms. I was obviously stressed out of my mind and thought to myself that iI should make this visit quick. When i entered the café almost all my problems disappeared when I saw the small, adorable little pug named “Smile”. He helped me forget that I actually had responsibilities to deal with and i wanted to stay with him until the end of time. After my one hour visit, I felt as though a little of the burden on my shoulders was lifted. Instead of vices, one should try visiting Barkin’ Blends instead.

Animal cafés draw and allure us Filipinos be-cause of it’s main attractions, the animals. Playing, bonding and spending time with these cute, little an-imals helps us cope with our day to day life, reducing our stress and helping us forget about the problems we have. Just imagine all the adorable dogs and cats just waiting for you to play with them Also, the vari-ous delicious items on their intricate menu helps too. These cafés also save us from the responsibilities of being a real pet owner, but with all the perks. All in all, it is impossible for me to describe the feelings Barkin’ Blends had me experience on paper. With the animal cafés rise in popularity, you never know, you might find an animal café near you someday. This would give you the chance to experience this wonderful, new, and unique experience.

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“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself."

Josh Billings

A Man's BestfriendElizabeth Papa

Have you ever walked down the street, saw a really cute Siberian Husky, and just gasped? Or may-be you’ve been over at your friend’s house and got re-ally excited to find that he/she owns a very adorable Golden Retriever? Or have you ever strolled through one of those pet shops and just thought of buying that chubby, little Pug staring at you with the most charm-ing eyes? Well then, I’m pretty sure you have either been to Barkin’ Blends Dog Cafe or most likely heard about it.

The cafe is very popular among dog lovers, whether or not they own one for themselves. It’s not just a plain old cafe serving up cold drinks and cof-fees, it also houses a number of its own resident dogs that every dog lover can spend time with! Located in Quezon City, Barkin’ Blends Dog Cafe isn’t the only dog cafe in the country, being only one among many others. With the way Filipinos embraced this new idea came the opening of many more dog cafes. The pop-ularity of dog cafes in the Philippines, such as Barkin’ Blends Dog Cafe, proves the idea that “a dog is a man’s best friend” to be true.

Once you visit the place, you’ll see that most of the customers are inside the cafe’s Dog Zone. Al-though it is a cafe, the main product/service that cus-tomers avail the most is not their coffee but the time to play with the dogs. Barkin’ Blends houses mostly Golden Retrievers, Shih Tzus, and Lhasa Apsos but all

the other breeds are popular with the customers too. A couple of my best friend and I’s favorites are Smile (the Pug) and Yuki (the Maltese). Since one entry to the Dog Zone gives the cafe’s customers 2 hours of re-laxation with the dogs, every dog lover can get their fix. Following the cafe’s rules, customers may also bring their sealed drinks inside the Dog Zone so no worries about leaving their drinks behind in the Hu-man Zone. I’ve spoken with a few customers, which happen to be the same age as I am and they told me that they’ve visited the place more than once. One of them, Inna, told me that she owns a couple dogs herself but said that it’s still very relaxing and fun to interact with new dogs. This just goes to show how much Filipinos love the company that these endearing animals provide.

Recognizing this love, the owners of Barkin’ Blends Dog Cafe decided to open one of their own. With dog cafes (and even cat cafes) opening up all over the country, the popularity of pet cafes grew and grew. Countless articles about these cafes and restaurants were written and soon, almost every pet lover knew about them. They were everywhere, and by everywhere, I mean that everyone I asked around about Barkin’ Blends either knew exactly what I was talking about or have been to the place already. Re-alizing how much the Filipino community welcomed and embraced the idea of dog cafes and owning a couple dogs themselves, they decided to turn it into a business. Indeed, it is a very logical move because their cafe is almost never empty. People always come

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in and the booming platform for dog owners to start up their businesses only seems to get bigger. Barkin’ Blends is home to twenty-three dogs as of the mo-ment, all with different names and personalities. It would be very fascinating but somehow a little crazy to think that someone could own such a huge amount of dogs. Well, the owners didn’t really start with this fixed number of dogs at first, they started with a few and adopted more along the way. The Barkin’ Blends Dog Cafe owners already had a good number of dogs prior to the opening of their cafe but decided to adopt more since their place started to become popular. With more customers coming in and only a few dogs in the cafe, they needed to adopt more dogs to attend to all the new (and even old) customers.

Speaking of owning dogs, don’t be fooled, the place is still packed with dog owners! Even though some of the customers already own pets at home, they still come to Barkin’ Blends to spend time with the resident dogs. Inna, the customer mentioned before, owned a few Shih Tzus. She visited the place mainly because she wanted to know what it was like to play and spend time with other breeds of dogs and Bar-kin’ Blends is the perfect place for that. This only goes to show that even though dog owners have first-hand experience with dogs of their own, they still look for the comfort that a dog can give without the commit-ment of owning one. They cater to every dog lover, dog owner or not, being the home of a Dalmatian, Maltese, Basset Hound, Pug, Labrador Retriever, Chi-weenie, Yorkshire Terrier, Siberian Husky, Chinese Shar-pei, Irish Setter, Beagle, three Golden Retrievers, three Poodles, three Shih Tzus, and three Lhasa Ap-

sos. If that’s not enough for an average dog lover, then I certainly don’t know what is. Now, onto the non-dog owners: they make up the majority of the customers of the cafe. I think every dog lover and non-dog own-er like myself would know the struggle of not being able to have your fix of some quality dog time. It may be because one of your family members is allergic to them, or maybe you just can’t fully commit to taking care of one, it can be pretty sad at times. I believe that Barkin’ Blends Dog Cafe is an astounding alternative wherein people like myself can experience the com-fort and love a dog can give minus the hassle that comes with owning one.

Barkin’ Blends Dog Cafe is the result of the Fil-ipino community’s love for dogs and I’m thankful for it. Knowing a lot of people who desire to own dogs as well, this cafe is giving all of us a good substitute that almost feels the same as owning one. Having a drink of your choice and two hours in the Dog Zone, paying P190 is definitely worth it for every dog lover or even anyone who just wants to try the place out! A visit to Barkin’ Blends Dog Cafe can definitely brighten up anyone’s regular day, what more if it was a tiring and awful day? Once you step into the Dog Zone, you’ll immediately be absorbed by your surroundings and feel comforted. As a college student, I can attest to the huge amount of stress school gives. Ending the day with the very lovable dogs such as Skye the Husky and Bubbles the Dalmatian, all the day’s stress and worry will fade away. Just like going to your best friend when you’ve had enough of the world, twenty three new best friends will await you in Barkin’ Blends Dog Cafe, giv-ing you the solace and comfort you need.

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“The world would be a nicer place if everyone had the ability to love as unconditionally as a dog."

M.K. Clinton

Blendin' BarksJoseph Silva

The weather’s perfect. Too perfect that it be-came bleak. To defy the normality that seemed to seep into your very soul, you decided to go out somewhere for your first weekend brunch for a change. Your lack of excitement proved one thing. You have already been corrupted by the boredom. Nonetheless, you force yourself to go outside. After looking into the possible places where you could alleviate your boredom, you finally come up with a brilliant place. A place where magical creatures live. When thinking about that place, your barren eyes sparkled. You were ecstatic to go to Barkin’ Blends. Not only does it offer a chilling and relaxing place for weekend brunches, it also has these magical and enchanting creatures —which are too approachable, too lovable and too adorable— that will entertain and will alleviate the boredom of an austere weekend.

Among the towering commercial establish-ments along the Esteban Abada street and the Kati-punan Avenue, there lies a typical and not-so-old two-story complex. If you were a newbie who is not familiar in the vast and extensive world of Katipunan, you would probably ignore that dull building because your eyes were fascinated by the modern look of oth-er buildings, the Regis Center, the Burgundy Hotel, and the Oracle to name a few. Perhaps you were also attracted by the forest campus façade of the Ateneo. Overlooking these things, you proceed into the com-plex. After making your way towards the café located in the second floor, you immediately notice its sep-arated zones, one zone exclusively for man to man interaction and one zone for the interaction between man and the magical creatures. You also notice the gap between these zones. Your broken and bitter heart —which constantly composes hugot lines— seems to imply the distance between people’s relationships. Inside the human zone, people reside while partak-ing on different kinds of pasta and frappe. There were couples as well as families who come and go. You or-der a simple meal that amounts to Php 120. While eat-ing, you notice a couple. Instead of talking and enjoy-ing each other’s company, their eyes were focused on one thing. Their smartphones. The girl was busy tex-ting and browsing her Facebook and Twitter accounts while the boy was playing Clash of Clans and other mobile games. The zone exclusive for human interac-tions were hindered by small and electronic contrap-tions. Sad isn’t it?

After eating at the “Human Zone”, you quick-ly proceed to the main event. You proceed onto the other side. Upon entering the vicinity, you see the

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approachable, the lovable, and the adorable creatures that seemed to have their own little world in that room. Warm greetings from the staff welcome you as you slowly enter. After depositing your shoes into the lockers and wearing flip-flops while simultaneously sanitizing your hands, you finally enter the paradise of these creatures, their Eden. Contrary to the stereo-typical view of them being an object of vanity, these creatures are simple and uncomplicated. That is what makes them magical. That is what make dogs fasci-nating. That is why dogs claimed the title of “man’s best friend”. Rather than the hostile howling, you were welcomed by their friendly barking accompanied by their wild panting. Their faces were that of children who were excited for their parents to come home. Not being able to control yourself, you reached out and hugged Skye, the Siberian Husky who was half-awake and half-asleep. Although he didn’t mind the action, a hug from him felt like hugging a warm and an ani-mate marshmallow. You finally knew how Agnes felt when she got that unicorn plushie from the movie De-spicable Me. “It’s so fluffy I’m gonna die!”

After that blissful moment, you went deep-er into the room. As you went deeper, the dogs were flocking around trying to sniff you while others even try to lick you. These interactions where enough to make you feel loved and at home. There were a hand-

ful of them present in the room. Some of them were taking their daily siestas. Hence, sleeping in any place where they could possibly fit, in awkward yet cute sleeping positions. Fiona and Vader were the ones with the most awkward sleeping positions. Some of the dogs were also playful. They look like they were fighting for their territories while playing with the other dogs. Piolo, Martha, Ella all played with their hearts’ content. Other dogs prefer the company of their caretakers. Coco and Bonnie were softly caressed by their caretakers in their small stomachs. Contrary to the statement above, other dogs prefer the compa-ny of the customers. Psyche and Smile enjoyed and played with the customers like they were their owners and masters.

After you sit on a bench and appreciate the retro atmosphere of the room, the cold temperature gradually relaxes you as you hear the blending barks of the creatures present in the room. While chilling and playing with the dogs, you see a family with two children enter the zone. Their eyes sparkled, especial-ly the two kids. They were very eager to play around with the dogs. The dogs, as usual, welcomed them with their memorable actions. As the kids’ shouted cheerfully while grabbing and hugging the fluffy dogs, their parents looked at them with content. They watched and guarded their children while playing.

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love as unconditionally as a dog. This wonderful quo-tation came from M.K. Clinton who is the author of The Returns book series. This excerpt entails that sometimes, the world tend to forget about others and focus only about themselves. This is the root of mis-understandings and miscommunications. By looking at dogs and how they interact with other dogs as well as other people, their selflessness and purity of the heart is highlighted. Simple interactions with animals, especially dogs, could liven up even the dullest rela-tionships.

At the end, you stand up looking contented and pleased. You slowly walk out of the room while bidding farewell from that once in a lifetime event. You also say goodbye to the dogs. While walking to-wards the exit, the caretakers say a warm “Thank you and come again”. After that farewell, you here the cute growls and barks not only of the dogs. The family and the couple, as well as the caretakers all talk and converse in content with their smiling faces as they enjoy the company of one another. You take off the flip-flops, get the shoes from the locker, and sanitize yourself once more. You hear the caretakers saying: “Thank you! Come again!” Blending barks could be heard as you step out of the room. Outside, you feel the warm rays of the sun touching your skin. The wind gently blows on your face and your hair. The weather’s perfect. Too perfect.

However, they didn’t resist the enticing play between their kids and the dogs. They wanted to join in. The dogs welcomed them just like how they welcomed the kids. While playing, they were taking pictures of the dogs. They were also talking to the dogs. The dogs, although animal in anatomy, has a soft heart. They un-derstood the customers even though they were of dif-ferent species. The mutual relationship of the family of humans and the family of dogs seemed to strengthen each other’s bonds. Besides the family, the couple who were previously on the human zone also entered the room. As the couple held hands, their dull eyes be-came lively when they were on the company of the dogs. They interacted not only with the dogs, but with each other. They nourished their intimate relationship with each other, with the help coming from the dogs. Yes, dogs are the best wingmen that you could ever get.

In that particular room. With that particu-lar company. All of these fell to an equilibrium in a moment in time. It may or may not happen again. However, this particular reason enable the family, the couple, and in a way the dogs too, to remember and cherish it for a long period of time. The family happi-ly bonded. The couple embellished their intimate re-lationship by finding a similar interest. In this sense, being dog-lovers. Truly, dogs are great examples on how we should value the action of bonding. The world would be a nicer place if everyone had the ability to

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D O G U E

Diego DrilonJamie Gutierrez

Gabriel MercadoElizabeth Papa

Joseph SilvaCamilo Sorreta

Contributors

Special Thanks toBarkin’ Blends Facebook page

Layout and Design by Joseph Silva

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N O V E M B E R

All Rights Reserved | 2015