Five Questions with Rebecca Bisgyer of Dog-ma

As anyone who’s been on Capitol Hill for even an hour knows, the Hill is possibly the dog-friendliest community in the city.  Unfortunately, many of us have jobs that take us away from our furry companions for much of the day. Thankfully, we have Rebecca Bisgyer to the rescue!  Rebecca was toiling away in the corporate world, but suffering from DogMom angst every day she had to leave her pups alone.  She knew she couldn’t be the only one who hated starting every day with sad snouts, and so she started Dog-Ma, “Washington’s first and only, outdoor and indoor, day-care and night-care, play-care for dogs.”  Luckily for us, she found a spot just south of 295 and we’ve been lucky enough to have her in the neighborhood ever since.  This week, Rebecca answers Five Questions.

How did you choose the Hill to be Dog-ma’s home?
Pure providence! When I conceived of Dog-ma, there were no other [dog] daycare centers in DC;  in fact, I thought I would be the first anywhere until I started doing my research.  After finding the concept did indeed exist in a couple of other cities, I went to visit some places in NY, which of course had no outside space at all.  And, because I lived in Northwest DC, I assumed I would have an indoor-only daycare center, given the density of the downtown neighborhoods.  I also knew that convincing a landlord would be a challenge given the doggie realities and the fact it was a very new and unfamiliar idea at the time.  By chance, when a realtor friend showed me the listing in SE DC, I immediately saw the potential for doing something truly unique:  having an indoor/outdoor group play facility for dogs without the neighborhood-impact concerns, because the location, while very convenient was in a sparsely populated commercial area situated next to a park and a freeway overpass on a one-way, essentially no-thru street.  Because of that, the landlord hadn’t been able to find a tenant, given the unusual nature of the site and the resulting lack of foot traffic (and as a result, I think he would have let me raise elephants on the property, which helped my cause at the time.)  The large outdoor areas and the willingness of the landlord to give us a flexible lease made it a clear choice for us as a start-up;  I also knew people would be dropping their dogs on the way to work and the site was incredibly accessible to more residential areas of the Hill and commuters traversing the freeway from Virginia and Maryland.  Unlike the busy streets in my area of NW DC, for example, not only could you pull up without blocking any traffic or buses, but because the outdoor play areas fronted the building, we could accept our “regulars” right at the front gate.  There was – and still is – nothing like it.  Additionally, because you could watch your dog at play, we were transparent and trustworthy.  That helped establish the value of the concept and our service from day one. The fact that I then learned the Hill happened to be incredibly dog-focused was gravy!

What makes the Hill one of the most dog friendly neighborhoods in the city?
Because I had never lived on and wasn’t really familiar with the Hill all those years back, this was a wonderful surprise. (Especially because every person I knew who didn’t have a dog thought “doggy daycare” meant I had lost my mind initially.)  But once the demanding start-up logistics had been taken care of, I was able to see how many devoted dog-owners were in our immediate vicinity, and discovered the sheer variety of parks and places you could take your dogs – Lincoln Park, Stanton Park, Congressional Cemetery, the various school-yards, the stores who catered to or allowed dogs inside – and the fact that there were more homes with yards and wider tree-lined avenues than the apartment/condo demographics of the Adams Morgan/Dupont Circle areas, where I had lived.  I got lucky:  Dog-ma was located in doggy heaven.  And I met so many people on the Hill who got the concept immediately – especially those who worked long hours and came home to Call-of-the-Wild-Puppy.  (Plus, dog people are friendlier people, period.)

What are the biggest changes you’ve seen on the Hill since you opened Dog-ma?
I was six blocks from what would become the stadium (almost a decade later) and a block off M Street, before the office buildings went up and the real estate boom started changing everything around us.  There wasn’t a community garden in the park next to us back then, that’s for sure (smile), and Barracks Row hadn’t been revitalized yet.  It was very, very different, and I felt like an urban pioneer on my lonely block of Virginia Avenue.  But twice a day like clockwork, our little island became a destination for so many dog lovers, and we had a great time getting to know the whole Pack.  After a couple of years I leased an additional parcel of land and building next door to the original site,  expanded the yards, and started doing 24-hour care, and the next chance I got to look up from my desk, all the real estate behind me was exploding.  You can’t imagine how different it was – I had trouble getting the city to deliver services to my block initially.  Luckily for us, we still have the feeling of an enclave because of the dogs and the unusual nature of the property, but now it’s an island within a busy urban mecca.

What is your favorite thing about the Hill?
My clients… and their owners.

What’s next for you and Dog-ma?
A biscuit, play-time, dip in the doggy pool, and a nap.  Followed by more play (and possibly another biscuit).