Seoul Day 3: Bau House @ Hongdae (Dog Cafe)

So on the 3rd day, before Sophia and Weiting went back to Singapore, we headed to a dog cafe. It's a pretty big thing, dog cafes, in Seoul especially. Since we didn't want to check out multiple ones, we went to the acclaimed best one by bloggers online. This dog cafe, called Bau House, had the most amount of dogs, and the most variety of breeds. 

So, we took a train down from Seoul station to Hapjeong, and then get out of exit 3, take a right to go backwards and turn left at the next junction you hit. From there on, walk around 30 steps and look to your right and you'll find Bau House!

The place is generally very clean, and the staff are really quick to clean up when the dogs do their business or drool all over. The place has the usual dog smell but it's not too pungent that you'll feel like choking up. For me, I'm not much of a pet lover but I felt pretty fine there.

One good thing about this place is that they divided 2 sections: one for bigger dogs, and one for smaller dogs. It's pretty good I guess, because when some people brought their smaller dogs into the bigger dogs area, there was a lot of barking and chasing around so I guess sometimes smaller dogs get bullied or frightened.

When you go in, they'll seat you wherever you want to be seated and give you a menu. Although entry to the dog cafe is free, it's actually recommended to get a drink per person, which rounds up to around 8,000W per person. The drinks are pretty okay, but the main attraction of the cafe are the dogs anyway. 

As much as dog cafes are usually for owners to bring their dogs to mingle with other dogs, or to have their dog taken care of by the staff, visitors (mostly tourists) come to play with the dogs that are sited in the cafe itself, or owned by others. From what you can see in the photos, the dogs are usually very smart.. They walk towards your table and let you give them a pat or two, and continue moving on.

The way to keep them with you, is to buy treats or snacks from the counter. It's around 3,000W per pack and it's more than enough to spend 2 hours there feeding dogs, playing with them and having them do little tricks. We got a pack of round looking treats and the moment you held the packet, all the dogs look toward you and start coming towards you. (Some even jump on you)

There're so many different types of dogs there and each of them have their own names (written on a poster on the wall) and it really helps if you call their names because they respond to it. If you have treats, there're some things you can make them do before feeding them the treat:

앉아 - ahnja; which is to sit

손 - sohn; which is hand 

 

They will shake your hand

 

One of the things I didn't like: the dogs will crowd around you and jump on you

However, there were little little cute ones

Handsome looking ones...

That could even stand on their hind legs

In any case, if you're a dog lover and you're in Seoul for a holiday or business trip, take some time to go down to a dog cafe. It's a pretty good experience and one of the things that you don't see all the time everywhere. The dogs are friendly, eat a lot, like to cuddle, play and fight. As a person from Singapore, an English-speaking country, it's funny to see people speak Korean to their dogs here in Korea.

Here's a derp dog photo for you before I end: