DOG HEART — Restaurant in Tokyo

very bad experience. The dog leash was off by itself!!!!!! I came dog heart with full good expectation and excitement. I chose Elly to be my cute partner for a 1h walking. Right at the first traffic light after I went downstairs and walked a bit further from Dog Heart, right at the moment when me and the dog started to walk as soon as the ligh turned green, the DOG LEASH WAS OFF !!!! OMG i had no idea what was wrong with the dog leash! it must be so loose or somewhere on the edge of breaking already!!! As soon as the leash was no more on the dog’s neck, the dog went crazy omg like running around right on the cross!!! i was trying to catch the dog but the dog tried to bite me when i tried to hold it and it saw me trying to catch it it went even crazier omg...3 japanese girls saw this crazy dog and me on the bridge and they screamed some japanese i didn’t understand!!!!! when the traffic light turned red, the cars started to run over, the dog was crazily running through the cars and I was so panic!! i tried to carch it but i couldn’t! it tried to bite me OMG! In the end, the dog run towards the direction of Dog Heart (luckily we didn’t walk far from the store) and it was caught by a staff from the pet shop at ground floor ! I rushed to 2nd floor where Dog Heart at and asked for help. That was how the story ended. OMG THIS 5 MINUTES ALMOST GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK!!!! the dog heart staff said something like this never happened before. Why didn’t they check if the leash was firm before they handed it to me??? In the end they asked me to change a dog but I was too shocked and ended up staying inside for 30mins and Dog Heart still charged me the full price of that 🤦🏻‍♀️no any reimbursement or friendly discount. I mean you just almost gave me a heart attack, your dog might probably die by being run over, I would suffer even more if your dog died, every party would suffer if some bad things happened to the dog, all because you didn’t check carefully before you...

We saw this little dog café and read that you can cuddle dogs guilt free, so we wanted to give it a try.

When you come in, you first change your shoes into slippers, take off your jacket and wash your hands. 30min of cuddling cost 1300JPY and there is an automatic extension so keep your eyes on the watch - you will not be informed, when 30mins are up.

The room itself is small, pretty clean and you sit on the floor once you step in. The interaction happens mostly, when the dogs want to interact with you and you are not supposed to chase them or carry them around, which is positive for the animals.

The dogs are super cute, but depending on the time you visit (for us around 5 or 6 p.m.) they might be tired/exhausted from all the human interaction. Some dogs displayed a little abnormal behavior, one was seeking shelter in a corner or another one was just way too young (almost a puppy) to be so close to humans - it seemed confused about its place in the pack and how to interact with humans accordingly, most likely lacking basic trust, which can result due to an early separation from the mother.

Two employees were taking good care of the dogs, but a third one wasn't friendly and approachable at all - neither to the dogs, nor to us as customers - she didn't even greet us with a smile, but instead just talked about the automatic payment extension and told us where to put our clothes etc.

All in all it was a very mixed experience. The dogs are super adorable, but at the same time we felt so sorry during and afterwards for some of them that were very exhausted, but simply got put on our lap by the caretakers. Hence, I wouldn't say that this is really a guilt-free place and you might end up more sad with how these cute dogs are treated than happy about the 30min of cuddling.

P.S. it's not a real café, where you can...

I read about Dog Heart's service of being able to take one of their dogs out for a walk and thought it was pretty nice. However, I was surprised by the lack of guidelines protecting the wellbeing of the dogs that I feel hesitant recommending this service (especially in the summer): my friend and I went around 11am and the sun was already pretty hot out. Due to the heat, they only allowed the beagles to be taken out for a walk. However, after walking the beagle, I think it is too hot even for them. When we returned to the shop, there was another guy who brought another beagle out to walk and he was also telling the shop that it's too hot for the dogs to be walking, the poor beagle with him looked so tired. I think it would be better to have suitable fixed timings (ie. mornings or early evenings only) that will be more comfortable for the dog to be out especially during the summer. The shop recommends visitors to take the doggies out to the nearby Yoyogi park. However, the route to Yoyogi is mostly unsheltered and we quickly realised that it could be painful and hot for the dogs to walk on the pavement and the hot tar road. The beagle that we took out kept seeking shelter and didn't really want to move. So we brought the beagle to rest under a sheltered building during the hour and she seemed much more comfortable and happier. I do feel that walking a dog does require some basic training on the walker's part especially for people that might not have any experience handling dogs before. I was surprised that there was no screening of experience or skill of the walkers before allowing the dogs out for a walk, there was also no instructions on how to handle the dog if anything happens. I think it would be great if they can provide a bit more screening to ensure the wellbeing and safety of the...