5 Reasons We Loved Visiting Human’s Best Friend, NYC’s Pop-Up Dog Experience

LifeOther

Sep 16

We had a great time at Human’s Best Friend—even when Lizzie pooped in the middle.

Lizzie explores the ball pit at Human’s Best Friend

NYC is an amazing city for so many reasons—great theater, beautiful parks, endless mind-blowing restaurants. But it’s not always an amazing place to be a dog owner. Pups are blocked from most stores and restaurants, and even parks often have restrictions on whether dogs are allowed on their lawns.

That’s why it was a total delight to visit New York’s brand-new pop-up experience, Human’s Best Friend. Think of it as the Museum of Ice Cream, but for pups. It’s a wonderland of treats, experiences, and photo ops—all designed for dogs.

The immersive experience opened in the West Village this weekend and runs through November 12 with eight interactive environments for pups and their humans to play, relax, and take a TON of photos. Human tickets are $29 and 10% of the profits go to local rescue organizations.

Still on the fence? Here are the five reasons we loved our visit to Human’s Best Friend:

1. You can sample New Dog Products

How often do you actually get to try out a bunch of dog treats and toys? At Human’s Best Friend, toys are EVERYWHERE—and Lizzie had the time of her life. It was so fun to watch her reactions to all the different options. (I think we’ll be ordering one of the Fat Cat chickens shown above!)

And of course, we loved the treat samples. Ollie, a local dog food company, had sponsored “The Bone Bar” with a little treat buffet. Lizzie went crazy for the Tasty Chicken Strips.

2. It’s truly Dog-Friendly, not just dog-tolerant

Elizabeth the Corgi visits Humans Best Friend in NYC. Read the full review of Human's Best Friend and see more photos on The Dapple.

I can’t emphasize enough how nice it was to be an environment that was really, truly welcoming to pups. Each experience was gated, so we could just relax and let Lizzie wander.

Lizzie was pretty relaxed too—so relaxed that she pooped in the fourth room. (😱) But the staff were incredibly chill and helped us clean it up. Talk about being truly dog-friendly!

3. Your Dog Can have some new adventures

I wouldn’t have expected Lizzie to happily go down a slide, but she actually seemed to enjoy it! We loved watching her interact with the different environments and activities.

4. You’ll get photoshoot-quality pics

There were so many opportunities to get great photos of your dog against colorful backgrounds, posing with crazy props, and or sitting in fun sets. Definitely plan to come with your camera—or your cell battery at 100%.