The Unleashed by Petco store is closing near Ballston (staff photo)
The Unleashed by Petco store is closing near Ballston (staff photo)
The Unleashed by Petco store is closing near Ballston (staff photo)
The Unleashed by Petco store near Ballston is closing this month.
The smaller-format chain pet store — which also offered pet vaccinations, dog training and a self-serve washing station — has been in business at 3902 Wilson Blvd for just over 10 years.
It plans to close on Saturday, Jan. 20, and is offering discounts of 10-60% as part of a store closing sale.
ARLnow reported on a “for lease” sign outside of the single-story, 4,666 square foot commercial building early last year.
A leasing flyer noted that the building was last renovated in 2013, when Petco moved in, and that it has 19 parking spaces.
The last remaining Unleashed store in Arlington is located at 5400 Langston Blvd. It opened in 2011. A previous Pentagon City location closed in 2021.
While store employees were not sure what would be replacing Petco, permits filed in September show that it will be an Inova-GoHealth Urgent Care clinic. Planned interior construction work to the circa-1925 building includes new rooms, walls, ceiling soffits, restrooms, lighting and relocated stairs.
An Inova spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment by publication time. The healthcare system is in the midst of a major expansion that will see new hospitals in Springfield and Alexandria, as well as a sizable healthcare facility near Potomac Yard.
Dogs playing in the snow (Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf)
It’s the Five and Five, where nonprofit Washington Consumers’ Checkbook provides five top-rated local businesses and five tips for getting great service and prices. ARLnow readers can access all of Checkbook’s ratings of local veterinarians until Jan. 15 at Checkbook.org/ARLnow/vets.
The following veterinary practices are best bets for Arlingtonians, according to the Washington Consumers’ Checkbook.
These five received a top rating for quality (as reported by their customers in Checkbook’s surveys).
Arlington Animal Hospital
2301 Columbia Pike #G-1
Arlington, VA 22204
703-920-5300
Caring Hands Animal Hospital
2955 S Glebe Rd #C
Arlington, VA 22206
703-535-3100
Elpaw Veterinary Clinic
33 S Pickett St
Alexandria, VA 22304
703-751-3707
Northside Veterinary Clinic
4003 Langston Blvd
Arlington, VA 22207
703-525-7115
NOVA Cat Clinic
3838 Cathedral Ln
Arlington, VA 22203
703-525-1955
Checkbook’s Top Five Tips for Getting Great Vet Care for Less Scratch
Size up veterinary practices. While you can’t assess all aspects of a veterinarian’s skills and expertise, you can judge many factors central to good medical care: Can you arrange to quickly get an appointment? Does the vet listen and communicate well? Spend enough time with you?
Look for a vet who will provide thorough advice and comprehensive materials to help you avoid future office visits. For the health of your pet—and your wallet—the vet should offer advice on disease prevention, ways to spot health problems on your own, and taking care of sick pets.
Shop for price. Checkbook’s undercover shoppers collected prices from local vets for six different procedures and found big price differences. To spay a seven-month-old, 25-pound dog, area practices charge fees ranging from $235 to $1,404.
Don’t put much weight in American Animal Hospital Association accreditation. Veterinary hospitals can become accredited by the AAHA by meeting certain minimum standards. Interestingly, among the veterinary practices evaluated by Checkbook, AAHA accreditation seems to have little relationship to service quality.
Think twice before buying pet insurance. Checkbook recently analyzed pet insurance policies and found that in most cases, even the best plans ended up costing more in premiums than they paid out over a pet’s lifetime.
Washington Consumers’ Checkbook magazine and Checkbook.org is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help consumers get the best service and lowest prices. We are supported by consumers and take no money from the service providers we evaluate.
Starting this Friday, as part of the nationwide “Empty the Shelters” event, the shelter is offering reduced adoption fees for dogs, cats and small animal companions such as rabbits, guinea pigs and rats.
During the event, which runs through Saturday, Dec. 9, dogs and cats can be adopted for a reduced fee of $50. Many of the dogs can be adopted for free thanks to funding from several sponsors, per a press release.
Additionally, adoption fees for small animal companions, which range from $25-75, will be halved.
Currently, the shelter says it has 17 dogs awaiting homes. While this number might seem small, AWLA spokeswoman Chelsea Jones emphasized the facility is small and adoptions are at a “historic low” in Arlington, a trend playing out across the country.
“We have several dogs who have been with us for multiple months, like Ginger, who has been with us for more than 230 days, and Sonny, who has been with us since February,” Jones said.
A dog in a costume on Columbia Pike (via Columbia Pike Partnership/Facebook)
Columbia Pike’s 2023 Pet Fair is scheduled for Sept. 30 at Penrose Square Outdoor Plaza (via Columbia Pike Partnership)
(Updated 9/13/23) Columbia Pike pet festival “Paws on the Pike” will return this month and unleash a day of pet-centric offerings and activities.
The pet fair, hosted by the Columbia Pike Partnership, is scheduled for Sept. 30 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Penrose Square outdoor plaza, located at 2501 9th Road S.
Attendees can have their pets sit for complimentary pet portraits and participate in a pet costume contest, hosted by the Arlington Animal Hospital in honor of its 85th anniversary. Those interested in portraits must sign up in advance.
There will be a DJ and a “water bar” where pets can sample water. At 1 p.m., Pastor Ashley Goff of Arlington Presbyterian Church will perform a pet blessing.
Pet owners can also connect with local pet service providers and vendors, such as veterinarians, trainers, pet-sitters, boarders, dog walkers and groomers.
For those interested in pet adoption, representatives from the Animal Welfare League of Arlington will be available to inform people about animals in need of homes.
A few weeks later, a Columbia Pike wellness festival showcasing local wellness purveyors will be held in the same location on Saturday, Oct. 14 from noon to 4 p.m.
A new pet urgent care is opening in Buckingham (photo courtesy of Urgent Animal Care of Arlington)
A new pet urgent care is opening in Buckingham (photo courtesy of Urgent Animal Care of Arlington)
A new pet urgent care is hoping to open this weekend in Buckingham.
Urgent Animal Care of Arlington at 249 N. Glebe Road hopes to start caring for furry best friends by the weekend, per co-owner Kayleen Gloor. The business claims it’s the first “sole dedicated [animal] urgent care in any capacity within Arlington,” though others like Bond Vet in Clarendon bill themselves as combination urgent and primary care for pets.
The veterinarian urgent care is from the team behind Clarendon Animal Care, which has locations in Clarendon and on Columbia Pike.
ARLnow first reported the pet urgent care was making its move to Buckingham back in January. It’s in the space once home to a SunTrust Bank branch, which closed more than four years ago. Following the style of the shopping center, the clinic is topped by art deco neon signage that glows at night.
While initially the opening was planned for the winter, the need to upgrade power led to a push.
“Delays were due to increased power needs due to the equipment we have (new HVAC and X-ray machine), so we were waiting on the power upgrade in order to get final inspections,” co-owner Natasha Ungerer told ARLnow via email.
An urgent care clinic for a pet differs from an emergency room in terms of the severity of the issue and what can be treated. The clinic is intended for “pets in stable condition that cannot wait to see their regular veterinarian,” per the website, with issues “that fall between a primary veterinarian practice visit and an emergency.”
The conditions that can be treated at a veterinarian urgent care include:
Serious cuts
Vomiting and diarrhea
Trouble walking
Difficulty urinating
Prolonged low appetite
Limping
Mild injuries
Ear and skin problems
The clinic is appointment-based but walk-ins are often still available. The hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Mondays with weekend hours running from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The hope is to go to seven days a week, so adding Tuesday and Wednesday hours, starting in mid-July, Ungerer said.
Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that highlights Arlington-based startups, founders, and local tech news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1515 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn.
A longtime Arlingtonian has launched a company that seeks to provide a more personalized pooch poop removal service.
Wes Clough, a Gulf Branch resident who is a partner at a handful of local restaurants, founded Poop Patroller this year after running into some service quality issues with his previous pet waste removal company.
“My wife and I, we have dogs, we’re busy and to try and make our lives easier, we had a pet waste removal service for almost 10 years,” he said. “I watched that company get bigger, and in my experience, the service deteriorated.”
He would come home to his gate left open, and one time, his dog got out as a result.
“I thought, there has got to be a better way,” said Clough.
Running Poop Patroller, Clough focuses on customer service by, for example, using software to keep clients updated on the status of the service, including push notifications to confirm that their gates have been closed after the poop is scooped.
While some people cannot fathom the idea of outsourcing this work, he says there is strong interest among pet owners. He compared it to landscaping, with some people firmly in the camp of cutting their own grass and others hiring gardeners as soon as they have a yard.
The Poop Patroller car (courtesy Wes Clough)
The company uses compostable bags and donates a percentage of its gross revenue to the Lost Dog & Cat Foundation. Clough, a Yorktown High School graduate, moved back to Arlington after six years in the Navy and says he has watched the nonprofit grow, experiencing the good it does firsthand.
“We have adopted three dogs through them and have donated as well,” Clough said. “It seems like a focused organization that does a good job.”
He says steering some revenue to the nonprofit and using environmentally friendly bags is important because his clientele care about their money going to good causes and companies that share their values.
Running Poop Patroller, his first venture of this nature, is a big departure from being a partner in restaurants, he says.
“I’m finding social media interaction is more important than… before,” he said. “Also, because I’m doing this on my own, versus with partnerships, everything I have to do I have to do myself or hire people to help with startup and business development.”
Currently, the only patroller is Clough, who is able to handle the workload part-time. As he gains more clientele in Northern Virginia and Northwest D.C., he says he hopes he can hire some employees. Today, most of his clients are in Arlington, with a few in Alexandria.
“It would be great to have several full-time employees, I like the idea of creating jobs,” he said. “I’m not in a rush, though, I’m okay with growing organically.”
A pooch and a poop picker-upper (courtesy Wes Clough)
Wag N’ Wash at 2501 N. Harrison Street (staff photo by Vernon Miles)
Wag N’ Wash at 2501 N. Harrison Street (staff photo by Vernon Miles)
Wag N’ Wash at 2501 N. Harrison Street (staff photo by Vernon Miles)
Just one month after both Loyal Companion stores in Arlington closed amid the chain’s bankruptcy, both locations are back as new pet stores.
In the Lee Harrison Shopping Center, Loyal Companion is still the sign above the storefront, but inside it has been converted into Wag N’ Wash, a pet store with a focus on pet hygiene.
Wag N’ Wash is a national chain with a few locations in the region, including one in Vienna.
As far as conversions go, the changes inside are fairly minor. Staff at the store, located at 2501A N. Harrison Street, said “it’s mostly the same stuff” with the same dog washing services Loyal Companion offered, just under a new name.
One of the few notable changes, staff said, is that eventually Wags N’ Wash will have a self-serve dog wash.
Meanwhile, a store manager at Dogma Bakery & Boutique said the new location near Clarendon — at 2509 Franklin Road — will have a soft opening later this week, perhaps on Wednesday, March 15, depending on when the shelves get set up. The store expects to be fully open next week.
Leasing sign in front of Unleashed by Petco store near Ballston (photo courtesy Ray Caputo)
(Updated at 11:20 a.m.) The building that hosts a Ballston area pet store is being offered for lease.
A leasing flyer says the 4,666 square foot, circa-1925 commercial building at 3902 Wilson Blvd is available for new a tenant starting in January 2024. That suggests that the existing tenant, Unleashed by Petco, will be closing later this year after its lease is up.
Unleashed opened in the space in September 2013, about nine-and-a-half years ago. It replaced the quirky, homegrown burger-and-hot-dog restaurant Wiinky’s.
The flyer notes that the free-standing building was renovated in 2013, when Petco moved in, and that the property has 19 parking spaces.
The only other remaining Unleashed store in Arlington is located at 5400 Langston Blvd. It opened in 2011. A Pentagon City location closed in 2021.
Among other pet-related businesses along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, the Loyal Companion pet store at 2509 Franklin Road in Courthouse just closed but is expected to be replaced soon by Dogma Bakery & Boutique.
The Shirlington-based local pet store announced on Saturday that it was opening its third Northern Virginia location at 2509 Franklin Road in the Clarendon area. It’s taking over the space that Loyal Companion is leaving at the end of February.
Earlier in the month, Loyal Companion announced it was closing many of its pet stores across the country, including the two in Arlington, due to its parent company declaring bankruptcy. Both locations, in Clarendon and at Lee Harrison Shopping Center, were planning to close on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
Within weeks, though, Dogma committed to taking over the space.
While it’s taking over the space at the beginning of next month, Dogma owner Sheila Raebel told ARLnow the plan is to reopen by Tuesday, March 7. She said one of the biggest reasons to move in was the desire to keep Loyal Companion’s staff employed.
“The decision was made when I met the staff there and saw how hard they were taking the closure of their store,” said Raebel. “I couldn’t let that happen.”
Dogma opened more than two decades ago in Shirlington and expanded to Reston in 2017, with the new location focused on grooming. The Reston outpost closed during the pandemic and then was open for appointments only.
Separately, Raebel also announced the Reston location will be fully reopening next month.
Updated renderings of the “West Tower” at 223 23rd Street S. in Crystal City (via Arlington County)
Updated renderings of the “East Tower” at 2250 Crystal Drive in Crystal City (via Arlington County)
Updated renderings of the “East Tower” at 2250 Crystal Drive in Crystal City (via Arlington County)
Dog poop, a lackluster park and imposing tower façades.
These are lingering concerns for some county commission members and residents who recently reviewed designs for two proposed apartment towers from JBG Smith in Crystal City.
The developer proposes building two towers with a total of 1,440 apartment units where the restaurant Jaleo (2250 Crystal Drive) used to be, and where an 11-story office building stands (223 23rd Street S). The new towers would have ground-floor retail and a parking garage underground.
Architects went back to the drawing board after a meeting in July to improve designs, and generally, these improvements were welcomed during a Site Plan Review Committee meeting last week.
Still, commissioners, community members and county staff said a planned interim park should be more vibrant — with ample amenities to separate dogs and their droppings from other visitors — and the towers should have more pedestrian-scale architecture, so that walking by does not feel claustrophobic and shady.
“I do hope there will be signs saying ‘This is not a dog park’ because people will try their hardest to use it as such,” said Ben D’Avanzo, a nearby resident representing the Aurora Highlands Civic Association, during the meeting on Thursday. “There’s only so much we can do to control that and prevent what happened at Met Park happens here.”
Before Amazon began rebuilding the park, Metropolitan Park was best known for being a large patch of grass where dogs from neighboring apartment buildings relieved themselves.
The 2010 Crystal City Sector Plan envisions three park spaces, totalling some 26,000 square feet, but one of those parks would require JBG Smith to redevelop apartments at 2221 S. Clark Street. In the interim, as part of this project, JBG Smith will create a temporary 8,000 square-foot park on the southwest corner of 223 23rd Street S.
Commissioners had also criticized initial designs for the park near JBG Smith’s planned towers for being “just a lawn,” said Planning Commissioner James Schroll during a meeting last week.
“Some of the concerns we received from you guys is that there may be foot traffic cutting through this lawn and there were concerns pet owners would use it for dog relief, and we didn’t really want that,” said Amanda Walker, with OJB Landscape Architecture.
Landscapers added pet relief areas and plantings around the park’s edges to prevent people from creating desire paths. The park is designed to allow for flexible, removable furniture to accommodate concerts, fitness classes and picnics and become a “destination for the community,” Walker said.
Before and after changes to designs for the interim open space at 223 23rd Street S. (via Arlington County)
“Right now, this looks good, but we’ve got lots of parks that look like this all over the area. It’s going to be hard to attract people to it in this interim period,” said Michael Dowell, representing the Crystal City Citizen Review Council. “If we really want to take a chance, let’s get some massive sculpture — that you can move…”
“… to the next interim park,” said Chris Slatt, representing the Transportation Commission at the SPRC meeting, completing Dowell’s sentence.
Volunteer greets rescued beagles at the LDCRF Rescue Center in Falls Church (photo courtesy of Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation)
Volunteer holds two rescued beagle puppies on their first full day at the LDCRF Rescue Center in Falls Church (photo courtesy of Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation)
Two rescued beagles relax at their new foster home (photo courtesy of the Animal Welfare League of Arlington)
A rescued beagle at the Fairfax County Animal Shelter (staff photo by Matt Blitz)
LDCRF Executive Director, Dawn Wallace, plays with a group of beagles (photo courtesy of Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation)”
A beagle puppy nibbling at the Fairfax County Animal Shelter (staff photo by Matt Blitz)
After spending all of their lives in kennels, nearly 70 beagles will soon be up for adoption through Arlington-based organizations.
The dogs are now going through medical exams and being given a chance to adjust to their new life before being adopted out, both organizations told ARLnow.
There’s no set timeline yet for when the beagles will be ready to go to their forever homes.
Last year, inspections at an Envigo breeding and research facility in Cumberland, Virginia where thousands of beagles were being housed turned up dozens of animal welfare violations.
Finally, in July of this year, a judge ordered the release of thousands of beagles from the facility, with authorities having two months to find the dogs new homes. The plight of the beagles became an international story.
Several local shelters have lended a paw to the rescue efforts. AWLA in Shirlington took in 10 beagles while LDCRF, the non-profit beneficiary of Arlington restaurants Lost Dog Cafe and Stray Cat Bar & Grill, greeted 56 beagles at its Falls Church care center. The nearby Fairfax County Animal Shelter also took in 16 beagles.
Our #EnvigoBeagles are heading to their foster homes today! This will be the first time these dogs have ever experienced living in a house, sleeping in a bed, or going outside. Please consider donating to our beagles' fundraising page at https://t.co/ZfjWIsZIU0pic.twitter.com/E2cyVGzTZY
Now the focus shifts to helping the beagles adjust to a world they’ve never encountered before.
“Nearly every experience for the beagles rescued from the mass breeding facility is a first,” Heidi Gioseffi from Lost Dog told ARLnow. “First sniffs of fresh air, first sunlight on their faces, first splash through clean water in a kiddie pool, first cuddles from caring humans, first chew toys, first ambling run outdoors, first collar with a name tag, first NAME to replace a code tattooed for life on the underside of their ear, first attempt to climb steps into a house. For volunteers witnessing their firsts is a joy one cannot fully describe. It is truly uplifting.”
While it can be a joy to watch these dogs experience all these new things, it also can be frightening for the animals. Chelsea Jones, AWLA’s spokesperson, says things like toys, dog parks, and, even, floors might be too much for them to handle right now.
“What might be super fun to a regular dog, might be kind of scary to these dogs that have never experienced it before,” Jones said. “So, we are just going really slow and kind of letting them experience the world at their own pace.”
Most of the dogs with AWLA are now in foster homes so caretakers can learn how they adapt and, so far, Jones said they are all doing “surprisingly well” with no major behavior challenges to report beyond not being house trained.
“They are beagles, though,” she laughed. “They do like to bark and are pretty chatty.”
That’s why AWLA named all of its beagles after percussion instruments, she said.
