Heaven does exist, and it can be found at a new dog lounge coming soon to Lakeview.
SIT Social (3920 N. Ashland Ave.), slated to open next month, is a brick-and-mortar expansion of SIT Chicago dog care service, which was founded by Victoria Elena Nones in 2012. The concept will be a pet boutique and doggie daycare by day and pup lounge and training center by night.
Nones said she started SIT four years ago when she moved to Chicago and didn’t have much luck finding work. She decided to hit the pavement (literally) and establish her own dog-walking business. Today, she has four employees and hundreds of clients in Lakeview.
“It took lots of hard work and lots of 18-hour days,” Nones said. “But I’m so excited to open SIT Social and experiment with different events.”
SIT Social will host a variety of themed evenings, putting Nones’ background in event planning to good use. For the grand opening, pet owners (and enthusiastic dog lovers) can participate in a pet portrait painting class led by Nones’ partner, Ian Sherwin, a School of the Art Institute of Chicago graduate and Field Museum educator.
Nones, who fosters dogs through Chicago French Bulldog Rescue (she’s currently looking after a puppy mill rescue named Mabel), hopes the lounge will unite dog lovers from across the city to create a greater sense of community.
“If you have a dog in your neighborhood, you know all of the other dogs,” Nones said. “If you stop somebody in the street to pet their dog, you get to know them, too.”
SIT will also reserve spaces during the day for foster dogs like Mabel, who could benefit from hanging out with other dogs. Nones said she’s putting the finishing touches on other events, too, including Doggie Singles Night, where dog owners can bring their pets along to break the ice. As an improv performer, Nones also hopes to put on “Dogprov,” an improv show where volunteer pups will star in skits put on by performers. Yappy Hour is another idea, where business professionals can network in a more casual setting. Because you can’t be too serious when a bunch of cute pups are running around.
“Instead of asking, ‘Oh, what do you do?’ they can start out by talking about their dogs,” Nones said.
Nones stressed that you don’t have to own a dog to come to SIT Social events, but it does help when getting to know people.
“In this day and age, it’s so easy to feel disconnected,” Nones said. “Dogs have this way of bringing people together.”
The grand opening of SIT Social will take place on May 14th at 7:30 p.m.
