Why Choose Central Bark?

Our best friends deserve the best care

There’s no bond like the one we share with our furry best friends. We love our dogs and want to enrich their lives as much as they enrich ours. That’s why families trust Central Bark®, where dogs get the love and care to help them be healthy, happy, and well-rounded. When you bring your dog to Central Bark Milwaukee Downtown, you’ll have peace of mind knowing they’re having a great day with their friends in a safe and loving environment.

Central Bark welcomes all. We’re fully committed to providing an environment where all people and dogs feel safe, valued, respected, accepted, and loved. We will never waiver from this stance and always promote unconditional love and acceptance. We embrace every person and every dog that comes through our door, regardless of race, religion, country of origin, sexual orientation, gender, or breed. We will stand behind our promise to “Forever nurture, enrich, and inspire lives”.

The safety and well-being of our guests are our #1 priority. As dog parents ourselves, we take great pride in treating every dog as our own. And we are committed to providing a healthy and safe environment for everyone that enters our facility. Read more about our dog day care guidelines

*Jackie Jordan and Chris Gaba, Principals and Co-founders of Barkley Ventures Franchising, LLC.* *and the Central Bark franchise system*

Doggy Day Care pioneer and over 20 years of dog care experience

Central Bark, founded by Jackie Jordan and Chris Gaba, pioneered the concept of doggy day care. After more than 20 years as a leader in doggy day care, we continue to evolve. Still, our mission remains the same: To nurture, enrich, and inspire whole health, happiness, and unconditional love for each dog, family, and community we serve. We strive to give every dog and family the Central Bark experience. An experience that mirrors dogs’ unconditional love within our families and communities to create a happier, healthier, and more loving and peaceful world.

As dog parents ourselves, we know you want to give your dog the best life possible. Our whole dog care approach combines our decades of dog experience with the latest dog behavior science, so you can feel confident your dog is getting the very best care.

Whole Dog Care Mission & Philosophy

At Central Bark, we’re dog experts. Doggy day care is our specialty and nobody does it quite like us. Central Bark goes beyond a traditional doggy day care with our unique Whole Dog Care philosophy and enrichment focus. This personalized approach helps enrich your dog’s whole health and well-being throughout their entire life so you can enjoy a healthy, happy, and loving life together.

The heart of our whole dog care approach is our Enrichment Doggy Day Care program. We combine Central Bark’s industry-leading doggy day care expertise with the latest dog behavior science and positive training principles. Our mission is to enrich the lives of dogs and families in our communities. We give dogs fun, balanced days of play, exercise, socialization, learning, rest, and love. To help your dog be a healthy, happy, and well-rounded member of your family.

Central Bark offers exclusive options like:

Flexible playgroups allow us to match your dog with the social atmosphere and play schedule they can enjoy and benefit from most. This helps give them a healthy balance of play, rest, and learning and creates a safer social environment with a better quality of play. And our lower dog-to-staff ratios offer more individual attention, education, and love.
Group Play Skills help dogs practice important life skills like name recall, and behaviors like group sit and calmly going in and out of doors and gates. These activities are fun and rewarding for your dog and help improve behavior and impulse control, prevent overstimulation, and creates a safer social environment.
Rest Period Enrichments help dogs relax and recharge in their own private space with calming interactive toys and healthy food pairings tailored to their preferences and diet. It promotes physical and mental relaxation which can help them achieve a healthy balance of play, learning, and rest. It can also help them become more comfortable in crates by building positive associations.
One-on-One Enrichment Sessions give dogs the extra attention they love and the freedom to use their senses and safely explore their instincts through interactive toys, puzzles, and games. It’s fun and rewarding and exercise their bodies and minds and engage their senses. Add complexity with fitness and agility equipment.
Training Tutor give dogs personalized one-on-one training during day care visits help your dog develop important skills and behaviors like name recall, sit, stay, down, wait, leave-it, door and gate control, and loose-leash walking. Excellent for your dog and easy for you! Your dog will come home tired and well-socialized, with the training and skills they need to be a well-behaved member of your family.

Robyn S.

The loving atmosphere and everyone’s dedication to ensuring your pup has the best days ever! When we drop Gus off, he’s greeted by name and is so excited we know he’s getting the best care and being socialized at the same time. Love this place.

David K

I have been taking my Sheltie to Central Bark Downtown twice per week for socialization and once per week for training. He is now an incredible dog thanks to Central Bark.

Madeline D.

Lexi did such a great job grooming Franklin! He looks great and we can tell he loved it! Thanks so much!

TJ S.

Capone looks absolutely amazing. Thank you to the staff for his fantastic stay and groom. We appreciate you!

Andres G.

We have been sending our goldendoodle Lio to Central Bark Downtown for about a year now, and he always enjoys his time there. The staff is very friendly and communicate well with the pets’ owners. We highly recommend this place for your fur-babies!

Stacie K.

We have been coming to the Downtown location for about 6weeks with our new puppy Olive and the entire staff has been great loving our little girlie! The staff is super accommodating and just plain awesome! It is a great place to bring your 4-legged loved one!!

Anna M.

My little Sammy has been going to CBD for over a year now!! It’s his favorite place!! Everyone at CBD is amazing, especially Dennis and Elise! They’ve been so good to us

Frequently Asked Questions

What does dog grooming include?

Your dog deserves to be pampered. Our full-service dog grooming salon is fully equipped to include anything from a simple brush-out or bath to a full spa day, a grooming session.

All dogs are unique. Just like humans, your dog deserves personalized grooming for their size, breed, coat type, and condition. Please ask an associate for details.

Make a reservation for your dog’s grooming session

How does Central Bark proactively address safety?

At Central Bark, a proactive approach to safety is woven right into the fabric of our program. That is why we require that all dogs enrolled in our Day Care program pass our behavior assessment and attend at least once per week. It helps us ensure that dogs are social with other dogs and people and remain comfortable with all aspects of our program. It also allows us to proactively staff so we can keep a dog to staff ratio low, which also helps increase safety. Plus, we ALWAYS supervise play. Whether it’s a group of 2 dogs or 12 dogs, we never leave dogs unattended during group play.

What does a dog groomer do?

Our expert groomers always aim to help your dog feel as calm and relaxed as possible during bathing and grooming, making it an experience they can enjoy and look forward to.

At Central Bark, we offer a wide array of services customized to your dog, including:

Dog baths
Dog grooming
Dog ear cleaning
Dog teeth brushing
Dog nail trims
Dog deshed treatments
Dog brush outs
Dog gland expressions
And more

Make a reservation for your dog’s grooming session

Is boarding stressful for dogs?

Sleeping in a new or unfamiliar environment can be stressful for some dogs. That’s why we offer sleepovers to dogs already enrolled in our Enrichment Day Care.

Sleepovers at Central Bark® offer your dog a calm, relaxing sleepover in a place they can feel comfortable and loved. Because they’re in a familiar place, they can feel less stressed about being away from home (and so will you). A full day of Doggy Day Care is complimentary with your sleepover, so your dog can play with their friends after a good night’s rest.

Learn more about Sleepovers at Central Bark

Read all FAQs

Central Bark^® Whole Dog Care

Our whole dog care approach offers a full range of fun and personalized products and services. To promote your dog’s physical, mental, and emotional health and happiness throughout their entire life.