Bark Social, a dog-friendly bar, closed suddenly. For members and their pups, it’s been rough.

When Bark Social bounded into town early last year, tails started wagging for what seemed to be a dream idea: a bar and cafe combined with an outdoor dog park in a Manayunk shopping center.

Its attributes included plentiful parking next to the United Artists movie theater, decent food, 30 beers on tap, strict rules about vaccinations, and kindly Bark Rangers — as the attendants were known — who cheerfully refereed and scooped while dogs frolicked on its vast expanse of artificial turf by the Schuylkill.

Memberships cost $365 a year for one dog. The company said thousands of people had joined Bark Social’s five locations in Philadelphia and the Maryland/District of Columbia area.

The good times came to an unexpected end last month. All five Bark Socials closed after business Nov. 21. In a statement posted the next day to its social media, the company said it was in the middle of a growth round “when financing unexpectedly fell through.” The company, whose first location opened in Bethesda, Md., in 2021, said it would file for bankruptcy protection.

The company’s troubles have become more clear since then: Three days before it shut down, according to Monroe County, N.Y., court records, an investment group alleged that the company owed nearly $600,000, including attorney fees and court costs. A representative for the company did not reply to requests for comment, beyond sharing its initial statement.

The closing in Philadelphia was met by immediate grief, especially by members who visited frequently. A Facebook group was established to exchange tips about nearby parks and — since dogs were no longer interacting at Bark Social — to post photos to keep owners in touch. Some Bark Social members have since tried the Boozy Mutt, a smaller facility with on-street parking in Fairmount.

“It feels like something got ripped away from the community,” said Stefanie Karp, who lives nearby in East Falls with Bentley, her gentle-giant, 150-pound Great Pyrenees-German shepherd mix. “They know every name of every dog, and their personalities. Can you imagine being a teacher and one day being really close to all your kindergarten kids and the next day saying, ‘They’re gone'? There’s a real sense of loss.”

“I think the worst part of this is the dogs don’t understand,” said Nickki Albano, who has two dogs, Max and Mango. At home, when she called out the names of Bark Rangers, “they would run right to their leashes and look at us to put them in the car and take them over.”

Steven Duong, a regular with his Great Pyrenees-Siberian husky mix, Dino, said he was surprised at the shutdown. “Every time we were there, there was a lot of staff. I can see that the costs must have been high, but it seemed like they were expanding pretty fast as well.”

Since Dino is “a pretty mellow dog,” Duong said, “it’s not like he needed [a dog park]. He just needs a good walk.”

Bark Social was “my version of Cheers‚” said Patrice Perrault, who signed up at the April 2023 opening with her pitbull mix, Archie. “It was a place where everybody knew your name. Maybe not your name, but your dog’s name.”

Perrault and Archie were there on what turned out to be its final day. “I know the staff didn’t know, because they were doing things like painting windows and planning new drink menus,” she said.

“I was completely committed to this place,” she said. “Archie is very high energy, and needed that level of being able to run around in a safe place.”