A club for dogs
in Barcelona

Barcelona has around 174,714 registered dogs and 116 fenced places to put them. Most live in flats and get their exercise on a lead. PAWS is an indoor club where a dog can be off the lead and be a dog.

Run the club yourself →

A working simulation. Real rents, real taxes, real licensing.
You will probably go bankrupt the first time.

What she decided

The club, in ten lines

María is ten. These are her decisions, made on 20 August 2026, and the simulator is built to them.

Start small. 90 m². Spa and club, no human café.
Eixample. 11,673 registered dogs, more than any other district.
Owners stay. No drop-off. This keeps the licence simple.
All dogs, split by time. Small dogs and big dogs in separate sessions.
€39 a month. The cheapest option, and the one that earns most.
Closed Mondays. Tuesday to Sunday, 310 days a year.
Spa from day one. A groomer working every day the club is open.
The whole dog menu. All six items.
“Every dog goes home happier than it arrived.”
A bit of each with the profit — grow, improve, and help shelter dogs.

The one clash

€39 fills the room faster than the room can empty

€39 a month brings in about 105 members. With day passes that is 11,280 dog-visits a year. She chose the price that earns most, and it does.

But a 90 m² unit laid out normally leaves a play room of about 40 m², which holds eight dogs at a time — around 5,787 visits a year. Demand is roughly twice capacity, and capping membership makes it worse, not better.

The fix — and it is free

Sell the day in 90-minute slots

Because owners stay with their dogs, the seating belongs inside the play room on a perimeter bench, not in a lounge beside it. That releases 15 m². Then book the slots instead of taking walk-ins.

Play room	Dogs at once	Visits a year
As drawn — 40 m², walk-in	8	5,787
Re-split to 55 m², walk-in	12	8,680
55 m² + 90-minute booked slots	12	16,368
What she needs	—	11,280

In the simulator this is one switch, and it is the sharpest lever in the game. Booked, year three earns money. Walk-in, the same club with the same rent and the same dogs loses it.

What the simulator does

It is not a spreadsheet with a nice coat on

It runs the club a day at a time on real Barcelona numbers: rents by district, the 2026 hospitality convenio, employer social security at 30.65%, split 10% and 21% VAT with the quarterly bill emptying the bank account, and the licensing wait during which rent runs and nothing comes in.

Weather changes who turns up. Neighbours complain about barking. Inspectors arrive. Coffee prices move. Staff resign if you work them too hard. There are three cameras on the shop so you can watch the dogs that are actually there today.

€171,550to open her pilot

310trading days a year

12dogs at once, never more

The volume assumption is hidden, because in real life nobody publishes it. You find out by trading.

Open the club →