We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Leslie Paetschow. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Leslie below.

Leslie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

The mission of The Watering Bowl: to think and love like a dog – in the moment and unconditionally. The story behind the mission: College graduation happened, and into the corporate scene I go. Four years later, I move to Austin and have to re-evaluate my skills and value for a new company. I knew corporate was no longer for me – I’m too honest and don’t value spending emotional energy on political games. Then I get hired on with a young Austin startup company and I loved, nay thrived in a small office environment. Then the company began to grow along with political games. From the time I graduated college to the time the startup was purchased the one thing that kept me motivated was buying a house with a yard so I could provide my dog his best life – as many of us in this generation have done or want to do. But what’s often lost as I found in my experience and many a friend and colleague admitted to me as well is a work life balance. It has become so hard to focus on anything but the stresses of paying bills and climbing a ladder. But after reaching an annual income of several times what I ever thought I was capable of reaching, I was still unfulfilled. What I found is being present and finding/providing unconditional love means so much more than any readily changeable life aspect. And therein was born the mission of the company. To remind people that we are alive now and should enjoy that now with unconditional appreciation and love as dogs always do.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

When Leslie adopted her dog, Shiner, he had a lot of energy! She would take him on runs every day after work, ending at a city park, where she realized she would really love a beer. Flash forward years later, she had the management experience to now feel ready to start her own Dog Park + Bar.

We are both locally and woman owned with the dream of helping you remember how to think and love like a dog: in the moment and unconditionally. Take time to remember what is important and be present. Make new friends (four legged and two), have fun, and live every day like it’s the BEST. DAY. EVER.

The Watering Bowl ATX is a 20,000sqft fenced in park with a splash pad, pirate ship pool deck, covered rainbow patio with fans and TVs, and the park itself is highly shaded by historical live oak trees. There are twinkle lights and misters hanging from the trees to make the park as comfortable as possible for all.

Serving only local beer, wine, seltzer and ciders, as well as non-alcoholic options, The Watering Bowl ATX supports their neighbors in the community. We value knowing the brewers that create what we serve. Additionally, we support a wide variety of local dog rescues by hosting fundraisers for them at our park, as well as highlighting available dogs on the wall right by the bar.

Our staff is highly trained to monitor dog behavior, and is ready to step in and curb any issues before they happen. Because of this, our customers are loyal and return to us because they feel safe and feel that their dogs are also safe in our park.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

Leslie was highly involved in the Austin Bulldog Rescue as a volunteer and foster. When her foster, Travis, was found to be a hospice case, he had a birthday party held for him to play with other dogs in the rescue. This is when she finally met Heather face-to-face – they had long volunteered together virtually with the rescue, but due to Covid, had not met in person before. Heather had a large part in the party planning and was a core volunteer of the rescue, having been unable to work a regular job due to childcare issues in the pandemic. Leslie mentioned that she was in the process of opening her dog park + bar, and offered Heather a bartending job if she was interested in returning to work. Heather mentioned she actually has her MBA and lots of event and hospitality experience, perhaps there was something more she could do? And since then, they’ve been a tag team in bringing to life the vision that Leslie had years ago.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

We are unabashedly ourselves. We are goofy, we love puns, we love doing ridiculous things like hosting a Prom for dogs, or hosting a foam rave party for dogs. We will create silly reels on instagram knowing it will make our customers laugh, even if at our own expense!

And while we are quite silly, we also are VERY serious about dog safety and making sure everyone has a good experience in the park. We believe that our authenticity plus our sternness for the important rules have created very loyal patrons out of our customers. Plus, WE LOVE ALL THE DOGS!      

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thewateringbowlatx.com
• Instagram: thewateringbowlatx
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewateringbowlatx/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thewateringbowlatx/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-watering-bowl-austin

Image Credits
Casey Chumbley, Traverse Photography