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Headquarters central for one of the most original magazines to hit the racks in recent years is a small garage in the backyard of a house on Eighth Street. 

“Bark, The Modern Dog Culture Magazine” is the brainchild of Claudia Kawczynska and Cameron Woo, a married Berkeley couple who began an activist newsletter that has turned into a glossy publication with a literary bent in less than four years. 

With its 11th issue this spring, the quarterly magazine has landed advertising on its back cover from Saab USA, and hundreds of manuscripts from writers who want to talk about dogs. 

“It’s all because of Claudia,” said Woo, who credits his wife as the inspiration behind the publication which now claims a readership of 70,000 across the United States and in Europe. 

Chairperson of the Waterfront Commission, Kawczynska and her husband are also members of The Friends of Cesar Chavez Park, a group of 250 people who advocated to establish a northern portion of the park as an off-leash area for dogs. 

Last year 17 acres of undeveloped land in the northern section of the 90-acre Chavez Park a former city dump with scenic vistas of Golden Gate Bridge, legally became off-leash dog territory on a trial basis. The City Council recently made that decision permanent. 

The publication that began as the Berkeley Bark newsletter to publicize the Friends’ bid for the off-leash area, has evolved from a black and white newsletter to a tabloid-sized publication to a full-color magazine that can now be found in magazine stands. 

“We started as a political action movement for off-leash recreation in public spaces” said editor in chief Kawczynska, who wears the company’s “Dog is my co-pilot” motto on her T-shirt. “Now in every Bark, we do an article on dog parks.” 

Woo is the publisher and creative director and designs the pages. He also acts as one of the publication’s advertising reps. Before going full-time at the magazine, he was a marketer for Autodesk, the software giant that makes products for architects and engineers. 

He said his wife brought him into the dog world, and it was reinforced by the corporate style of Autodesk, which he described as a dog-friendly workplace. 

Woo said in the Berkeley Bark newsletter they added advertising, with one motivator being that the Berkeley City Council would take the Friends more seriously (and approve the off-leash area) if local merchants purchased advertising. 

The 80-page spring 2000 issue, printed with soy ink on recycled paper in Denver, still carries a lot of local advertising, but Woo flew to Atlanta to talk to Saab. The Swedish automaker produces a pet-friendly station wagon with safety restraining gear for pets reviewed by the Humane Society. Woo told them his readership is 100 percent dog lovers, whereas others such as Esquire can only claim a portion of their readership in that category. 

“We’ve created a brand, a unique identity,” said Woo, who is proud of the magazine’s grassroots origins and its own self-marketing as opposed to starting up by hiring a marketing firm. 

Clearly the magazine aims for a well-read audience. Vastly different from other dog magazines that talk about shows and grooming, many of Bark’s and illustrators are nationally known for their work in other established publications. 

“We’re intelligent, quirky and humorous,” he said. “It’s a Berkeley magazine, we’re a little bit irreverent.” 

Kawczynska said the best part is that the couple found people who love dogs, love to write about them and love to read about them. 

The couple work about 20 hours a day on the magazine, with some staff help, and in doing so they “wear many hats,” enjoying interruptions by their three unpedigreed pooches who seem to be very lucky dogs. 

There’s Nellie, a black and white border collie who was 6 years old when they got her; a larger brown dog, Callie, 13; and Lennie, the “little guy,” a terrier mix they picked up at the pound. They also have several cats. 

Included in Bark’s spring issue are articles about celebrities and their dogs, Darwin and dogs, a dog sanctuary in Utah, book reviews, and an interview with a biochemist who discusses perceptiveness in animals, plus cartoons and photographs. 

Dogs are definitely a hot topic. The have a genome project now, and research shows they can provide health benefits for their owners. 

That’s in addition making friends for their owners, and just watching. 

Kawczynska said the empty nest syndrome accounts for many adults buying dogs. She said a lot of single women have a dog in their lives for companionship. 

“We have distanced ourselves so much from nature and dogs are a way for us to connect back to nature. More people are finding out how good dogs are to have in their lives,” she said.