Two local entrepreneurs have joined forces on a new venture that’s really for the dogs—Club Canine Cardio at Snouts & Stouts. The doggie daycare program brings fitness sessions for furry friends to the lower level of Snouts & Stouts, an 11,000-square-foot indoor dog park with a restaurant and bar in Shirlington.

The sprawling space is equipped. Its specialized doggie gym features rows of treadmills, agility courses and even a puppy pool for swimming sessions. Perhaps the best part—customers can arrange to have their fluffy sidekick picked up in a special doggie bus.

“We’re trying to raise the bar of dog daycare with our facility here at Club Canine Cardio,” says Snouts & Stouts CEO Daniel Ramos, who partnered with COO Brittany Schneller to launch the program in August. (Schneller is also the founder of Canine Cardio, a provider of remote dog care services, including dog walking, training and pet sitting.) Their shared goal is to help dogs become more confident, relaxed and social, while helping owners with care and training.

Ramos and Schneller agreed to let me give it a whirl with my dog, Pumpkin, a miniature golden doodle who looks like a walking teddy bear and has all the bravado of one. His current fears include cabinet doors, drains and especially other dogs—an issue that had me worried, as all owners must first attend an in-person evaluation to see how their pooches interact with other four-legged participants.

We arrived for Pumpkin’s evaluation on a Friday evening and the socializing was already in full swing. More than ten dogs romped around the indoor dog park while their owners chatted and enjoyed beers and snacks from the bar, where food is made fresh and in-house.

Schneller helped me coax a reluctant Pumpkin through the gate and ran interception as (much to his terror) the curious pack came to greet him. He reacted by curling his lower regions into a c-shape and bum-shuffling around the room, refusing to let other pups exchange the usual greeting of sniffing that—ahem—general area. On a few occasions he created havoc and hilarity when he tried to jump to safety into the lap of whichever human happened to be seated in chairs around the bar.

Schneller was relaxed and unconcerned. She got Pumpkin to try out the playground equipment and coerced him into interacting a little with the other dogs, a few of whom were leaping at the water one employee was squirting from a hose.

Schneller started her dog walking company in 2018 with her German shepherd, Charlie, while working toward her degree. The business grew so quickly that it became her full-time career. Soon she had hundreds of clients and was bringing dogs to a rented space in Woodbridge for daycare and training.

“We helped a lot of shy dogs. We helped a lot of scared, reactive dogs,” she says.

That’s something both she and Ramos remain focused on with this new joint venture.

“We put them through focus activities and they become completely different dogs,” Ramos says. “They’re no longer anxious. They want to run around and play. It’s really cool to see that because it not only helps the owners and the dog, but also helps the community, too.” In short: Socially adjusted dogs make good neighbors.

With coaching to overcome his fears, Pumpkin passed his evaluation and was ready for his cardio park session. That meant he got to ride the bus to school.

The day the Club Canine Cardio bus pulled up outside my house, I was having a ruff time. Weeks of snow and ice had made it hard to get the dog out for walks. He was brimming with energy and hounding me to get out and play. My youngest child had the flu, further binding me to the house, so this was perfect timing for some much-needed assistance. A text message alerted me that the doggie bus was on its way. I tracked its progress on the Snouts & Stouts app.

Pumpkin also was excited. He bounded out to the bus with Schneller, but did an about-face when he discovered it was full of (mostly big) dogs, eager to greet this new rider. Schneller calmed the pack, helped Pumpkin get situated next to another doodle and off they all went.

Upon arrival at the Snouts & Stouts warehouse on South Oakland Street, Pumpkin worked like a dog. He got his steps in on the treadmill, played indoors with the other campers and took an on-leash walk with the pack out in the yard. This gave me the time I needed to give my 7-year-old another dose of Tylenol and let her nap while I got some work done.

Several hours later, the app informed me that Pumpkin was on his way back home. Completely exhausted, he collapsed on the rug in front of the fireplace, where he remained for the rest of the afternoon. I enjoyed some more peace and quiet.

This, Schneller says, is the goal. “Helping people understand dog behavior and providing structure and boundaries and obedience—and then the love,” she says. “It changes people’s lives because they’re not as stressed.”

The cost for a cardio park excursion is $45 for a half day, or $55 for a full day. Bus pick up and drop off is an extra $10. Package deals reduce the price per session and come in packs of five, 10 or 30 passes.

After checkout, customers receive a report card about their dog’s day, plus a day pass to Snouts & Stouts, so they can visit the dog park and bar, make new friends and grab drink while their dog does the same.

Though day passes are available ($10 on weekdays; $15 on weekends) Snouts & Stouts’ business model is based on memberships. An annual membership is $365 and comes with unlimited access to the space, plus 10% off Club Canine Cardio’s daycare, the bar, café and dog treat purchases. Monthly memberships are $45 and come with the same perks. The company also offers boarding and a self-serve pet washing station.

Ramos says he discovered his love of entrepreneurship while competing in a mock venture capital competition in high school. He opened Snouts & Stouts in October 2023 to help solve two problems dog owners often face: bad weather and finding dog-friendly places to hang out.

He and Schneller are now sniffing out more ways to expand the concept.

“We’re trying to open up the space to be like a dog gym outside of daycare hours,” he says, “where people can come, they’ll get a membership, they’ll get [to use] the lure or the treadmills or the agility course, the pool.”