About Fido Fitness Club®
Ellen Adler and Evelyn Franklin – Owners
Ellen Adler has worked in the International Trade industry for the last 30 years. She has always had such passion for animals (always had 5 at her feet). In 2002, with the encouragement of her late husband, she opened The Barrie Inn, a dog grooming and overnight cage-less boarding facility. The Barrie Inn started out in her home, and eventually grew to the present 8000 square foot business location in Woodmere, Long Island. The Barrie Inn continues to serve the local community with a variety of dog-care services, organic dog food products, and retail items and partners with Fido Fitness Club.
Evelyn Franklin has worked in the financial services and health care industries for many years and has a varied managerial and business background. She is a long-time dog lover who spends as much free time as she can with her golden retriever, Jack, taking long dog walks after returning home from work. From Jack’s need for off-leash playtime after being home alone all day, emerged the concept of establishing an indoor facility where dogs can safely run and play off-leash, meeting their need for exercise and socialization. Discussions about an indoor facility began in the spring of 2010 with best friend, Ellen.
After learning of the availability of additional 4000 sq feet of open space adjacent to The Barrie Inn®, the idea of an Indoor Dog Park and Daycare Center further evolved. Together these two talented working women decided to enter into a partnership and create Fido Fitness Club®, providing a neighborhood-based solution to help address the challenges of working dog-owners whose dogs are left alone all day, and then have no place to run them off-lease when they get home. With the launch of FFC, a solution for daycare and exercise was introduced, with training services and structured play time also available. Ellen and Evelyn are both certified dog trainers and decided to expand futher to include a Training Center Annex offering several programs to meet client needs.
Meet Our Staff
Ellen and Evelyn
Owner / Operators and friends for life
David
Manager and Certified Dog Trainer & Groomer
Dog: Buddy, Izzy, Shea and Sammy (yes 4!!)
Coffee or Tea: Coffee
Where you can find me on days off: Watching TV
Certification(s): Dog Training and Grooming
Cassidy
Park Ranger and Dog Handler
Cassidy started working part time with us right after high school and now works full time as Park Ranger and Handler. She preps, feeds and beds down the dogs boarding with us, supervises the daycare dogs, and closes up our facility at night.
Ruth
Park Ranger and Dog Handler
Ruth opens up our facility during the week, overseeing the boarding pup's breakfast and walks, takes in the daycare pups and assists in checking in our grooming clients. Ruth has an adorable little girl who she dotes on, when she's not here doting on our client's dogs.
Sean
Dog Handler and Trainer
Sean recently earned his Master Dog Trainer certificate from Anthony Jerone's School of Dog Training. Sean helps to open up every day - walking and feeding the boarding dogs, and prepping the park for daycare. In addition, under the tutelage of our Training Manage, David, he assists in training dogs in our training programs and daycare.
Desiree
Park Ranger and Dog Handler
Desiree joined us in 2018 coming from her own dog-sitting business and is a nursing school student on break. She works with us full-time and you can find her in the dog park supervising our pups, prepping dinner and helping close the facility in the evenings. Desiree paints and colors in her spare time and has a lovely dog named Apples.
Ashley
Park Ranger and Dog Handler
Ashley joined us to work part time as Park Ranger while going to school to study to be a Veterinarian Technican.
Maria
Lead Groomer
Maria has been grooming for us since 2004. She is very talented and has such a great way with the dogs.
Maryann
Park Attendant
Maryann gives lots of love and attention to all the dogs as if they were her own
When not at Fido's you can find Maryann on the Courts shooting hoops
Carol
Park Ranger and Facility Maintenance
Carol joined us with experience running her own animal transport business. She keeps our facility in top condition and helps in the dog parks as well.
