Pupfit creates an off-leash adventure
Business provides dogs with exercise they need to thrive
Instead of heading to an office and spending hours at a desk, First Ward resident Jennifer Lopez loads up a van full of dogs and heads to a 3,000-acre property.
Joined by business partner and dog trainer David Hooks, Lopez and their canine companions run and hike together. The dogs jump into ponds, play with the pack and wag their tails.
Lopez’s job is making sure that everyone is well exercised while owners are away at work.
More than doggy day care, her business Pupfit comes to clients. And, unlike a dog-walking service, an hour is extended to a day, and a jaunt becomes an off-leash adventure.
Lopez loves fitness — and it doesn’t matter if her clients have two feet or four paws.
The former personal trainer never thought she would trade her weight machines in for a dog leash.
That’s just the way it turned out, and Lopez thanks her lucky stars every day that it did.
“Pupfit is the greatest thing since sliced bread,” she said. “It’s extremely unique. No one else is doing it.”
Originally from Chicago, Lopez planned on building her own personal fitness business when she moved to Houston eight years ago.
She had long been an exercise addict. In her early 20s, she joined a volleyball league. While there, she met a friend who was into mountain biking and kayaking, and she decided to join in the fun.
In her early 30s, Lopez learned about muay thai. “I thought, ‘Wow, I have to do that,’ ” she said. “Fast-forward five years, and I started teaching fitness and MMA (mixed martial arts).”
She opened a small fitness studio in the back of her home and also trained clients in their own houses.
Around the same time, Lopez rescued two dogs, Hazel and Xena. She hired Hooks to help her train Hazel to run alongside her bicycle. The two became fast friends.
“Hazel would look at a bicycle and just freak out,” Lopez said. “He got her to run next to the bike in a couple of hours. It was amazing.”
Hooks also got her to rethink her pet’s fitness. Before, she thought letting her dogs out in the backyard was enough to keep them happy.
“But then they’d dig these holes in the yard,” Lopez said. “David explained to me that it’s boring to go out in the same backyard every day. They get bored, and they need something else.”
His experience with canines was clear. “I could tell from the way dogs responded to him that he spoke their language,” she said. “He’s a great trainer. I learned so much about dogs from him.”
Hooks has been a dog trainer for more than a decade.
“My philosophy is to let them exercise and see what happens,” he said. “It makes a world of difference with every dog.”
Hooks already took dogs that he was training on long adventure hikes. He had mapped out about 50 remote sites around Houston. Still, he never thought about creating a business until Lopez came along.
She started to accompany him on hikes. “She’s from Chicago, and she’s a city gal,” he said. “But she went and really enjoyed it. She saw the dogs and the joy they had — and the way they behaved.”
Lopez and Hooks decided to join forces — taking advantage of his canine training skills and her background in fitness.
“That’s when Pupfit was born,” Lopez said.
Initially, they offered clients options — jogging, walking, bike rides or hikes. When everyone elected the dog adventures, the model changed.
PupFit guaranteed four- to six-hour hikes for canines.
Lopez gave away her old people-training equipment. “I took everything I had and invested it in this,” she said. “I believe in it.”
Lopez has seen changes in the dogs that participate in the program.
“When you meet a dog’s need for exercise, it’s incredible,” she said.
One rescue dog, Sage, seemed hopeless.
“She was a wild dog,” owner Maura Ryan said. “She had a whole lot of socialization problems. She was super anxious, and we didn’t know how to help her.”
After hiking with PupFit, Sage changed for the better. “She blossomed into the best dog,” Ryan said. “She’s relaxed and gentle. She’s become a happy dog.”
Living in the city is challenging for dogs who need to run, Ryan said. “Houston is hard, and our backyard is small. PupFit allows dogs to just be dogs.”
It wasn’t long after the adventure hikes started that Lopez and Hooks decided that leasing property would be even better, giving their four-legged clients more room to roam and a wider place to play. They found a spot in Fulshear.
Dogs, 25 pounds and up, are screened before they join Pupfit to ensure they can play well with others. Then they are ready for a full day of fun at the ranch. They are washed and towel-dried before returning home.
Lopez and Hooks document the brigade on Facebook and Instagram for the pup parents.
“We show them pictures of the adventures, and they love it,” she said. “The dogs have so much fun.”
Training dogs isn’t that much of a departure from working with people, Lopez said. “The biggest difference is that you don’t have to motivate dogs to go out and exercise.”