Tricks of the trade: New Everett dog training gym is a people-pleaser

This story originally appeared in Sound & Summit.

EVERETT — The Everett Zoom Room, a new dog training gym, offers a new twist on paint and sip parties. In this version, you still drink wine but your dog paints.

More on what we’ll call paint and lick later. (It’s a little messy and involves peanut butter.)

Named after the Zoomies, the joyful burst of energy that sends dogs skittering, the Zoom Room offers agility, obedience and trick training classes.

Throw your dog a bone or throw her a birthday party.

Party rentals, private one-on-one training sessions and play groups are also on the menu, said Michael McBride, who co-owns the franchise with his wife, Christina McBride.

But make no mistake, the Zoom Room is not a pet store.

“We don’t sell fish,” Michael McBride said.

Treat stations, pub tables and orange bar stools dot the big, bright space. Movable tunnels, ramps and weave poles — dog agility equipment — are scattered across the training area.

The company’s motto, “We don’t train dogs, we train people who love them,” is enshrined on the website and walls.

At Zoom Room, the emphasis is on socialization and bonding, said Michael McBride, who left the insurance industry to work with pups.

“If your dog is focused and engaged with you, all the training will be easy,” said Christina McBride.

The Everett couple discovered that trick two years ago, when they took Moxie, a Bernese Mountain Dog of epic proportions, to a class at the Zoom Room in Bellevue. There, they learned you can teach an old dog new tricks. “She was 4 years old and had never taken an obedience class before,” Christina McBride said.

Impressed, they looked into launching their own Zoom Room franchise. A year ago, the McBrides opened the training hub, a former people gym near the Everett Mall.

“We wanted to do something that helps people. By helping dogs, we’re also making an impact on people’s lives,” said Christina McBride, a former hotel industry executive.

Moxie, now age 6, is part of the team. Friendly, welcoming, “she’s a great shop dog,” Christina McBride said.

Dogs ‘R’ us

Writer and teacher Mark Van Wye founded the franchise in 2008. He’s now CEO of the company, which boasts 60 sites throughout the United States, including Seattle, Tacoma and Bellevue.

Van Wye, who created after school programs for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, noticed that children who had dogs at home “often excelled in programs at the Boys and Girls Clubs,” he told the Observer earlier this year. In that moment he glimpsed “the potential of dogs as agents of emotional and social growth.”

The potential financial lure isn’t anything to sneeze at either.

More than 65 million U.S. households own one or more dogs, according to the American Pet Products Association. Last year Americans spent $147 billion on their pets, including nearly $4 billion on training, a figure that’s projected to reach $7 billion by 2031, according to United Consumer Financial Services.

Classes are designed to “build confidence and success … in a simple, step-by-step process,” Michael said. Only positive training methods are allowed. That means no bark collars or spray bottles.

Treats are king.

Has your pal been a good boy or girl? The Zoom Room offers an eclectic selection of dog treats — from a water buffalo horn to chicken feet — at the gym’s “cadaver bar.”

“Dogs don’t know right from wrong. They know what works — jumping doesn’t get me a treat but sitting does,” Michael McBride said. “We teach them what works.”

The McBrides spent a year searching for the right Everett area spot.

At a sprawling 6,000 square feet, their training space is one of the largest in the chain.

That leaves plenty of room for Halloween and birthday parties, movie nights and paint and sip. Here’s how it works: Place a blank canvas and blobs of paint inside a Ziploc bag. Smear the outside of the plastic bag with peanut butter. Give it to your dog and let her lick.

On a recent morning, Kornelia Cesarz, who teaches orchestra at North Middle School in Everett, joined Zara, a “very pretty girl” with pointed ears and a golden coat, for her fourth puppy class.

“We’re working on loose leash walking,” said Cesarz, who flashed a screenshot of Zara’s impressive pedigree, a genetic profile that included American Staffordshire Terrier, Boxer, bulldog, Chow Chow and German Shepherd. Cesarz hopes Zara grows up to be as musically inclined as her last dog, who “sang” whenever she played violin. Zara isn’t quite there yet, but “she doesn’t hate it,” Cesarz said.

‘Training would have made the difference’

At Zoom Room, customers purchase a 10 or 20 pack of classes. “This lets you attend any class you want as long as your dog has met the pre-requisites,” Michael McBride said. Dip your toe in an obedience class one day and a trick training or agility class the next day.

“We’ve done away with five- or six-week sessions where you come on the same day, every week,” Michael McBride said. “We offer the same class multiple times per week.”

If you miss a class you and your furry friend won’t fall behind.

Dogs that aren’t sufficiently trained can sometimes suffer unhappy, unwanted fates, the McBrides said.

As former Everett Animal Shelter volunteers, they watched dogs go out and then return.

“It was sad and disheartening,” Christina McBride said. “Training would have made the difference.”

Today, the McBrides donate some services to the Everett Animal Shelter, Lynnwood Paws and other animal shelters.

“Sometimes they’ll bring in a dog that just needs a little bump to get it right,” Michael McBride said.

“We had one dog, Koda, who’d been at the shelter for over 200 days,” Michael said. Some basic training, followed by a short video highlighting his awesome agility skills helped the Border Collie mix get adopted within a week, he said.

In other cases, lowering the fear response can make life easier for a dogs and its owner.

“We get people who can now successfully take their dog to Home Depot or the beach,” Michael said.

Rowdy evening students

Classes are small and usually limited to six dogs. The Zoom Room employs about a half dozen trainers, plus Michael and Christina are also trainers.

Evening classes, especially, can be a bit rowdy at first. Chances are the clients have spent the day cooped up or alone. “They’re super excited to come in,” Michael McBride said.

Training starts early.

Pre-school for puppies, age two to four months, offers a little training and lots of play time and the chance to socialize. Because most puppies are unvaccinated at this age, the play area is sanitized after each session, Christina said.

Oshie, a six-month old, 92-pound Leonberger, is progressing well in puppy class, and on point to reach 140 pounds, said owner, Andie Holsten.

“He knows how to sit, stay, land down and stand,” said Holsten, who named her dog after T.J. Oshie, the NHL hockey forward and Everett native.

And his impulse control is “coming along,” said Holsten, a math teacher at Einstein Middle School in Shoreline. (And who knows more about impulse control than a middle school teacher.) Outside of class, Oshie loves “his stuffy toys” and chasing his little, big brother Rusty, Holsten’s English Toy Spaniel.

Fiona Evanson joined the Everett Zoom Room a year ago, switching from a career in veterinary care to training.

Evanson’s two dogs Missy, a Border Collie, and Loki, a Papillion, approved the change.

Since then, Evanson has shepherded dozens of dogs and their owners through beginning and advanced classes.

“It’s cool that we’ve been open a bit, and now we get to see, especially the puppies, grow and learn,” she said.

Janice Podsada is a freelance writer and former Everett Herald employee.