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Zoom Room: Indoor Gym for Dogs to Open First Chicago Location in Lakeview

By Serena Dai | June 10, 2013 1:57pm
 Zoom Room offers an indoor playground, agility classes and obedience classes for dogs. The first Chicago location is planned to open at 3055 N. Ashland Ave. in fall 2013.
Zoom Room offers an indoor playground, agility classes and obedience classes for dogs. The first Chicago location is planned to open at 3055 N. Ashland Ave. in fall 2013.
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LAKEVIEW — Active pups and their loving owners will soon have an indoor space to romp around.

Pet gym and training company Zoom Room is opening its first Chicago location at 3055 N. Ashland Ave., near Barry, according to Miller Chicago Real Estate, which brokered the deal.

Patricia and Raul Murguia, former marketing professionals who longed to work with dogs, are opening three franchises in the city, with the first one in Lakeview planned for a fall opening.

In addition to being an indoor playground for dogs, Zoom Room offers obedience classes where the owner sticks around. That way, owners can spend time with their pets and learn how to manage their beloved pups, Patricia Murguia said.

"It's more about having fun and all the bonding you could have," she said. "It's more than 'go and fetch and sit.'"

Zoom Room Chicago will also offer private teaching classes for shy dogs, agility training and training where both the owner and their dogs can exercise together, at $28 for hour-long sessions.

The indoor playground — which Murguia described as "Gymboree for dogs" — will be available for rent at $15 for every half hour, good for "when it’s chilly outside and you don’t want to go outside, and you want your dog to exercise" and for potential dog-and-owner parties, she said. The company was opened in 2007 in Los Angeles by dog trainer Jamie Van Wye and now has 21 independently-owned locations across the country, with 20 more planned. 

The two future Chicago locations will open in the next few years, potentially in South Loop, Lincoln Park or Bucktown.