Imagine spending nearly three months on the road with your dog while teaching fitness and exploring the country with your dog. Starting today, that’s exactly what local San Diego business owner Dawn Celapino is going to do. The founder of Leash Your Fitness, (since 2009), and her 10 year old Cairn Terrier, Jack, embark today in her RV for a 10 week dog friendly road trip to promote fitness and other activities with your dog called “Jack’s Journey USA.”
Celapino’s journey was envisioned on a hike in Solvang, CA in March 2014. After 20 years of living in San Diego where dogs have the best doggy boutiques, and access to healthy food, wonderful vets, dog friendly parks and beaches, she thought it was easy to lose touch with the reality with how the rest of the country lives. Additionally, part of her business is helping other trainers get started in the dog fitness business. “So I thought it would be awesome to travel the country and meet people from all over and see how others live, what their struggles are and what they do to get fit with their pup!” says Celapino.
Now it’s a year later and Celapino and Jack are ready to go. Their first fitness stop is in Cedar Hill, Texas, and then their journey takes them all the way to the East Coast, up to Maine, and ending with a class on July 5th in Durango, CO before heading home. Her stops were created by a combination of dog and fitness facilities reaching out to her, and her reaching out to locales where she had friends and family she wanted to see. Classes will be bootcamps, dog yoga and other activites such as stand up paddle boarding, hiking and trail running. In between fitness classes, they plan to find dog friendly hikes and other attractions along the way.
“Our goal is to inspire dogs and their people,” says Celapino. She’s also excited to add to Jack’s state count of 26 and find new things to do along the way. “There are more places that are dog friendly than people realize. It’s going to be very rewarding to meet a lot of people along the way.”
They still plan to add classes and events along the way, so keep checking back on their page and follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Sponsors of this trip are One Dog Organic Bakery, Kurgo, ISLE Surf and SUP, and KIND bar. If you’re in one of the cities on their journey, come check out a fitness class or activity with your dog and meet Jack himself!
Safe travels to Dawn and Jack and keep tabs on their incredible journey on JacksJourneyusa.com