About Us

Frolick Dogs, a canine sports club opened June 2014 in Alexandria, VA, provides a friendly, safe and positive environment where owners can bring their dogs year-round to keep fit, have fun, strengthen their bond and reinforce good behavior. 

We offer a range of services including agility gym drop-ins, obedience training, day boarding, a self-dog wash, party space rentals, and group classes in agility, tricks, rally, nose work and more!  Our building at 3208 Colvin St provides 4800 square feet of dog-friendly space including an agility ring and a sun-lit mezzanine for our day boarding dogs to enjoy. 

This family-owned and operated business is run by a husband-and-wife team, benefiting from the expertise of Kevin Gilliam, a top-rated obedience trainer with over a decade of hands-on experience, and the management experience of Kim Gilliam, with an Ivy League MBA and background in business. 

Our Team

Kevin Gilliam, Co-Owner & Lead Obedience Trainer, CGC Evaluator

Kevin originated the idea for Frolick Dogs and made it a reality in 2014. At that time, he had 8 years of experience under his belt as a dog trainer at the prestigious Olde Towne School for Dogs in Alexandria where he worked with over 500 area dogs and their owners on everything from puppy socialization to to off-leash obedience.  Following Frolick’s successful opening, he launched our obedience training program in 2018 to share his deep understanding of canine behavior and knowledge on numerous approaches for working with dogs and their clients to achieve shared success. He is an invaluable resource to have on-hand to answer questions as well as a skilled dog handler.

Kim Gilliam, Co-Owner

Kim loves that operating Frolick Dogs combines her life-long passion for animals with 10+ years of management experience and an MBA from Cornell University. Her primary focus is on hiring and developing a great staff, maintaining efficient business operations, delivering top-notch care, and outstanding customer service. Her hard work ensured a successful launch in 2014 and facilitates the business’ continued growth and 5-star reputation. She has become skilled at working with various dogs and their owners to ensure they get the most out of their dayboaridng visits and gym time!

Justin Ashby, Obedience Trainer, CGC Evaluator

Justin joined Frolick part time in July 2018 but soon became so indispensable that we brought him on full time. His prior experience included 4 years of hands-on experience at area dog daycares—where he was quickly promoted into management roles—and serving as an emergency coordinator at VCA Alexandria Animal Hospital. In 2020 he began his obedience training apprenticeship and quickly became the resident puppy whisperer, developing a strong foundation working with dogs of all breeds. Justin served as a volunteer firefighter with Fairfax County, is an avid fisherman, and has two cats and two dogs of his own at home — husky-mix Reese and brittany puppy Rigatoni.

Sherri Fries, Agility Trainer

Sherri has been competing in agility since 2003, showing her dogs in both AKC and USDAA agility where she has competed at both Nationals. Her first agility dog, Cleo, was Hawaii's first MACH (Master Agility Champion).  Sherri currently competes with border collies Raptor and Spitfire. Sherri supports positive reinforcement training and more than anything loves to see dogs and their owners having fun!

Sherri's Dogs:

• MACH2 Cleo MSG MJC MXP MJP OF / USDAA: AD, SS, SJ, SSA

• Conant's Air Supremacy ALCM (Wiki Wiki) MX MXJ MJB MXF, Master Bronze Jumper / USDAA: MAD, Relay Champion, Gamblers Champion, Tournament Master Bronze

• Spitfire Mark 25 Merlin High Performance Fighter AX, AXJ, XF, OA, OAJ, OF, NA, NAJ, NF

• Wiki's Thrust Vectoring High-G Supercruiser (Raptor) AX, AXJ, OA, OAJ, OF, NA, NAJ, NF, HT, HS

Kimberlee Grimes, Saturday Gym Manager & Fitness Coach

Kimberlee (a.k.a. the other Kim) re-joined Frolick Dogs in April 2024 as our Saturday Gym Manager, also working with our dayboarding staff each Friday as a Fitness Coach. She initially became part of the Frolick team in 2018—quickly becoming a valuable member of the staff—but left in 2020 to pursue her life-long dream of living out West. She is now back in the area and we are so fortunate to benefit from her years of professional dog-handling and customer service experience. Kim is also studying to become a licensed massage therapist.

Colin Muir, Fitness Coach

Colin moved to the US from the UK in June 2015 and has the accent to prove it!  He has 2 1/2 years experience of working with dogs of various breeds and sizes in a daycare environment. Joining Frolick in September 2018, he has enjoyed learning about our clients’ dogs and having the chance to work with them in smaller groups and one-on-one. Colin adopted a rescue dog through his previous job; a beagle mix named Dana.

Danny Gibson, Fitness Coach

Danny joined the Frolick Dogs team in April 2019 to take over management of the gym on Saturdays; a little over a year later he became part of our dayboarding team 5 days a week. He comes to us with 4 years of dog daycare experience — highly recommended by former colleague Colin — where his calm, even-keeled demeanor served him well. He has a sweet senior pit mix named Dari who was a failed foster (was only fostered for about an hour before she won them over) and a goofy basset hound named Lucy who has a big personality to match her long ears!

John Thurwachter, Fitness Coach

John joined the Frolick Dogs team in August 2021. John previously worked with Justin at another dog daycare franchise where he was promoted to assistant manager within 3 years and then head manager the year after that. He brings more than 11 years of experience and it shows! John’s passion is dog care and he does not hesitate to go above-and-beyond to ensure our pups are safe and happy. His hobby is exercise. At home he has a friendly 13 year old Dalmatian-pit mix who has stayed healthy due to consistent exercise and socialization from an early age. 

Kanani, Fitness Coach

Kanani is the newest member of the Frolick Dogs team. She first completed a formal internship at Frolick Dogs and then we officially hired her as a two-day-a-week Fitness Coach. With her demonstrated hard work and commitment to learning, it wasn’t long until she was asked to join the dayboarding staff full time! She has a real passion for animals and dreams of opening a dog business one day. She previously volunteered with Lucky Dog Animal Rescue and Hawai’i Wildlife Center. Kanani began developing her training skills with her cat, successfully teaching it to do various tricks and commands such as spin and weave, and now has a puppy of her own! She enjoys working with our dayboarding dogs and learning from the obedience trainers about their philosophy and approach.

Cameron Gilliam, Intern

Cameron was excited to start working for the family business in 2023! We got the keys to Frolick on her 2nd birthday, so all she has ever known is our family’s deep devotion to animal care. She is a hard worker and very responsible so she has quickly become a valued member of the team, tackling any projects that need her help plus assisting with playgroups and birthday parties.

Learn more about our philosophy.

Location:
3208 Colvin St
Alexandria, VA 22314

Phone: (703) 957-8946

Hours:
Day Boarding
Evaluation & reservations required
Monday to Friday 7am-7pm
Saturday 8am-4pm

Gym & Self-Grooming
Drop-in, no evaluation or reservation needed
Monday to Friday 5pm-7pm
Saturday 9am-4pm

Sunday closed except for agility classes & private space rentals -- contact us at frolickdogs@gmail.com to inquire about parties or space rental.     

Annual Holidays...

Frolick Dogs is closed each year on:

• Memorial Day Weekend

• 4th of July Weekend

• Week leading up to ACPS return from summer break

• Labor Day Weekend

• Columbus Day Weekend

• Thanksgiving Weekend

• Week of Christmas Eve - New Year's Day