This content has been edited by editorial staff since online publication.
By Shelby Robinson
Seven years after opening their first holistic pet health center in Ashburn, DogGone Natural owners Kim and CJ Correnti are now opening a second location in Leesburg.
When Kim Correnti’s dog Sassi became sick for unknown reasons, she tried everything to heal her canine companion.
“I was led to believe that everything I was doing was right, but she kept getting sicker and sicker and sicker,” Correnti says. Eight months after being on vet-prescribed medications, Sassi’s kidneys were permanently damaged and Correnti was baffled.
Eventually, Correnti, frustrated from the experience, began researching on her own and looking into natural solutions to Sassi’s health problems. After reading books about the benefits of a raw food diet for dogs, Correnti says she felt like she had finally found something that made sense. Immediately after she switched Sassi to a raw diet, Correnti says the dog began improving.
After seeing what a difference natural dog food had made for Sassi, Correnti was determined to spread the word and make natural food more accessible for others.
To share what she had learned and experienced, Correnti opened DogGone Natural in Ashburn in 2007. Although her original hopes were just to offer healthy alternatives to the big-name pet stores, Correnti’s store became a mecca for pet nutrition and holistic dog health in Loudoun County.
“So many people would come to us for guidance, later they would come back saying, ‘You fixed my dog,’” says CJ Correnti, Kim’s husband and co-owner of the brand.
CJ was working in New York as the creative director of the Martha Graham Dance Company and also as an independent producer when the Ashburn location opened. One day, while working the PBS show “A Moment of Luxury,” he got a call from his wife saying that demand at the store was growing quickly and she needed his help running it.
So he packed up his stuff, came back to Ashburn and hasn’t looked back.
DogGone Natural in Ashburn continued to get bigger until the Correntis decided it was time to expand. They selected Leesburg, CJ’s hometown, for their new location because many of their Ashburn shoppers live in the Leesburg area and the town only had big-name pet stores.
Although DogGone Natural’s Leesburg location opened its doors in March, the Correntis will be throwing a grand opening celebration on June 8th, which will feature pet friendly vendors, free pet services, food and more than $5,000-worth of raffles for pet supplies.
The Correnti’s said they hope to show others that having a happy, healthy pet doesn’t have to be synonymous with having an expensive pet.