LEOMINSTER — There’s nothing cuter than a pack of adorable puppies and, for one local businessman, it’s always been his reality.
Malden native Christina de Andrade released The Unbound Hound shortly after she and her husband moved to Central Mass. in 2021 and bought a home in Winchendon. His fully mobile professional dog walking and pet care company exclusively services Leominster, filling a need the entrepreneur says is missing in the nearly 30 square mile area.
“We searched online for local pet sitters to sit our own dogs overnight and noticed that there were no local companies that offered the same level of doggy socialization services that I provide at Boston,” said de Andrade. “My passion for dogs and the outdoors combined with the need for pet care professionals in Leominster created a perfect platform to launch The Unbound Hound.”
She and her husband Mike DiGregorio, or “Uncle Mike” as they care for pets, have two four-legged furry family members of their own — a rescue hound Lady, who is nine years old and whose name of The Unbound Hound was inspired, and Bob, a four-year-old shepherd mix they rescued in January of last year.
Along with her crew, de Andrade offers all kinds of pet services, including solo dog walks, neighborhood dog group walks, overnight dog sitting, cat and small animal sitting, and the camp program, where dogs are taken in groups of four to seven into the woods for 90 to 100 minutes of “adventure.”
“Our specialty is our ability to create a safe space for doggy socialization,” says de Andrade. “Dog socialization is a skill that is taught by providing lots of structure and positive experiences.”
When asked what he feels is unique about The Unbound Hound, de Andrade says it’s their “ability to see beyond taking your dog outside for a bathroom break.”
“We’re very focused on exercise and socialization and we want to keep a lot of structure in our services to keep ourselves and the pets safe,” she said. “We also have lots of great features like our GPS tracked dog walking and pet sitting software complete with photos and a written journal after each service. Clients just love reading their daily updates and feeling included in the experience.”
Currently The Unbound Hound provides about 200 services a week. Besides her husband, de Andrade’s group of team members includes six weekly dog walkers as well as two overnight sitters and at last count, they had over 100 clients in Leominster between dog walks and cat sitting.
“In the future we hope to add in-home dog training to our business with a focus on retrieval training,” she said.
de Andrade honed her animal husbandry skills working for a company in Charlestown for six years that did dog walking and pet sitting on a large scale. One of her favorite things about working with dogs of all types of personalities and breeds “is seeing them grow and learn skills through service participation.”
“Whether it’s our Half Day Camp or solo dog walking, we want each of our canine clients to be the best dog they can be,” says de Andrade. “By using positive reinforcement and lots of treats, sometimes, we can train new skills and greatly improve how our client dogs interact with their environment.”
Dogs are often taken outside on various trails and dog friendly spaces throughout the city for fresh air and exercise.
“What’s great about Leominster is the amount of green space available to explore with packs,” says de Andrade. “Dogs are not meant to be indoor creatures. We feel that adding more time outside in any form improves the quality of every dog’s life. Allowing them to be connected to nature truly allows them to to be dogs.”
For more information visit ubhdogwalking.com and follow The Unbound Hound on Facebook and Instagram.
