About Wholesome Hounds
More than pet care. These relationships become part of our lives.
Wholesome Hounds has been caring for local pets since 2008. What started simply with Cassandra caring for dogs grew one family at a time into something neither of us ever expected.
Today, Wholesome Hounds is a family owned pet care business based in Hudson, built on years of trust, relationships, and a whole lot of dogs we’ve been lucky enough to love.
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Our story
We didn’t set out to build a business like this.
Wholesome Hounds grew pretty organically.
Cassandra began helping care for dogs and pet sitting before building a regular group of walking clients of her own. When we were expecting our first child, Eric left his full-time job and stepped in to take over much of the daily walking while Cassandra increasingly handled the business behind the scenes.
Animals were becoming part of our own story, too. In 2015, we adopted Molly, a senior yellow Lab who had been surrendered to the MSPCA after spending her life with one family. She was our first dog as a married couple, and although we only had nine months with her, she left a pretty permanent mark on our family. Her name also accidentally started a tradition: Maya, Millie, Marley and Mango all followed.
Over the years, our family grew and Wholesome Hounds grew right alongside it.
When we bought our home in Hudson in 2017, it gave us the opportunity to begin welcoming dogs into our own home for boarding. What had started with walks and pet sitting became the Wholesome Hounds families know today, with private dog walking, drop in care, home boarding and small group daycare.
There was never some grand plan to build a growing pet care company. We loved animals, we worked hard, and people kept trusting us with animals they loved.
And somehow, that became this.
More than clients
Treating your pets like family isn’t a tagline to us.
Over the years, our clients have welcomed us into their families in ways we never could have imagined when this began.
They’ve celebrated milestones in our lives right alongside us. Clients insisted on buying gifts from our wedding registry. Years later, they did the same when we were preparing to welcome our first child.
And we’ve been welcomed into the difficult moments, too.
We’ve cared for dogs through different stages of their lives and watched beloved pets grow older. We’ve received the calls when it was time to say goodbye. We’ve sat on the floor with families, cried with them, and grieved dogs we loved, too.
That’s the part of this business that’s difficult to explain until you’ve lived it.
We know we’re being trusted with someone’s family member. After nearly two decades of doing this, we also know how easily those animals become part of ours.
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Our family
The dogs our clients know by name.
Animals have always been part of our family, and when you welcome dogs into your home for a living, your own dogs become part of Wholesome Hounds, too.
Maya joined our family in 2016 after being adopted through Save A Lab in Rhode Island. She was born in Tennessee, originally named Pickles, and yes, we still call her Pickles sometimes.
Millie followed in 2018.
For our boarding and daycare families, Maya and Millie weren’t dogs hidden away somewhere while their pets stayed with us. They were part of the household. Clients knew them by name, asked about them and loved them.
At home with us today
- Maya, our dog
- Mango, our cat
- Marley, our cat
Remembering Millie
Millie
March 9, 2018 - August 29, 2026
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Before she even had a name, she had a purple collar.
A friend of ours at Reflextion Ranch in Texas was caring for a pregnant shepherd, and when she shared photos of the ten puppies, there was one little girl Cassandra couldn’t stop thinking about. She wore a purple collar, and somehow Cassandra just knew she was supposed to be ours.
Millie made the trip from Texas to Massachusetts with two of her brothers in 2018. One continued on to Maine. The other ended up right here in Hudson.
And Millie came home.
She grew up during a chapter when Wholesome Hounds was growing, too. Our Hudson home had become the center of the business, dogs were coming and going for boarding and daycare, and Millie became part of the Wholesome Hounds family our clients knew.
She was our protector. Loyal, watchful and deeply connected to her family.
When we lost Millie in 2026, we didn’t just lose one of our dogs. Wholesome Hounds lost a familiar face who had been part of countless days in our home, and many of our clients lost a dog they had come to know and love, too.
She deserves to remain part of this story.
How we care
The business has grown. The reason behind it hasn’t changed.
After all these years, good pet care still comes down to knowing the animals in our care.
Their routines. Their personalities. Their weird little habits. The pace they like to walk. What makes them comfortable. What seems normal for them and when something seems a little off.
It also means communicating with their people and being someone families can depend on.
That’s what Wholesome Hounds was built on, and it’s what we’re committed to protecting as we grow.
- Established 2008
- Family owned and local
- Insured and bonded
- Care built on relationships
What a family says
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
“Eric and Cassandra really know and understand the dogs staying with them. My dog comes home happy, tired from playing, and always excited to go back!”
One less thing to worry about.
Reliable local pet care for the days life gets busy.
Hudson, MA + surrounding communities