Home Alone? Not If There Are Dogs to Walk

A knock on the door of the bright yellow house on a quiet cul-de-sac in Healdsburg generates a cacophony of barks and howls. Bouncing pooches in a variety of shapes and sizes tuck their heads under the drapes of the front window to greet visitors.

The ever-so-active Cecilia Pietropaoli, formerly a Healdsburg Patch writer, thinks nothing of taking eight dogs for an eight-mile walk through Healdsburg. Though currently hampered by surgery on her foot, she can walk “just” five dogs on those daily eight mile jaunts.

“Let’s go for a walk,” says Pietropaoli from her garage as she leashes up five pooches—Chico Latte, Buddy, Rondo, Spanky and Rosie. “Chico come. Rosie, come,” she names them as she hooks leashes to collars, including two sets that are doubled. Soon the garage door begins to open and five heads pop out from underneath, straining at their leashes. These pups are eager to go.

The tall, slender Pietropaoli sits comfortably in an electric scooter, undaunted by handling the dogs, two of them her own, for the next couple of hours of “walking.”

“The scooter zips right along, so these guys get a good workout,” says Pietropaoli. “They’re tired when they get home.”

Of course, the scooter shouldn’t be operated in the rain, so she revels in the recent balmy weather. She does have four part-time helpers with her business, though, who give her a hand when it’s raining.

“I’ve transferred my behavior management skills from people to animals,” laughs Pietropaoli. For sixteen years she commuted from Healdsburg to Kenwood to work at Los Guilicos in maximum security. An injury led her away from working with troubled youth to working with animals, particularly dogs.

She hasn’t let being off her foot for eight weeks get in the way of doing a good job for her clients.

“I’m not an indoor person,” she says. “The dogs have to go out."

She goes on, “I’m dedicated to doing this right. I'm keeping the animals happy and my clients happy."

Inside the house, Pietropaoli gets around with a knee scooter. She’s currently remodeling her kitchen, as well as operating her doggy day care.

“Just 13 more days before the next X-ray,” she says. That’s when she expects to get the boot off her foot and to graduate to walking again. She’s been unable to put weight on her foot for the last six weeks.

The active Pietropaoli looks forward to getting back in the pool, as well. Swimming is her cross training way of keeping fit.

She calls to the dogs, moving leashes from right to left, and gets them all moving forward. The beagle-crosses, noses to the ground, move more slowly than the McNab-shepherd cross, Rosie, who just wants to go.

They wend their tail-wagging way south on the cul-de-sac and they’re off to walk from near Healdsburg High School, across to Giorgi Park, then over to Badger Park, down the path by the Russian River, then back.

Cecilia Pietropaoli, is the owner of Home Alone Hounds, Love Unleashed. The business offers a variety of animal-related services—from dog day care to pet sitting, from medication administration to home visits, from dog walking to no-frills grooming. She cares for both domestic and farm animals and makes "house calls" to care for barnyard critters.

Home Alone Hounds can be reached at 433-2789 or click link above for the website.

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