A national chain of dog day care and boarding with about 80 locations and 25 more planned, set up shop in Southwest Florida.

Hounds Town USA, celebrating its first week, opened its doors for the first time April 23 at 1880 N. Tamiami Trail in North Fort Myers, in a shopping center at the northeast corner of U.S. 41 and Bayshore Road.

Karen and Don Oakley, a husband-and-wife team, moved to North Fort Myers from their native Ohio, where Don Oakley had been a police officer. The fact that the founder of Hounds Town USA used to be in law enforcement, as well, resonated with the Oakleys. Michael Gould, a founding member of the New York Police Department’s K9 unit and a former Nassau County police officer, started Hounds Town USA in 2000. It took 17 years for the brand to grow to five locations. But in 2020, the brand began to rapidly expand.

The Oakleys said they bought a franchise in part because they’ve always been animal lovers.

“My husband and I have owned horses, goats and even chickens when we lived in Ohio,” Karen Oakley said.

It was their passion for dogs that sealed the deal, the Oakleys said. They have two dogs, including a German Shepherd, Ember, who sometimes greets newcomers to the 8,000-square-foot facility.

Hounds Town USA welcomes dogs of all breeds and sizes after an initial screening test. It groups them according to size for “pack play” during the day and separates them for meals and sleeping at night.

“At the beginning of our relationship with you, we do an evaluation,” Karen Oakley said. “It’s a temperament test. An evaluation. What we’re looking for is to make sure your dog can handle all-day, interactive play.

“We like their pack play mentality. What we do here is all about pack play. They’re in an environment where they play in a pack with each other together all day long.”

Dogs are known to staff as townies, and the Oakleys said dogs returning home often will be tired from the experience.

“We call it the Hounds Town Hangover,” Oakley said.

Rates start at $36 a day for doggie day care and $60 a night for boarding.

Hounds Town also offers cat boarding at $25 per night.

In less than a week, Oakley said she and her staff of 10 have evaluated about 70 dogs. There are 63 rooms at the facility.

“This community here in North Fort Myers has been so open and welcoming for us,” Oakley said. “It’s been unbelievable.”