31/07/2025
Helping out with a spot of dog walking today: Thomas is super busy today with a lot of dogs and two that came in last minute, so I've been called in to help out and lighten the load a little bit.
Apparently a lot of videos are circulating on social media of dog walkers not walking dogs properly. As mentioned in the video, I haven't seen any of these but other people have mentioned this to me. Not all dog walkers have videos of the dogs out walking like I do. If you have 6 dogs and particularly if they are quite difficult it can be hard to video and pay attention to what's going on at the same time, so some people prefer to do photos.
If you're concerned about your dog potentially not getting the exercise they need then follow the steps I mentioned in the video.
1) Observe your dogs behaviour. If they are wired, full of energy, struggling to settle once dropped off. They've likely not been out for long enough.
2) Address any concerns you may have with your dog walker. You can also use a tracker and place this on your dog so you can see where they have been, how much ground they have covered and how long they have been out.
3) If you see a video of your dog walker online and the walk appears shorter than it should be. Talk to them about this first. Sometimes dogs suffer injuries, take unwell etc and in circumstances like this the responsible thing to do is go back to the van and take that dog back home. The walk should resume after this dog has been dropped off with the remaining dogs.
4) Pay attention to how long your dog walker is gone. As mentioned I walked 6 dogs, twice a day for 5 years, so i know first hand that pick up of 6 dogs, an hours walk and then drop off takes around 3 hours to complete. Remember, not all dog walkers take 6 dogs. Ask how many they have. Most walks are an hour so they should be gone well over an hour.
5) If you've done the above and you're still not happy you can always find someone else. It's your money, your dog and your decision.
Hope this helps x
