Ripped off my dog walker? Advice please...

Mojisola

How did your dog react when the dog walker arrived? Ours goes crazy - he's so pleased to see her and obviously loves being with her.

KiKi

Hi OP

I'm sure no-one meant to upset you, and I certainly didn't mean to. (I put something up on another board recently and was so upset by the replies!)

You obviously love the dog (that comes from your first post!); I think it's wonderful that you've taken a homeless dog in, and I have no problem with dogs in apartment or with no gardens as long as they're exercised well. I think it's just the 4 hours in a crate which is really quite difficult for a dog - even if she gets 2 hours exercise. Certainly an hour's walk at lunch would be good.

But I wonder: could you let her have the run of perhaps one room, and remove anything precious? See how she goes for a couple of days? If she has enough to play with she might behave better than you expect, especially if she's sleeping a lot anyway. Perhaps you could try it for a day or two and see how she reacts. If you don't have doors between the rooms you could always put a baby gate up.

KiKi

little_miss_muppet_face

Im out the house from 8 am - 3.30 every day, i come home at lunch and take my dog for a 15/20 min walk and the rest of the time she is shut in the kitchen as she is a chewer, she used to be in a crate but became to big for it (she is a labradoodle) so now has the kitchen only.. (but when she was in the crate we left the door open so she had run of the kitchen also) and i dont feel bad.. most dogs sleep alot of the day anyway.. so as long as your dog is getting out a couple of times a day and gets love and attention when you are home in the evening then you are not being cruel at all, you are only doing what a million others do everyday...

You are giving a dog a good home....

arbroath_lass

Sorry, I just don't agree with locking dogs in crates...

Fair enough give them one as a bed/indoor kennel or for travelling but don't lock them in it in the house. If it were an animal in a zoo in such a small enclosure there would be a massive outcry.

That's my issue though, not the ops.

Idiophreak

arbroath_lass wrote: »

That's my issue though, not the ops.

Technically, I think it's the dogs' issue

aliasojo

arbroath_lass wrote: »

That's my issue though, not the ops.

I don't think it is just your issue, I think many people feel the same if an animal is being crated for any length of time.

Raksha

Thanks for clearing that up OP, I am lucky, I am at home with my dogs all day, and believe me, they hate it when I get up and move around, as they would rather spend all day on their beds snoozing than having to follow me around. If I stayed in one room, so would they! (BTW - we're talking about a Springer and a Labradoodle here, not a couch potato greyhound or similar.......)

You are getting to know your dog, and you will be able to tell if she's not happy with the arrangement, and you are certainly doing all you can to set her up with a nice routine, which IMHO is far better for a dog that somebody who is at home with them all day, then occasionally leaves them for 4 hours...

Cyril

KS2008 wrote: »

Hi All,

This is my first post so please be gentle with me
A couple of weeks back we adopted our lovely dog from the local pound, now as we both work full-time we organised for a local dog walker to come and walk her for 1/2 hour every lunchtime around 12pm ish for which we pay £6 per day.

The dog walker had been recommended to me and we had previously used them as they have a small animal boarding shed which we had boarded our rabbits in.

Everything has been going ok, we have been getting regular updates etc. Now the thing is yesterday I was off work poorly so had text them telling them that I would be in when the dog walker got there - so low and behold 12pm came and went and the dog walker turned up at 1.10pm, he then took her for a walk and brought her back 20 mins later (I timed him). Now the thing is we pay £6 for 1/2 hr, so by rights for 20mins we should pay £4.... However, because I was feeling wimpy and ill like the wuss that I am I didnt say anything....

However, after the event I am getting quite annoyed - firstly if we are letting somebody come in and take our little doggy out we need to be able to trust they are providing the service that they say they are and secondly he took her for 20 mins when I was there - does he take her for even less when we arent?

Anyway, I just wanted other people's opinions about what they would do in the same situation....

Any advice welcomed :cool:

Thanks,
Kat

I haven't read other people's posts but from my own experience I would change walkers. I had the same thing happen to me but in my case the dog didn't get walked at all, she just ate her sandwiches in my lounge watching my tv.

IMO dog walkers should be animal lovers and a walker who short changes your dog is not an animal lover never mind taking you for a mug.

Beckyy

I would look around and see if there are other decent dog walkers in the area. Is your current one insured etc.?

First though, I would investigate a bit more and maybe spy on them a couple of times. Could you sit down the road in the car maybe?

chucknorris

I went back to work last year (part time 3 days a week) at the beginning I paid for dog sitting, the sitter comes and picks my dog up who has been left in the conservatory with the back door open (only for an hour or so before they arrive), so he has the choice of indoors or outdoors (70' x 30' garden). This year however my wife has worked one day a week at home and the other 2 days (only for 10 weeks of the year otherwise it's one day) I am only away for 5 hours so we leave him in the conservatory with the run of the garden if he wants to noise around.

But when we did have a dog sitter they were only asking for £10 a day, although I told them it was worth £15 a day and insisted they take that, so it doesn't cost a lot to get your dog looked after. I sought out elderly couples/singles that used to have a dog but could no longer either afford or have enough time to own one full time (there are such people around if you look for them). The advantage of this sort of person is that they really appreciate being with your dog and therefore it is a more pleasurable experience for my dog too.