Money Moral Dilemma: Should we keep paying our dog walker in lockdown?

elsien

Smodlet said:

Why have a dog in the first place if you don't want to spend any time with him/her?  I feel sorry for the dog; the humans can please themselves.

Having someone come in for the dog while the owner is working doesn't mean the owners don't want to spend time with it.
Otherwise that would rule out dog ownership for anyone with a job.  Some dogs are quite happy to be couch potatoes in the day and come to life of an evening. 

Matt8888

It's so ridiculous it gives me a headache just trying to think about it.

AlyMLF

Yes if you can afford too. We need to help our small businesses.
to those with silly comments. If you feel a question is beneath you,don't comment. If you feel a dog is not cared for by having a dog walker. You know little about dogs and how some absolutely adore there walks with friends . If dog walkers were not around my sanity after 31 years with the NHS would be gone. Not everyone can stay at home and some dogs need hours of exercise a day and the company of other dogs socialising.

Kim_kim

farmerjools said:

As a professional dog walker myself who has been very affected by this whole situation, I have been so appreciative and humbled by a few clients who have continued to pay me during lockdown and it has truly helped to keep me going. Now I have gone back, with all hygiene and social distancing procedures in place, I still have only half my clients using me. However, if I had changed my procedures so that it didn't suit a certain client any longer I would absolutely not expect any payment for a walk that I would not be doing if things were "normal".

Are you not covered by the governments help scheme? 

nigellalu

Surely as a dog walker they should be registered as self employed and if they have been submitting tax returns for past three years then the were entitled to claim the covid self employed grant so they would receive a payment to cover them.  I know several self employed have kept on working, received a grant and their customers also still paying for them no longer providing a service.  Therefore some doing ok out of this difficult and challenging situation 

sarahha1

I'm a professional dog walker and have been very thankful and absolutely humbled by the owners who have offered to pay for the walks despite them not happening.   I temporarily stopped walks at the start of lockdown although carried on for a couple of key workers with safe arrangements put in place.   All the other dogs had their owners home with them. I returned to walking at the beginning of May and still only have about a third of my dogs.  At the moment I am keeping open the empty, previously booked slots for the previous dog owners, not asking for any payment, so when they need the walks  I can do them again.  Its totally up to the owners if they want to support the dog walker.  My sole trader business started  mid18-19  tax year and after all set up costs/expenses etc I had almost no profit.  I fall through the gap re support from the government.  I don't pay business rates, I had earnings from a previous employment the first couple of months in 2018 so that makes me non eligible and my mum died 3 yrs ago and my tiny bit of inheritance takes me just over the £16k universal credit support.   The payments from owners during the lockdown have put food on my table and I am truely grateful. 

chuckie79

Kim_kim said:

farmerjools said:

As a professional dog walker myself who has been very affected by this whole situation, I have been so appreciative and humbled by a few clients who have continued to pay me during lockdown and it has truly helped to keep me going. Now I have gone back, with all hygiene and social distancing procedures in place, I still have only half my clients using me. However, if I had changed my procedures so that it didn't suit a certain client any longer I would absolutely not expect any payment for a walk that I would not be doing if things were "normal".

Are you not covered by the governments help scheme? 

I agree with Farmerjools. 

Husband and I run a dog walking and pet sitting business which had to close during lockdown. It my husbands only job so we had no income for 3 months except for one customer who insisted on paying for her dog walks even though she didn’t need us. 

We aren’t entitled to any help from the government. I work part time so my husband couldn’t get Universal Credit and even though he is self employed he’s not entitled to the help for that either. A combination of working part time himself 2 years ago and not earning enough from the business. 

We have survived on my wage, our savings and the little bit the customer paid has helped too. 

OctaviaP

Yes, you absolutely should keep paying if you can afford to. Also applies to cleaners, gardeners and other services.

Barnsue3

Our dog walker cancelled at the start of lockdown as he felt he wasn’t allowed to work during corona virus due to the rules . We continues to pay him full pay for a month then half pay for a month , by which tine he felt he could restart his business slowly. I felt I would have done the same had it been a childminder I was paying. These people are self employed and would have been left with no income until the government paid out in June. I felt it was the right thing to do . As I am a key worker I was still working but the other adult in my house was working from home so he was able to walk the dog. 

KayeAN

My husband is a gardener. He is self employed and paid tax so has claimed the SEISS - as should the dog walker. That anyone should think otherwise makes me think there is a lot of 'cash in hand' that isn't being declared. Perhaps the moral dilemma should be 'Is it ok for my dog walker not to pay tax?'