How to Hire a Dog Walker

Whether you take your dog for a walk around the neighborhood or for a long hike in the hills, you should keep him active to ensure he stays healthy. If you can't always take your dog for the walk he deserves, hire a dog walker to fill in.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Recommendations
• Dog walker listings

1. Determine how often you can and cannot walk your dog. Once you know how often you'll need extra help you'll be able to find a dog walker available to fill in whenever you won't be around.
2. Get recommendations from other dog owners. Ask at your local dog park or speak to all your friends and family about dog walkers they've used in the area.
3. Use an online resource such as Craigslist.org to find dog walker classifieds (see Resources below). You can usually find a number of dog walker advertisements as well as contact information.
4. Call dog walkers in your area and arrange to have meetings with those you are interested in hiring. Be sure to give yourself at least three options in case you have reservations about some that you've spoken with.
5. Ask a lot of questions of the dog walkers you call. For instance, you'll want to ask how much experience they have, what qualifications they have and how they handle disciplining the dogs. Also, you'll want to know how many dogs they walk at once.
6. Introduce your dog to the dog walkers. This gives you a chance to see your dog's temperament around the dog walkers and allows the dog walkers a chance to determine whether or not they would feel comfortable with your dog.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to find a newer dog walker. A new, less experienced dog walker will usually have a shorter list of clients and will typically be less expensive.
• Be sure you provide all your own dog-walking equipment. Keep a leash and a collar or harness on hand for when the dog walker arrives.
• Don't just hire a random person to act as your dog walker. You'll want to invest the time and effort into finding the very best dog walker you can afford. Anyone can claim to be a dog walker, so be sure to find someone reputable in order to ensure your dog's safety.