When it’s no longer a perfect fit
Last week a lovely client shared some very kind words about Good Karma on the Strensall Dog Walkers fb group. It’s always a nice feeling when clients are happy and take the time to share their positive experiences.
“Really can’t recommend Jo enough. She has transformed my barky anxious dog with her chilled-out walks. She is brilliant with dogs and takes them on lovely walks.”
While I love me some positive reinforcement and I’m happy they feel like they have found their perfect fit, it got me thinking about the catalyst that got this particular pup back on track and enjoying their walks..
When it’s no longer a perfect fit
Last year I took on a very special dog after they’d spent many happy years rolling with another dog walker and their team. Changes to their rounds and walks had unsettled this particular hound and he was starting to show some signs of frustration.
Now my predecessor, being someone with integrity, who puts welfare before the wonga, recognised this and raised it with their client. The client, being someone who is reasonable, was open to having a sensible conversation and took this feedback on board. Long story short, the decision was made to make a change and find a new dog walker.
And now, everyone’s happy. I got myself a new dog walking client, the dog is thriving on their new walks, dog’s Mum is enjoying more relaxed evenings with a chilled-out pooch and Mr Previous Dog Walker can sleep well knowing they did the right thing.
So now we know change doesn’t have to be a bad thing, let me go through some of the key times you might want to keep an eye on and possibly reassess your dog’s care.
Time to make a change
Our dogs are not robots. We don’t programme them once and that’s it, their behaviour is set in stone forever.
- Puppy to Teenager – owners often call in a dog walker when their new pup hits 5/6 months of age. They can be left a bit longer either side of lunch and don’t seem so small to consider a group walk. Puppy joins group walks with the dog walker (who makes sensible adjustments and not yomping with them miles or allowing them to dive in and out of the van) and all is well for several weeks. And then adolescence hits.
Sometimes a group situation can be a bit over stimulating for teenage dogs. This can be a time to reassess and maybe reduce the number of walks to allow time to decompress in between or swap onto solo walks while riding out the storm.
- When something scary happens – a negative experience with another dog or a loud bang for instance. A single event can have lasting affects on our dog’s feelings towards certain situations and often these events can be out of our control. It’s important we recognise that, while it might seem silly to us, to our dogs it is significant.
An example of how this could affect your dog care – if you have a dog walker who walks in Strensall and your dog develops noise sensitivities, they may need to be driven further afield for their walks in order to avoid the sound of firing coming from Strensall Common.
- Injury, declining health, advancing years – the length of the walk might start to get a bit too long, getting in and out of a vehicle might become tricky, or even just the presence of other dogs dashing around can get stressful for dogs that are starting to slow down or experience some pain.
This is last one is the most uncomfortable kind of conversation for a dog walker to start to have with their client. It is truly awful. We know it’s a sensitive subject.
If your dog walker raises a concern with you, you should try and see the positive – you selected someone to care for your dog who does actually care. They’re prepared to have the awkward chat and put your dog first.
Take time to absorb the conversation
The option of contacting your local branch of ‘We Walk Any Dog’ (who wouldn’t know a stressed-out dog if it bit them on the nose and who thinks dogs should be ‘left to sort themselves out’ when they’re not getting along) is, of course, tempting when you’re feeling defensive. Jumping straight in without doing any research and blaming the entire thing on the dog walker who was looking out for your dog is a natural impulse but try and give yourself time to absorb the conversation before entrusting someone else with your dog.
You can read more about how to find the right dog walker HERE