Dog walking services

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StuTheGrouch

Original Poster:

5,713 posts

161 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
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Morning all.

We have a new family dog (little over a year old) and needed to find a local dog walker for 1-2 days per week. I'm new to this, but am surprised at the contracts I am being handed from dog walkers (aside from the fact that these agreements look like they were put together by a school child).

Firstly, the agreements state that should the dog need to go to the vets whilst in their care, I am responsible for payment. This doesn't sit well with me. If it's a general illness that's developed/worsened since I left the dog that morning, then fine. However, if something was to happen to my dog on a walk, then I'd expect the dog walker to take responsibility for that. Is that unreasonable?

There is another page about permission to be off the lead. If anything happens, then their insurance wouldn't cover this. Logical option here is to not give them permission to let the dog off the lead, but then my dog isn't getting the run he needs.

I simply expect that whilst my dog is in their care that they have full responsibility (aside from the illness issue I mentioned). It's unlikely anything will happen, but in the event it does that's surely what their insurance is there for.

I'd like to hear from others about this.

blueST

4,378 posts

215 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
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Do your due diligence, we have had two dog walking disasters and also two wonderful dog walkers.

The bad ones. First was walking our dog off the lead in a pack when we had agreed to on lead only. The pack was then involved in some sort of scrap with somebody else’s dog resulting in injury to that animal. It was horrible having our dog implicated in an incident where someone else’s dog was injured. The dog walker was sued and then left the area, but is still trading in another area.

Second one was replacement for the above. The business changed hands after the owner was sent to prison (!), but the girl who was walking our dog took the business on and continued as normal. Turns out she didn’t take on the liability insurance and was struggling with the work load so forgot to walk our dog on two occasions, so we had to let her go.

We have had two great walkers as well, including our current. You can tell these people because the business aspect is a means to let them spend time with dogs. They were both obvious dog lovers, give us regular updates on the walks, let us know if they have any concerns with the dogs etc. You just get a feeling when they are right, with both our bad ones we knew they weren’t perfect, but stuck with them as we didn’t have an alternative, we should have gone with our gut feeling.

Challo

10,041 posts

154 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
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StuTheGrouch said:
Morning all.

We have a new family dog (little over a year old) and needed to find a local dog walker for 1-2 days per week. I'm new to this, but am surprised at the contracts I am being handed from dog walkers (aside from the fact that these agreements look like they were put together by a school child).

Firstly, the agreements state that should the dog need to go to the vets whilst in their care, I am responsible for payment. This doesn't sit well with me. If it's a general illness that's developed/worsened since I left the dog that morning, then fine. However, if something was to happen to my dog on a walk, then I'd expect the dog walker to take responsibility for that. Is that unreasonable?

There is another page about permission to be off the lead. If anything happens, then their insurance wouldn't cover this. Logical option here is to not give them permission to let the dog off the lead, but then my dog isn't getting the run he needs.

I simply expect that whilst my dog is in their care that they have full responsibility (aside from the illness issue I mentioned). It's unlikely anything will happen, but in the event it does that's surely what their insurance is there for.

I'd like to hear from others about this.
We have a fantastic dog walker (ex police handler) who we have a similar type of contract with. She is fully insured, but my OH signed the contract with the relevant terms so unclear on what they cover incase of accident.

We had to give permission to let our dog off the lead as well. No issue with that as there are bound to be certain dogs that have rubbish recall, or need to be kept on a lead for safety purposes.

StuTheGrouch

Original Poster:

5,713 posts

161 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
quotequote all
Thanks both. This is two people that work together but have separate businesses and cover each other. That's all fine (the contract is a joint one), and they both clearly adore dogs, send pictures whilst on walks etc. No great alarm bells ring with them, plus they have good reviews.

My issue is just the terms around what is the situation if something was to happen to our dog whilst in their care. The agreement seems to absolve them of any responsibility, which can't be right but I wanted to understand if this was common practice or not. So at the moment I'm trying to decide whether to sign this agreement, or move on and find another (who may well have the same terms!).


blueST

4,378 posts

215 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
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I should have said, in my experience that sort of a contract is normal, we've had similar with all ours. It's another reason why you need a good walker to minimise the risk of ever needing to refer to the contract.

egor110

16,817 posts

202 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
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StuTheGrouch said:
Thanks both. This is two people that work together but have separate businesses and cover each other. That's all fine (the contract is a joint one), and they both clearly adore dogs, send pictures whilst on walks etc. No great alarm bells ring with them, plus they have good reviews.

My issue is just the terms around what is the situation if something was to happen to our dog whilst in their care. The agreement seems to absolve them of any responsibility, which can't be right but I wanted to understand if this was common practice or not. So at the moment I'm trying to decide whether to sign this agreement, or move on and find another (who may well have the same terms!).
See it from there point of view.

You claim your dog has a awesome recall , they let dog off as requested and it does a runner .

Or you fail to mention the dog Chase's cats etc and dog does a runner , who's fault is that ?

FiF

43,958 posts

250 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
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How about taking your dog out in the area where he/she is to be walked and have a chat with other dog owners. Over our garden fence is an area very popular with dog owners and professional walkers from far and wide. Local grapevine knows who the good and bad walkers are.

Eg there's one walker who lets dogs off lead and doesn't take any care to prevent them drinking stagnant water. When someone pointed out that their dog had been sick after drinking from this pool the response was "why should I care, not my dog." Charming.

dhutch

14,198 posts

196 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
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We have had our rescue lurcher walked daily for the last 3 years, including moving a couple of times, and always there has been a clause that we are responsible for any emergency vet costs required. To date this has not been required. We are not insured so would have to pay out in cash.

Just seems to be how it is done.

We have had basically great experience, first in Uttoxeter a pair of sisters trading as Go Walkies, cant fault them at all, £12 for an hour. Moving to liverpool briefly we had couple who was sadly less good but it was only a stopgap for a couple of months. Then bought a house in the Wirral and had good walks with Nicky of Mucky Paws, who then bought someone else in under her who was a bit average, but she then moved out of the area and we moved to Naomi of FurryTail who has been absolutely excellent and is actually a qualified animal behaviorist with a degree in animal welfare etc and currently only charges £10 for an hour with our dog often being out for a couple of hours, as well as being walked with other dogs which is a huge bonus in terms of socialising him.

Daniel

StuTheGrouch

Original Poster:

5,713 posts

161 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
quotequote all
blueST said:
I should have said, in my experience that sort of a contract is normal, we've had similar with all ours. It's another reason why you need a good walker to minimise the risk of ever needing to refer to the contract.
Great, thanks. Seems a bit of an odd way to work to me, but if it's standard then it is what it is.

StuTheGrouch

Original Poster:

5,713 posts

161 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
quotequote all
egor110 said:
See it from there point of view.

You claim your dog has a awesome recall , they let dog off as requested and it does a runner .

Or you fail to mention the dog Chase's cats etc and dog does a runner , who's fault is that ?
I get that entirely, so they need to do everything they can to make sure it's safe and risks are minimised. If they did something stupid like let the dog off near a main road, then equally they shouldn't be free of any liability.

egor110

16,817 posts

202 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
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StuTheGrouch said:
egor110 said:
See it from there point of view.

You claim your dog has a awesome recall , they let dog off as requested and it does a runner .

Or you fail to mention the dog Chase's cats etc and dog does a runner , who's fault is that ?
I get that entirely, so they need to do everything they can to make sure it's safe and risks are minimised. If they did something stupid like let the dog off near a main road, then equally they shouldn't be free of any liability.
I'm sure they do , loosing dogs isn't the reputation you want as a dog walker .

Down here in Somerset the few walkers i speak to when delivering the post all seem to work pretty well together , like if they get a enquiry a bit to far from all there other dogs they'll pass it on to who they know who's nearer .

When you look at pricing have a look at what 1 to 1 compared to a group walk includes , one of the women i talk to takes her group's up onto exmoor/quantocks or down the beach , they seem to have a far more interesting walk than the hour walk around the block dogs.

Boosted LS1

21,165 posts

259 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
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Walking somebody else's dog for £10 carries a huge liability, not to mention urgent vets fee's. I'd expect the owner to sign a contract or indemnity clause.

StuTheGrouch

Original Poster:

5,713 posts

161 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
quotequote all
I don't disagree with that, but the walker should also have the appropriate insurances to cover them against any incidents.

blueST

4,378 posts

215 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
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They should have an insurance policy, ours have, but what it covers them for I couldn't say. The other thing to mention is that your own pet insurance may not give full cover when the dog is not being walked by you. I'm sure mine has some exclusions for when the dog is not under my supervision.

condor

8,837 posts

247 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
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I've been a professional dog walker/pet sitter for over 9 years. I don't have written contracts, I also self insure.
No problems to date. I write a walk diary for the owners if they're absent, detailing time of arrival and departure, where we've walked, and if they've poo'd or not. Most times the dogs are on leads, but sometimes I let them off lead in fields/woods and we have an enclosed dog park in the village. This is after I've been looking after them for a long time and know how they behave.






StuTheGrouch

Original Poster:

5,713 posts

161 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
quotequote all
Thanks Condor for your input. Out of interest, if something was to happen to a dog whilst in your care, how do you handle this?

condor

8,837 posts

247 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
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A few things have happenned over the years. Only last week one of the Jack Russels I walk was struggling to pass a poo, I tried to help it out, but felt something twig like that in her rectum that was preventing the poo falling. Rang the owner that told me that she'd been feeding them bones - this was obviously an undigested chicken type bone...and would eventually pass. I'd done eveything I could to help, and if it had been more serious would have taken the dog to the vet - but let the owner decide. The owner said that it would have to wait for her daughter to return home in a few hours.
A lot of my house sits are for elderly dogs that the owners don't want to go into kennels, and already the owners know that there's a chance that their pet might die whilst they're on holiday. It hasn't happened so far, but the owners tell their vet that I'm looking after them and they'll settle any bill when they return.


Boosted LS1

21,165 posts

259 months

Wednesday 20th November 2019
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StuTheGrouch said:
I don't disagree with that, but the walker should also have the appropriate insurances to cover them against any incidents.
As should the dog owner and why not get cover for dog walkers walking the dogs? I suspect the premiums would rocket because of the risks.

Just out of interest I wonder if any dog walking companies are limited entities and if people would use them under those circumstances?

Edited by Boosted LS1 on Wednesday 20th November 18:52

dhutch

14,198 posts

196 months

Thursday 21st November 2019
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At the end of the day if you want to do business with them you will have to sign up to their terms. If not, move on.

Look at it the other way, either you cover the risk, or you pay more than £10 hour. Unless it's mainly for the enjoyment, nobody in their right mind would work for £10/hour and still cover all the risk!

Daniel

Ed/L152

480 posts

236 months

Thursday 21st November 2019
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StuTheGrouch said:
However, if something was to happen to my dog on a walk, then I'd expect the dog walker to take responsibility for that. Is that unreasonable?
Yes, it is unreasonable. The dog walker would only be liable if they were negligent, not for every possible mishap!

If the dog walker doesn't have insurance cover for walking off the lead then they shouldn't do it, full stop, unless they wish to indemnify themselves. They can't sign away responsibility for negligence


Edited by Ed/L152 on Thursday 21st November 09:04