VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Kathryn — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 23:02:48 GMT

I agree with Kate. I'm a working dog owner whose dog is looked after in a home environment by a dog sitter who loves him almost as much as I do. When I'm not working he enjoys long country walks, camping, seaside holidays and many other doggy pleasures. His previous owners had no time for him, didn't walk him and put him in the garden on his own where he chased his tail for hours on end. When he came to me he was completely unsocialised with other dogs, knew very few commands and demonstrated stressed behaviour including tail chasing and chewing his leg. He is now a well socialised dog, very loving and eager to please. He has also had two major operations at referral vets, only possible because I use the money I earn by going out to work to pay for his health insurance. I can't imagine living without him, and surely if I'm prepared to give a dog a home and pay for his care when I'm not around, then that's one less homeless or unwanted dog in the world.

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Charmaloo88 — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 20:33:57 GMT

WOAH left this for a few days and it kind of spiralled haha! Well I've asked around and the owner of a local stables has tried the council before as the dogs are forever harassing the horses (so its not like this is a new problem) and they have been useless, claiming its a private property and therefore out of their control. I'll send a bunch of letters out as suggested and see what happens, however it would seem she's operatin an unregistered business out of a private property which I'm pretty sure is illegal so could always try that route... I just worry there will be no justice and these dogs are at risk!

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

miss jack rat — Tue, 23 Jul 2013 10:40:55 GMT

[quote user="Sal the 1st"]

I'm not bashing them at all - to me its just the same as parents who stick their sprogs in boarding school and have them home for the odd holiday - why bother having children at all? I would love to have a dog but I also recognise that my lifestyle just wouldnt be fair on the dog - so no dog for me.

[/quote]

Im sure there may be the odd parent that does as you say above "stick their sprogs in boarding school" I went to boarding school and it definitley was not the case. As it wasnt for any body i met there. Its a horrible opionion to have if you have no experience of it yourself. As for the opinion on working and having animals i myself have 6 dogs most of which compete in agility and other dog related sports but i suppose some one with no money and all time in the world would be better for them. i know for a fact if i did not work i would not be able to afford them or their insurance which has saved 3 of my six dogs lives. I doubt that any 3 of them would still be here if they didnt find me and were not insured, luckily that is not the case and the amount of people that i see day to day come in with pets they clearly cant afford that have to be put to sleep or rehomed is disgusting. I cant believe you have been through he veterinary profession and not seen this yourself and barring a lottery win or some inheritance i dont see how people can afford the luxury of a pet without working. But then again the people who dont work and see pets as a must have object that can just be "given away" if needs be are a lot better for the welfare of the animal.

Onto the orignal topic, I agree ring anyone and everyone and get the name out there for bad reasons.

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Fuzzyduck — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 22:19:52 GMT

It's the same as saying people who go to work full time and put their children in day care shouldn't have children! Utterly ridiculous!

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Kate Claxton DipAVN(Med)VN — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 21:38:38 GMT

"but then if I had a dog I would make the time to walk it myself rather than pay somebody else as to me if you don't have time to care for a pet you don't have one"

"I agree Sal, don't get why people have dogs then get someone to walk them/ look after them all day whilst at work. I guess they just have them so they can do the obligatory walk in the country side at the weekends!!"

In my 10yrs former VN experience, dogs taken to work have to be kennelled for the working day or the vast majority of it (unless you have them in prep/theatre all morning??? certainly our morning ops at my last hospital took far longer than the time my dog's left alone before the walker gets in!) While I personally don't have a problem with this, as IMHO familiar kennels in a vets can be akin to the security of a crate for a dog (albeit with more risk of picking up bugs from the inpatients/hospital environment!) there are those who would consider shutting a dog in a kennel all day to be far less stimulating for them than being in the home environment (playing with their stuffed Kongs and finding their hidden treats) not to mention potentially stressful with the barking of unfamiliar dogs.

I feel SO guilty and SO upset for my poor POOR unstimulated dog, waiting for this elusive weekend for her reckless owner to take her for that 'obligatory walk in the countryside' (Sorry Dotty that we're always too busy at shows to walk you, obviously that lovely offlead woodland hour walkies at Andover show on Sun with the other 7 Obedience doggie chums after you'd finished your classes probably doesn't count either)

Poor love, she spends all of her weekdays selecting exactly WHICH of the beds in our large four bed detached house she's going to sleep on next, but of course she's always cruelly disturbed by her dog walker (being as I'm too lazy to walk her myself of course!!!!!) to take her for her 60-90min off-lead walk along the hideous, nasty Cotswold Way with three of her doggy buddies. Life is hard hard hard for such poor doggies!

I'm sure a little rescue collie cross like her would have been far better off staying with her original unemployed family, at home all day (apparently according to them she's willful,destructive and completely untrainable - this very same dog who managed to get to Crufts this year on the KC Gold Good Citizen Team and do 6 displays of the Gold Award in the GCDS ring plus a display in the main arena) or maybe she'd be better with a nice retired elderly couple who might be at home all day and take her out for 30mins on lead if she's lucky. Love to see exactly how much house they'd have left, based on how she was when we first adopted her.

Apology accepted, but offended? You bloody bet I am!

Maybe you'd also like to pass judgement on the fact we're also getting a pup mid-September - yes, we have a lot of leave booked, yes we have day care booked when we go back to work first part-time then full-time - but I bet you our puppy will be far better socialised, better adjusted and better trained than a lot you'll see in practice - we've been planning for over a year for him/her to arrive whereas many of your perfect non-working doggy owners may have just bought their puppies on a whim.

I sincerely hope that we don't encounter the same attitude I've seen on here when we go for first puppy vaccs - I'm genuinely shocked by the two posts I've quoted above.

Apologies to the original poster for commenting off topic. First time I've posted on here for a while but couldn't just let this slide. Ultimately people are entitled to their opinions!

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

bongo — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 21:00:13 GMT

oh dear! Never meant any offence to anyone, and I certainly wasn't tarring all dog owners with the same brush! I know that people work full time and so are responsible enough to get a dog walker so their animal is well exercised and on the flip side there are those who just don't exercise their dogs enough which leads to behavioural probs etc. Unfortunately peoples opinions can be massively misconstrued on forums such as this!

It is certainly NOT my attitude to say that full time people shouldn't own dogs, I work full time, own a dog and am lucky enough to be able to take it to work with me, every bodies situation is different.

Having read my post back it kinda does sound a bit like that is what I was saying but please accept my sincere apologies for causing any offence

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Johnathan Prior — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 19:35:12 GMT

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FONN-0uoTHI&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DFONN-0uoTHI

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Kate Claxton DipAVN(Med)VN — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 17:51:31 GMT

Just as an aside, exactly how are these non-working 'responsible' dog owners paying for their dog's veterinary fees and husbandry?

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Kate Claxton DipAVN(Med)VN — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 17:39:16 GMT

Er, what?? Why do I bother having my dog!!!! Yes, I have a dog, a full time dog walker and also work full time.

My dog is walked for an hour in the morning, then is left from 8.30am to 12pm, at which point my dog walker comes in for 60-90mins and takes her out again, I am then in at 4pm (3pm if I'm on an early start) and we go straight out again for an hour. We then have a) Obedience training Mondays, 2hrs, b) Competitive Obedience class Tuesday, 8-9pm, c) Obedience Club Weds 9-10pm, d) Flyball Thursdays, 7.30-9pm. Friday we have a 'night off' with 'just' some clicker games and static work in the kitchen or back garden. We go out again at 10pm before bed around the block.

We compete weekends - Flyball or Obedience. Every weekend, maybe a weekend we don't have a 'proper' show we do a Companion show.

My dog is well trained, well socialised, well stimulated, very happy and is kept tired!

DO NOT tar all full-time working dog owners with the same brush!!! I know LOTS and LOTS of under-exercised badly behaved dogs belonging to retired or part time folk. My dog-training friends, many of whom have the same sort of schedule as me, also have dog walkers. Incidentally, when I have just spent the last week on MSc study leave, Dotty has spent most of her day either lazing in the garden or lying on the spare room bed, not following me round, not being unhappy.

Unbelievable attitude.

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Louise B — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 21:50:51 GMT

[quote user="Sal the 1st"]

[/quote]

Fair enough but I think it is a bit different. They have the company of their dog for the majority of the 24 hour period. For me, it is a bit more akin to sending your children to school for the day in terms of degree of separation. Boarding school makes it sound like they only see their dogs outside of term time. I work full time and have 5 dogs - but I am pretty satisfied that their welfare needs are met and I gain a huge amount of pleasure from them all week - I certainly don't see them as something to have knocking round the place in case I fancy a Sunday stroll round a country park.

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Sal the 1st — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 21:12:35 GMT

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Louise B — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 19:04:45 GMT

[quote user="sazzle RVN"]I agree Sal, dont get why people have dogs then get someone to walk them/ look after them all day whilst at work. I guess they just have them so they can do the obligatory walk in the country side at the weekends!![/quote]

I don't get why VNs would want to bash clients who actually want to pay out for a dog walker to take their dogs out Monday - Friday. Surely they are trying to be good dog owners - working so able to pay for the dog's veterinary needs, etc but also trying to ensure that their dog is not locked up home alone all day.

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

bongo — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 16:11:31 GMT

This is just a fantastic example of all those areas where there is no specific organisation in charge of these businesses and anyone ca call themselves a 'dog walker'. i would say call everyone, dog warden, police, RSPCA (for what its worth!) then at least you have covered all bases. I think ringing round the owners of the dogs who were loose and informing them that the dog walker cant be trusted is very dodgy territory and could land you in hot water!

I agree Sal, dont get why people have dogs then get someone to walk them/ look after them all day whilst at work. I guess they just have them so they can do the obligatory walk in the country side at the weekends!!

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Potatoe — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 19:59:18 GMT

I've been looking in to this today and it seems the RSPCA should be the ones to approach as its a failure of care on dog sitters/walkers part. You could also try trading standards as they are clearly not fulfilling the role of looking after animal under their care. also if the dogs are loose I would think the police should be called as it poses an accident risk on road.

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Sal the 1st — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 11:23:33 GMT

[quote user="Charmaloo88"]Yep, each time I've calle the owner as luckily all dogs had collars with tags. If I didn't contact them they would have been none the wiser! Dog warden would be for strays I imagine. It's a private business to its not straight forward, do you think RSPCA would help?

[/quote]

not being funny but if I had a dog I was leaving with a dog walker and somebody unconnected to the dog walker calls me and says I have found your dog wandering I wouldnt be using that dog walker again, but then if I had a dog I would make the time to walk it myself rather than pay somebody else as to me if you dont have time to care for a pet you dont have one

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Aimee Barber — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 10:48:03 GMT

The dog warden will help with any out of control or uncared for dog. our local one is very good at helping.

we had one case where a parent was letting the kids take their very boisterous rottie out not on a lead and completely uncontrolled, she went and had a word and had the power to remove the dog if it was deemed unsafe.

good luck though!

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

molladog — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 08:21:24 GMT

How about informing the police as if dogs are loose on a public highway then they are usually very interested to intervene as likely to cause an RTA where people may be injured. (have found this works in the past when horses had escaped from field, couldn't get them to come out until we said they were on a busy road,(which they wern't!!) then 2 cars shot out with lights flashing + sirens wailing..!!

Also inform the horse owners that the dogs are worrying them + they may do something.

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Katie Mansfield — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 22:24:42 GMT

[quote user="Charmaloo88"]do you think RSPCA would help[/quote]

Highly unlikely.

K x

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Helen Tottey — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 21:22:03 GMT

What about trade descriptions act - think it would be the council you would need to contact for something along those lines. Alternatively next time you find them don't return the dogs, put an advert in local paper to say you have "found" them or take them to local dog pound so the owner has to pay to get them back

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Charmaloo88 — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 18:54:24 GMT

Yep, each time I've calle the owner as luckily all dogs had collars with tags. If I didn't contact them they would have been none the wiser! Dog warden would be for strays I imagine. It's a private business to its not straight forward, do you think RSPCA would help?

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Selena Carnell — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 18:43:33 GMT

Dog warden? If they are out of control some needs to do something

Re: VERY irresponsible dog walker!!

Fuzzyduck — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 17:56:50 GMT

Can you not contact the people who are trusting her to look after their dogs and inform them of the situation. Apologies if I've read this wrong but I'm reading it as she's a business looking after people's dogs while they are at work/on holiday. I'm sure if they knew that they were not being taken care of appropriately they would take their business elsewhere and the loss of business might make her act more responsibly with other peoples pets.