Would you let a dog walker walk your dog?

[Rachel]

When we lived at our previous house, there were three different young girls who (in pairs) used to come by and ask to walk my dogs. Both the dogs I had then were very gentle and well behaved, so I really had no fear of how they would behave with the girls. I kind of got to know the girls a bit first and saw how they interacted with the dogs and had them observe me. They only took them around the block (which took about 10 minutes) and they said they didn't want any pay but I would give them $1.00 (this was 20 years ago).

Since I've lived at this house, no one has ever asked to walk my dogs. Hannah and Tucker are a bit more to handle than my last dogs were, so I would make sure that any youngsters who would ask were capable, but I wouldn't consider it out of the question. What I would be willing to pay would be another consideration. I'm not sure. If anyone is considering doing dog walking, I would suggest making the rate reasonable. Remember too that walking a dog in most areas includes picking up poop.

As you can tell from most of the replies, people want to make sure that their dogs are safe and you need to feel confident that you can handle the dogs you would walk. Before you take on any dogs as walkees, be sure to spend some time with them first in the presence of their owner to get to know them and their ideosyncracies.

[Pam]

I would have to vote *no* along with most of the folks here. Ripley has been known to wiggle out of his collar and run off. Nowadays I use a halter on both of them for their walks so he can't wiggle out, but if his leash was dropped I am afraid he would quickly realize it and dash off. Bella is a tugger on her leash although only for the length of the first couple of houses we pass. After that she settles in.

When I was in elementary school I occasionally would visit a friend who had two St. Bernards in her neighborhood. We often offered to walk those dogs and we did it for free just because they were such awesome dogs. They walked like angels on their leashes and it was so much fun to be around big dogs (I grew up with smallish dogs) and especially such well behaved big dogs.

Bella's breeder actually encouraged people to allow children to come and play with, and walk, her puppies. She felt the socialization was important and also that *a tired puppy is a good puppy.* I can vouch for that last sentence, although I took it upon myself to tire her out. LOL!