Do you worry about finding the right carer for your dog? Do you want him to socialise with dog friends but worry he’ll end up bad mannered? We’ve all seen the dog walkers that just stroll around in parks chatting whilst the dogs run riot, playing aggresively or running off all over the place and annoying other people. A lack of knowledge in the dogwalker can result in a wealth of problems which are hard to undo.
Before I began K9adventures I worked in schools and had a dogwalker myself. My first dogwalker was my inspiration and meant I didn’t have to worry about my dog stuck home alone while I was working, even though I was slightly envious!! Then I moved and my second dogwalker always left me feeling anxious as I got the impression she wasn’t quite in control. I lacked confidence in her ability to do the job properly. Fast foward a few years and I decided I could do a far better job, and wanted to be back working with animals (I worked with horses in my younger days!) so I did.
Walking groups is a far cry from taking your own dog out, and my journey began on learning the skills needed to succesfully manage groups of dogs – matching dogs carefully, keeping the dogs focused on myself through games and mental stimulation, and ensuring they behave appropriately with other dogs. Understanding canine behaviour and always thinking one step ahead of them are all part of succesful group walks.
Training is an intergral part of our group walks, wether it is teaching a dog to wait rather than barging out of the van in excitement, or doing a paws up to distract them from passing joggers, practising recall, or recognising when they are getting too excited and need a few minutes on lead to calm down. Teaching 6 of them not to pull on lead is a fair challenge to say the least!!
Our team are all trained in the steps needed to maintain quality walks for the dogs, from the moment we pick up pick up from the house, on the walk, and returning them home. We ensure all our staff maintain the same systems for daycare and boarders too, including health/welfare checks, monitoring behaviour, reinforcing basic training, playing safely, and know how to provide stimulating enrichment activites such as scentwork.
If you would like your dog to join our K9adventures family then get in touch for more information.