Muddy Puddles, Poop and Personalities: My First Week As A Dog Walker!

I’ve just completed my first week of being a ‘professional’ dog walker in Manchester and – as expected – I’ve absolutely loved it! I have been lucky enough to have two beautiful dogs to walk, along with my own little Bella. I’ve spent my afternoons strolling down the canal with lovely Louis or running around the park with a beautiful Poppy. Now I can’t wait to add more dogs to the pack!

Here’s what I’ve learnt so far…
As with any new job the first week has had a couple of moments of slight stress – hard to believe when dog walking sounds so simple! But on the whole, it’s been brilliant and I can’t wait for next week. This is what I’ve learnt so far…

• Be on the look-out for muddy puddles at all times! On my very first walk with Poppy the black Labrador she saw the biggest muddy puddle. She went flying into it, and of course, Bella followed too! I loved watching them both having so much fun splashing around (see picture below!) but the cleaning afterwards wasn’t easy! I had to text the owners to say that Poppy was still wet on return (sorry again!). In the future I’m keeping the dogs out of muddy puddles!

• There’s so much more poop than I expected! Now, when deciding to be a dog walker I obviously knew I was going to be dealing with poop, which I don’t mind. But wow – this week I’ve cleaned up so much and I’m only walking 3 dogs!

• I can’t get rid of the little bit of teacher in me just yet! One of my highlights of the days is contacting the owner following the walk. I send pictures and videos of the fun we’ve had and I can’t stop myself from sending a ‘report’ with it. I found myself typing ‘Poppy has been a pleasure to walk today’ then laughing as it reminded me of end of year school reports!

• The difference between dog breeds and their personalities has been eye opening! From my experience with dogs (plus my qualifications and reading) I knew there was a difference in breeds, but I didn’t realise how much. I’ve always had working breeds as pets so I didn’t realise how chilled out other dogs can be or how other dogs tire so much quicker. I’m excited to start volunteering in a local dog shelter soon so I can learn more about different breeds.

• I’m becoming even more of a crazy dog lady! I love a good chat so part of me was wondering whether I’d miss the social interaction with ‘humans’ when I started dog walking! But instead I’ve just replaced talking to humans to talking to dogs – Louis holds a conversation better than many humans!

On the whole, I’ve absolutely loved my first week of being a dog walker in Manchester! If you’d like your dog to join us, please get in touch.