Coastal Dog Walkers
Professional dog walking in North Shields, Tynemouth and Cullercoats.
I've had Wendy with me for a couple of months now. When I first met this lovely greyhound her owner explained to me that Wendy was a very nervous dog; she really didn't like being near busy roads, loud noises were likely to spook her, she (Wendy's owner) was unsure how Wendy would interact with other dogs. It seemed to me that Wendy was frightened of her own shadow and just liked to cuddle up on the settee. Wendy's owner had never let her off the lead and I therefore I was asked to keep her on the lead at all times...which of course was fine with me as the last thing I want to do is to go chasing a greyhound!
Over the first couple of walks it was apparent to me that Wendy was not the dog that the owner had described to me. Traffic and noise did not affect her, other dogs seemed to love Wendy and Wendy seemed not to mind the attention at all. Wendy's owner, although slightly puzzled at hearing about this 'new' Wendy thought this was fantastic and appreciated me bringing her out of her shell (I must fess up here, Cesar Millan I am not and any effect I have had on Wendy is purely coincidental). I then broached the subject of letting Wendy off the lead... As Wendy was about the go to the vets for an operation we decided to keep her on the lead and once she was back to full health we would try her off the lead at that point. I am very happy to say that today I let Wendy off the lead and I am even happier to say she came back every single time i called out to her. I have a real liking for Greyhounds anyway but Wendy is definitely my favourite, it's been lovely to see her gaining confidence and I am looking forward to seeing her again tomorrow. Well done Wend.
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So you have a need for a dog walker in your life right now. The reasons for this are many an varied but as I covered some of those reasons in a blog just a couple of weeks ago I will save you the repeat.
The first question you are likely to have asked yourself once you have realised you need someone to help is which dog walker do I use? I make the assumption that you have already Googled something like 'Dog Walker North Shields' in order to find pages of (hopefully) useful results including our own website. You will notice that there are a surprising number of businesses like ours on Google so I would advise having a look at a few that catch your eye and have a good look around each of the sites. If you're anything like me once I have looked at 3 or 4 I start to lose track of what i have read but look at as many as you need until you have narrowed it down to 1 or 2 potentials. Further research at this stage is really important because you may be entering into a relationship that lasts longer than some marriages! Here are my thoughts on how to find a suitable dog walker....
From the other dog walkers I know I really can't fault any of them and if you do your homework I am sure you will find the right on for you. Fear not, the majority of successful dog walkers have the best interests of the dogs at the heart of their business.
Once the labs were safely home I then had the pleasure of walking Honey and Mae. Mae is currently in season so I kept her on the lead just in case she attracted any unwanted attention!
We got some a few nice pictures overlook Cullercoats Beach before doubling back to walk along Longsands, round past the Grand Hotel and then back to drop both dogs home. These 2 get along very well but as the are really just puppies; both are approximately 9 months old they do like to have a daft 5 minutes every now and then and Honey is usually (always) the instigator! You may wonder who has a need for a dog walker. Well as it turns out lots of people do and for a variety of reasons too; You may need a dog walker on a short time basis to whilst you recuperate from an illness or injury. Your work commitments may have suddenly changed meaning you can't nip home at lunchtime or you simply cannot keep asking friends and neighbours to walk your dog as a favour.
The one thing I have found whilst doing this job is that no two of our customers have the same exact reason for using our service. I have working professionals who simply aren't at home as often as they would like to be, I have retired people who just cannot meet the demands of their dogs and I even have people who work for themselves and take their dogs to work in order for me to drop in and take the dog out for an hour in the middle of the day. If you cast your mind back 10 or certainly 20 years ago did the role of 'Dog Walker' even exist?...I don't think it did or if it did it wasn't to the extent it is now. Do a Google search for dog walkers in your town and you'll be surprised how many there are...I have been giving this some thought and I have think that 2 of the main reasons for the role of 'Dog Walker in todays society are:
That's a lot of dogs. I think I'll just stick to walking the ones at the coast! It was a bit of a pea-souper on the coast today but still very pleasant and warm. Wendy an I tested out my new Map My Walk app which I will use from time to time to let owners see where we go when we're out and about. As you can see from the image below we were out for an hour and covered the best part of 4 miles....it was our intention to go to the end of the north pier but alas, it was locked due to the very foggy conditions in Tynemouth today so we continued along the coast, past King Eddies and then home via Northumberland Park. All in all it was a very nice walk. Wendy is at the vets for an operation tomorrow so I made a point of taking her out on her own today as I won't see her again for a week or more. |
Coastal Dog WalkersWelcome to the occasional ramblings of a North Shields dog walker. Archives
February 2022
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