Toronto Dog Walker
Dog parks can be a tricky thing to navigate, doubly so for a local dog walker with multiple dogs. Since we share our work space with dog walkers and dog owners alike, I'd like to share a few unwritten rules we follow to keep our parks clean and safe.
1# Give space at the gate and let each other finish before going through. As dog walkers we are always vigilant about your dogs safety. We know how quickly something could go wrong if a dog slips the gate. If someone is already going through the gate, you'll notice dog walkers will wait about 7-10 feet back until you are done and we will never walk our dogs into yours. If you reciprocate you're sure to get a smile and a thanks for waiting!
2# Pick up all the poo! Dog walkers know there is the occasional poo that slips our notice. We believe in poo karma, meaning as we pick up a poo from one of our dogs we will fill the bag with any poop in the immediate vicinity. The average bag can easily hold 3 or 4 poops and we rarely waste a bag by just picking up one.
3# Use your leash in off leash parks. If a dog walkers dogs are engaged in over aroused play or get into an altercation of some kind, we leash up and move on regardless of who is the instigator. If you immediately release a dog after its gotten all riled up, guess what? It will go right back at it. This brings to mind an incident that happened the other day at the park. A woman brought in two over aroused dogs that promptly challenged every dog they ran up to. My fearful pot cake defended herself, air snapping, when set upon by one of the dogs. I immediately leashed her, even though she was not at fault. The idea is to keep her close so that it would not happen again. The woman did nothing and allowed her dogs to continue. Less then five min later and a full fledged fight breaks out between the dog that went after mine and another large dog in the park. The owner of the over aroused dog was bitten on the hand while trying to separate them. I couldn't help but think if she had followed this simple protocol the whole thing would have been avoided. A little cool down time and some distance can make all the difference. Play smart, Play safe!