Home visit/meeting – this should always be arranged before carrying out any pet care. To ensure the dog and the walker get to meet before agreeing and confirming to any future bookings.
Insurance – please always make sure your dog walker is insured. This is to ensure everyone is protected. The dog, dog walker and any members of the public.
DBS checked – having basic police check to show your dog walker hasn’t been in trouble with the law is super important and reassuring as a pet owner. As pet carers will be going into clients houses when they aren’t there, which means they usually have a key to keep so they can go and collect the dog for their walk. Due to this, the client must be able to trust their dog walker hugely.
Pet first aid – knowing your dog walker is trained in basic pet first aid is super reassuring, to know that if ever there was a situation the dog becomes injured or in pain, the dog walker can react quickly and efficiently for the dog and get them the care they need.
GDPR compliant – General Data Protection Regulation is law and means any company that need to hold any information about the clients home or dog must keep it in secure server or a locked filling cabinet.
Policy – Friends for Pets have a policy that is sent out to all new clients covering all the information that new clients need to know. Please ensure you read all policies or contracts when choosing a dog walker, so you understand how the company/individual works and any problems need to be clarified before going ahead with any bookings.
Charges – always understand the pricing and when/how you pay to ensure you are prepared and can calculate the costings for each month. It is also important to know what you are getting included in the price, for example a group walk, solo walk, transported in a car, a run off the lead or a pavement, lead walk?
Booking walks – find out how to book and how much notice is needed to book walks if they are regular or ad hoc. Ask who is best to contact regarding booking or cancelling dog walks. At friends for pets, we have managers for each of our franchise teams and they usually do all/most of the admin as they can contact the usual pet carer, as well as adding it to our website system.
When to pay – it is important to discuss when the dog walker receives payment, so you know how regular to pay. Some dog walkers charge after each walk, weekly or monthly. This could be through, BACS transfer, cash, or cheque.
Times of each walk – be sure to go through this with your dog walker so your dog isn’t left for too long at a time and to ensure the dog walker has availability for the time and day you require. It is also important to state how long you would like the walk for, so the dog walker can fit them in to their daily schedule.
Covering for holidays or illness – it might be a good idea to make sure you know what happens if your dog walker goes on holiday or has a day off due to illness. At friends for pets we have teams made up of pet carers in each of our branches, to ensure we always have someone to cover any sickness or holiday’s your regular dog walker may have.
Friends for pets will always send out a home visit form for the client to fill out, which covers all questions about your dog, this helps the pet carer refer to any answers they may need, for example, is the dog good off lead, do they get on with other dogs, do they have any medication or health conditions the pet carer need to know about. All important information will be on the form, emergency contact details and the vet’s details should we ever need them.
To enquire about our dog walking services please see https://www.friendsforpets.co.uk/dog-walking-booking/
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