Do dog walkers do ad hoc bookings?

[AveAtqueVale]

We can’t get a dog at the moment as we’re in a flat, but aiming to move to a house with a garden next year and I’m plotting. Which basically means trying to overcome in advance any possible hurdles DH may raise to dog-ownership. DH is a shift worker and I will be too. Because of the way DH’s shift pattern works 80% of the time a dog might be alone for a three hours at most before one or the other of us got home/ got up etc - but once or twice a month there would be a run of two days in a row where we’d both be out of the house for at least six or seven hours. Neither of us in a position to pop home. Can you book dog walkers on an occasional basis? Or is it like childcare where you have to do the same days and times each week, and pay even if you don’t use it?

Our dog walker will let us book a week in advance (although I have text her at short notice and she has accommodated if she can). It’s just finding a good one :) id imagine if you know what the days are in advance you won’t have many issues :-) I honestly can not praise ours enough, she is a god send!!!

Before we got our dogs I looked at local dog walkers and chatted to a couple about what we needed/cost etc, worth trying?

Good luck! I totally underestimated how hard dogs would be but I wouldn’t be without them now :-) xx

Usually dog walkers can only walk a set number of dogs at a time. If you aren't a regular then you risk them being 'full' or only being able to offer a time that isn't suitable e.g. at the beginning or end of the day.

Some large daycare centres which also do dog walking might be more flexible as they have more staff. Or conversely I have noticed some kennels offering daycare services which might work better on an ad hoc basis.

Mine is very flexible about bookings and will fit battendog in with short notice, if she can. There are no guarantees, though, and there have been days she cannot help. Plus, part of the reason she is happy to do this is that he goes out once a week with her anyway so she knows the dog well and he knows her walk routine. It makes it easy for him to fit in on extra days.

She lets me cancel days, though (with plenty of notice) so I don't have to pay if he doesn't play...

I can book my dog in for a walk the night before and on a couple of emergency occasions I’ve called in the morning and he’s been fitted in that day. The company I use has 5 people working together so they have more flexibility than a sole trader. It helps that my dog went to them regularly for two years so they know him well and they’re happy to do as hoc walks for him