Think we need to sack the dog walker…

[Missfelipe]

So we have a 2.5 year old rescue who we’ve had since last January. She’s quite an energetic dog and she hadn’t been socialised properly. We worked really hard and by last summer we started on a mix of doggy day care and a dog walker on pack walks. She’s been doing really well and it by all accounts a different dog. The dog walker has more recently started not really mixing up the dogs on walks so it’s her and two others on her days. They all have a tendency to play a bit rough and she gets over excited. She gets dropped off and we are told that she’s a handful and ‘naughty’ but she’s ‘learning’ with him. We have none of these issues at day care and we’ve had dogs to visit the home and play dates and she’s interacted really well and moderated her play style. I honestly think it’s the dynamic of her and the other two dogs that’s the issue and don’t want her to learn, while she’s still a young dog that that is the only way to play. He won’t have her on other days as he’s taken on some very small, nervous dogs who need a bit more one on one time.

She loves the dog walker but I think we’ve reached a point now where she needs something different and to interact with more dogs. Does that sound right? She can be very exuberant but I feel like he doesn’t set her up for success either. It’s a full hour of whipped up high energy play and it seems too much.

Sounds more like a training issue. Have you worked on getting her focus on you when you walk her and ensuring appropriate interactions with other dogs?
Could you afford individual walks?

When we walk her we see none of these issues and day care always report how well she has been so it’s quite frustrating. She will sit and focus on us when another dog walks past, focussed to the point of being able to do tricks, any play interactions are well moderated by her and she will come away if a dog isn’t interested in her. She walks well on the lead, no lunging or anything like that and doesn’t react to any reactive dogs.

Maybe it’s just a bad combination of dogs or maybe the dog Walker isn’t great at dealing with their overexcitement. If they’re constantly saying your dog is naughty then I wouldn’t be happy to continue. Also what does “learning” mean? Are they allowing it to escalate until one of the dogs has had enough or is the dog Walker doing something to teach them a lesson?
Can you tell I’m a neurotic who wouldn’t send her dog out on group walks?

I think by ‘learning’ he means learning dog behaviour but they are all young dogs around 2 and there’s no older/calmer dog or anything like that setting an example. He does step in when it gets a bit much from what I can gather (I would hope so).

Trouble is leaving the dogs to it could cause a fight to break out one day if one decides it’s suddenly had enough.
See I told you I was neurotic!

This is what concerns me. At day care they are all matched up in such a way that their play styles all seem to complement each other and it doesn’t get too crazy. We get reports that she plays really well with puppies etc so I feel a bit deflated when we get a different report from the dog walker, especially when he tries to tell us what to do when she gets too excited but she isn’t doing it with us! I’m sure he thinks we are making it up when we tell him this.

Can you just have her more days at the daycare? She probably enjoys that more too.

She could, just with her breed mix getting out and having a proper run seems to be good for her, as well as interacting with other dogs outside of a day care environment. I feel like we are maybe over thinking it but I can’t help but think she’s become worse on the pack walks and if she’s better behaved elsewhere we probably need to cut that out. It’s only become worse since the dog walker stopped mixing them up and it’s been the same trio together each day. He doesn’t seem to notice that.

Dogs are different in different situations. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if they know when they have to be calm.

Our pup is a yob when it comes to the dog walker, it doesn’t matter which other dogs he’s walking with. In other situations he’s nowhere near as excited. We do training and they do off-lead play. We take him on lots of exciting walks and he’s sometimes allowed off-lead play. He plays with the neighbours dogs, obviously off-lead. With our other dog, the most exciting thing was dog training. Both were/are difficult in those environments that they’ve deemed to be the most exciting thing.

With both our dogs we have to work on these areas. With pup, we’ve told the dog walker that he isn’t like this in other situations and we need the dog walkers help. We will suggest something, dog walker will feed back as to if it’s working. Dog walker suggests something and we try it, they feed back if it’s working. We know pup is hard work for the dog walker and we also get that he’s “learning” and “getting there”. However, our dog walker is willing to work with us to understand the difference to when they don’t see pup. It doesn’t sound like your walker is willing to do a two way process with you. He should be willing to change the dynamic slightly and try walking the three dogs in a two and one, until he can work out which dog is the main ring leader. Our dog walker has had to juggle some dogs as they learn how the dogs interact with each other. Our pup doesn’t go out with another dog because they both hype each other up too much but for the most part he walks with the same dogs everyday. Another dog walker might be similar for your dog just because of the process of a walk with a walker is slightly different to daycare, for most dogs a walker is a short, sharp burst each day.

I suggest you tell the DW you want to follow their next walk (unseen by your dog) and watch what happens.

If he won't agree to that I'd get a new DW.

Hi OP, I'm a dog-walker myself.

Not all dogs like to go out in big groups - even two other dogs can be a bit much for some, especially if the dogs are nervous or haven't had much socialisation. The environment on a walk is very different to daycare as they're going somewhere new all the time (at least, I hope they are) and they have to cope with things like the van, being on lead etc. which aren't things that necessarily happen at a daycare.

Has the dog walker explained why he doesn't mix the groups anymore? Because I doubt he's making life harder for himself on purpose - I suspect it's a logistics issue. I often take the same dogs together each week because they get along and they live near to each other so it's just easier than driving back/forth all day long, lol. But saying that, if a group wasn't working then I would stop and try something else.

If he can't (for whatever reason) continue to mix groups and doesn't have space to take her solo, I would see if you can switch her to a different walker. Don't be afraid to do what's best for your dog - don't worry about hurting his feelings. Dogs switch between walkers all the time and for all sorts of reasons :) Best of luck!

Thanks warmfluffytowels, I think that’s it annoying because this is a fairly recent thing and only since he stopped mixing up the group. He’s taken on some smaller dogs and basically is having small dogs on some days and bigger dogs on the others, that was the explanation given to us. We get WhatsApp videos sent to us and she’s been at her most calm when with some of the smaller ones (as they don’t play quite as boisterously) so it is an explanation that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. That seems to be the only factor involved as all of his clients all live nearby, usually just streets away. When I see the other videos of her and the two others whipped up into a frenzy I’ve raised it and said you know it all seems a bit much but again just told they are all ‘learning’ as if I’m an idiot. We’re not precious with her, don’t get upset on the occasion she’s been ‘told off’ by another dog but the play is just absolute bedlam.

I think it would be useful to have a comparison to see where the problem actually lies, the walker or like you say maybe she just reacts differently to walks.

Ah, so nothing he's doing appears to be based in logic then

Honestly, if you're not happy, have a few trial days with someone else. You need to do what's best for your dog - don't worry about upsetting the walker or losing him business. You've raised your concerns several times and he hasn't changed his behaviour - so advocate for your dog and find someone who won't make her so stressed while out on walks.

Good luck :)

I'm a dog walker. I would say as above, I'd consider changing your walker.
I walk just 3 dogs on a group walk at all times. They are all gundogs, which I specialise in.
I walk my own Lab bitch with an unneutered Flatcoat, who is amazing, but play between them can get over the top. My Lab will tell off the flattie, when it's too much for her, she's older at 7.

I always, stop the play if I feel it's going to get out of hand.

We changed our dog walker because our dog was having difficulty in the original pack (humping due to stress, and once got into a scuffle). She wanted us to neuter, instead we just changed walker to one with a better balanced pack of dogs. Our current walker has been with us for 2 years now and never ever had any humping or friction in the pack, she keeps it very stable with occasional introductions of new dogs and a balance of older calmer dogs and younger puppies.