Dog walker - is this normal

[crumbsneverdid]

Got a dog walker for the first time, a proper business with multiple vans and walkers. Thing is, she drops him back home absolutely filthy! He's rotten and the house is also messy with it. Of course it's normal for a dog to get this mucky, but should a dog walker do more to clean him down?

I come home from work and I have to bathe him straight away. I can't have him locked in a kitchen or somewhere easier to clean - is a bodysuit thing the answer or should she do more?

Thanks for any advice.

I’ve no idea about dog walkers but a body suit won’t work as you get mud and wet when it’s still too hot to be running around in a suit . My patterdale x is clipped short and it’s been too warm in the SE for him to wear a coat / suit at all yet this year , I’m just using his doggy dry bag when we get home . You could get her to put him in a suit in the van after the walk which would hopefully get off the worst of it and take it off him when he gets home .

Equi fleece maybe? Not from personal/own dog experience, but a local dog walking woman was raving about them. So dogwalker would need to put it on dd and take it off post walk..

It is normal in my experience. Our dog walker will give a towel down but in the wet weather she is still caked in dried mud by the time we get in. Or worse, fox poo. We have our dog limited to the kitchen while we aren't home and then a quick bath.

Hi OP - I'm a dog walker so I hope this helps :)

I don't have time to wash and dry every single dog after walks - it would add at least an hour (if not more) of unpaid work to my day in winter! However, I do encourage the use of coats/equafleeces and I make sure I give all the dogs a good rub down with a towel afterwards too.

I have a few dogs who are crated after walks to protect the house, and others are kept in the kitchen or behind baby gates so they don't get mud all over carpets or sofas.

I do my best to get the worst of the mud/poo/general muck off but it's impossible to bring them back spotless. I have other dogs in the car while I'm dropping dogs home and I can't leave them unattended for ages. It's a difficult balance, especially on days where it pisses it with rain all day and the mud is up to my knees!

@thelobsterquadrille makes sense.
Thanks for your replies, I'll look into one of those suits (and close some doors!).

Mine used to bathe and blow dry my Lab. She was £25 and that was around ten years ago.

I run a dog walking business and have 6 dogwalkers and walk the dogs myself.

All our vans have mud daddies and all dogs are hosed off after walks and towel dried before they are put in the van.

If the dogs are happy wear an equafleece we do this to help them dry. By the time they are delivered home they are getting dry and are clean to put back in their homes.

I would expect all dog walkers to make an effort to return a clean as possible dog

Our dog walker has a supply of those towel dry coat things in her van to keep them warm and help dry them off after a wet cold walk. If he is really muddy/filthy she will quickly hose down his feet and get most of it off and give him a rough dry before putting him in his crate until we get back. But it is quick as she usually has a car full of dogs and sometimes has her young daughter in the car outside ours.

TBH this is kind of what I was hoping to hear. He really is covered! I'll have a think about the coat thing.

Our dog walker (who our dog idolises) takes our dog on muddy, sandy, and wet walks (swims!) and God bless him, always gives him a hose down with the mud daddy to get rid of the very worst and a quick towel dry. He earns every penny we pay him and will be getting an extra generous thank you Christmas cash bonus too.

Ours doesn’t clean ours but I don’t expect her to. Ours get put in the (large) utility room until we get home,

My dogwalker is very good with this. I think he has sensed that I'm quite anal and he always gives my boy a good rub down. I keep his towel on a hook by the front door, which probably helps.

Mine always towels the dog down, even if I'm WFH and could take the dog for a quick hose down immediately anyway

Our dog walker wipes ours down with a towel but ours is a short haired breed. I think dog walker woild use our mud daddy if we asked but we necer have. His doggy daycare washes him before he goes home. He is always filthy after doggy daycare though. And not always filthy (just wet and dirty) after dog walker.