I've got to sack my dog walker haven't I

[IBetGordonRamsayDoesntHaveTheseProblems]

Having spent ages explaining ddog's triggers, including cats and certain vehicles, I've just caught him on the Ring doorbell with the dog off lead on the driveway.

We live on the corner of a 6 lane A road and a residential road. It's a fucking miracle that ddog didn't spot a trigger, run after it, and get run over in the process. It's a complete lack of judgement.

But I hate confrontation and now I have to write an email sacking him, and I have to avoid him in the park from now until forever as I often see him out walking his own dogs.

FML.

There’s tons of dog walkers about they would not be getting the benefit of the doubt or any second chances from me.

I really need a dog walker but I can’t trust anyone - there was a dog near me that went missing while a dog walker was in charge it took days to find it.

In 90% of situations I'm usually the person saying give them another chance but it's not worth the risk here. If anything happened to the dog after this you'd never forgive yourself. Find another dog walker.

If you said, off the lead was ok you should have been more specific, only off lead in the park. I'd give him another chance but say no off the lead until you are more confident of him.

We had a dog-walker who did not turn up when we were nearly 1000 miles away up a mountain. My daughter was in sixth form during the day, back at 4.45pm. We were away for four days. She just had to take two elderly dogs out for a quick stroll and walk the younger one for half an hour at some point in the middle of the day.

I had once in the past thought it was weird she had left the lead in the strange random pattern it had accidentally dropped into when I placed it on the table, but thought she was just joshing with me.

Other friends had cameras that proved she hadn’t showed up at theirs when she swore she had turned up to do a walk.

Turned out she was having some kind of breakdown.

Think I need a diagram.
Just how far was dog from road & from front door at point when it was off lead.

Are some 'triggers' contextual, as in they won't be the same for the same dog with same handler every time?

I used to be a dog walker and have helped out other dog walkers on occasion.

100% do not use this person again, don't sack them though its a very small world.

I'd have a change of circumstances and quietly hire someone else.

750 word essay might have been confusing though, I'd look at maybe 2 or 3 non negotiable key points plus a general blurb of DD's preferences.

Me too.

Just talk to him.

I’ve used shit dog walkers before. I’ve also seen them out and about with but ok many dogs that aren’t under control.

i wouldn’t give a second chance either. It’s awkward but actually it’s a breach of trust.

It's common sense not to have a dog offlead in an urban environment near roads, the risks are far to high, especially when it isn't your own dog to be making those decisions, OP shouldn't need to spell that out.

I'd look for another walker because you aren't likely to trust him again.

*too many dogs

Yeah, you need to sack him. Triggers aside, who lets a dog they've just met be off lead next to a busy road??

You said he could walk the dog off lead when he was comfortable with the walker and his recall was good. Is there any suggestion on the video at all that the dog wasn't under control?

750 words?!?!?! bloody hell. I expect his eyes glazed over and he zoned out

You didn't need to 'be more specific', your dog shouldn't have been anywhere near a busy road off lead (or any road tbh). I wouldn't sack him as such, make an excuse and quietly drop him immediately. I couldn't trust someone so lacking in common sense with my dogs.

Why would you not tell him the truth?

Agree. My DP is a dog walker and ALWAYS puts the dogs on a lead when walking them from the van back to their house. Off lead is within green spaces only.

It really doesn’t matter how good a dogs recall is, you just don’t risk it.

The dog walker was being irresponsible by not leashing the dog when taking it home, especially when OP has said their dog is reactive to vehicles and other things.

I've gone back and reread what I wrote - I didn't explicitly say not to let him off lead next to a six lane A road but
A) I would have thought this was common sense with any dog
B) I did say that he is reactive to motorbikes and would give chase, and in the unlikely event that an on lead motorbike turned up in the park he was to grab the dog.
C) I did say the dog will chase cats. Like most neighbourhoods, there are cats; it's only a week since I had to go around grovelling to a neighbour because we fucked up, the dog bolted out the front door, chased an elderly cat, and didn't recall - we had to grab him from a front garden several doors down.

750 words yes - in bullet points, because the dog has issues but has always managed to be walked successfully in a well chosen group of dogs. It's better to tell the dog walker everything IMO - for instance you probably won't see horses in our urban local park, but it would be irresponsible of me not to forewarn the dog walker that he isn't to be trusted around livestock, in case police horses suddenly turn up.

A screenshot as requested - the blue squiggle is the dog's approximate off lead path. For scale, the front garden is approx 5m X 5m.

on lead motorbike

That should read illegal off road motorbike

Rereading some of these responses, I seem to have produced Schrödinger's guide to ddog; simultaneously too much information and not enough information.

I hate confrontation and now I have to write an email sacking him, and I have to avoid him in the park from now until forever as I often see him out walking his own dogs.

You'll feel a lot better & be able to see him in future without discomfort, even have a friendly chat, if you can have a calm face to face chat now. I speak with experience. Anyone I ever "had it out with" directly, even if they upset me hugely originally, I can face them afterwards without anxiety. The people I took the indirect confrontation approach with (half arsed email) haunts me.

For yourself, I strongly recommend you have a face to face chat why you're upset & can't risk trusting them again. It's harder in the moment but you'll have a huge gain in long run. Not just in being able to see them again without being upset, but being able to be more honest with others, too.

Strongly hoping you take that advice. This fear of confrontation thing on MN is unhealthy, don't give into it. You can do something better.

Bin him off. Sounds like an arrogant, know it all, who has completely disregarded your instructions. You employ him to do a job and he hasn't done it. You know your dog best and you wanted him kept on a lead for his safety.

I understand the fear of confrontation but try to imagine your dog dead and then see if having a chat with this individual feels so bad.

Your dog seems to have a lot of triggers, have you tried a 121 trainer? Sounds like you need a specialist dog walker who doesn't take more than 2 at a time. Is this one licenced etc?

Don't think I'd ever trust a dog walker with ours. The walkers I've seen round here take too many dogs and don't seem able to control them properly, even on leads. I'd probably go with paying someone to let him out in the garden for pee/playtime and just sit with him for an hour.

Get rid and don’t feel bad about it.

It is common sense not to walk your own dog off the lead near a busy road. Even if your dog has excellent recall and is fantastically trained, not many owners take that risk, even for a short trip from the house to the car - for obvious reasons. This guy is the dog walker; not the dogs owner. He’d never have the same level of control you would have over your dog or the level of trust/respect from the fog (i.e to have any chance of calling it back) so to do something so incredibly stupid just screams of incompetence and/or arrogance. Neither are good traits for someone in control of an animal that’s not theirs.

If you don't trust your walker (for any reason) then you should end the arrangement and find someone else.

It's really irrelevant what other people would do or whether they feel you're being OTT - at the end of the day you need to trust your dog walker - if you don't then there's no benefit to continuing the arrangement.

If you just feel he's made a mistake then just reiterate that the dog always needs to be on a lead between the house and the van because of how close the road is.

What’s he done that she explicitly asked him not to do?

She told him the dog could be off-lead once recall was established!