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.

Dog walkers are usually quite close knit, the risk is him speaking about OP negatively to others and they may then be reluctant to accept her as a client. Why reduce your options for the sake of making a point. How does telling the truth benefit the OP?

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

Surely it's basic common sense that you don't let a dog off the lead near a road, no matter how good it's recall?

I'm a dog walker myself and all dogs go on leads near roads, no matter how much I trust them, because it only takes a split second for them to be distracted.

OP really shouldn't have to tell a professional dog walker to keep her dog on the lead by a road. It's the law as much as anything else!

How long has he been walking your dog. Do you need to sack him or just not use him anymore? I tried three to see how my dog got on. Once I chose I didn't sack the other ones I just didn't book any more walks.

If you have written 750 words explaining your dogs triggers I'm amazed he took your dog on.

While there may be a lot of dog walkers around, not all are good. In my area they are in huge demand probably due to all the lock down dogs.

Erm…. You’re giving him mixed directions. Ask him to keep the dog on the lead till he gets to the park you’re concerned about him chasing cats across the road

It's against the law to have dogs off the lead by a road.

She shouldn't need to spell it out to him.

Road Traffic Act 1988 - dogs can't be off lead on a road - so it's not something I thought I had to spell out to him. I also didn't spell out that he should pick up the dog shit, because it's both the law and common sense! Likewise I said he has no dietary requirements - I still wouldn't expect him to feed the dog chocolate!

Yes, we have had a behaviourist in; he's vastly improved, but perfection is unobtainable. Just like even the best psychiatrist can't cure schizophrenia, only make it manageable, he's manageable but will never be cured. It would be irresponsible of me not to forewarn them.

He doesn't need solo walks; he went out with other dog walkers with great success before we moved out of their catchment area. He seemed to gain some confidence from being in a group of dog friends - they had an incident where a dog of the breed he hates ran over... and he didn't react!! Completely back to normal the next time he was on a solo walk with me and saw one.

Dogs - outside his hated breed - aren't a trigger for him. Indeed he has good social skills to the point his old dog walkers used to pair him with a couple of other tricky dogs because he would read them and act on it.

His triggers are almost all things you won't see in the park unless someone else is doing something illegal or extremely unusual, like riding a motorbike around the playing fields, taking their cat for a walk, or riding a horse through an urban park.

Unfortunately I do have to contact him - he's booked in to take the dog out this afternoon - and to be honest I think he needs to know that what he's done is irresponsible so he might learn from it, and not do it to someone else's dog.

You will feel better if you end this looking him in the eye explaining why you want to finish the business relationship but you also don't want bad feeling going forward. If you both get a fair amount of time to state your position, you can both move on without bad residual feelings.

Road Traffic Act 1988 - dogs can't be off lead on a road

He wasnt on the road

You're being pernickety for the sake of it.

Most people wouldn't let their dogs run loose on their driveways.

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts I'm not, i just think that maybe OP is overreacting here

Would you be happy to have your car reactive dog running loose by a 6-lane road? Really?

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts the OP didn't say the dog was running round by the road and, from her diagram, it was nowhere near the road

Yes it was.

It was loose on the driveway - all there is between the driveway and the main road is a garden.

There is no way I would have my dog loose like that and if a so-called professional dog walker did it, I would never use them again.

That's a huge risk to take with someone else's dog.

yes you do need to get rid

I know I'm missing the point but 750 words isn't that much TBF

People just don’t bloody listen.

Do not let him off the lead. Do not let him have a sniff of a ball.

Professional dog Walker. Let’s dog off lead. Throws ball for him.

Her DD ended with a bleeding finger.

The dog walker is gone; I told him why and he's referred to it as a lapse on his part. Hopefully he's learned something from it.

Ddog was briefly on the side road's pavement, and about 7m from the kerb of the A road, with a direct line of sight to the traffic there. He can run in excess of 20mph (yes, we've measured) so would be on the A road in literally one second if he'd decided to bolt. There's no chance the dog walker would have been able to see him bolt, shout (including reaction time), have the dog hear, and the dog act on that, in less than one second... even if I did trust his recall around motorbikes, which I don't. There's just no margin for error at all.

750 words is about 1 side of A4 so not that much IMO.

Lax attitude. I don't think your dog walker fully appreciated the responsibility they're being trusted with.
I'd have no problems telling them exactly why I was terminating and I'd look them in the eye of I ever saw them.

Well done op. Good decision. Let's hope the walker learns from it.

Well done OP, good that he at least recognised his mistake but you couldn’t have trusted him again.

As a dog walker you 100% did the right thing - I always urge on the side of over caution and if this person would have a 'lapse of judgement' with something this high risk I'd wonder how seriously they are taking their job looking after these beloved pets. I always think I want to be the dog walker I would trust my dog with and I don't trust my dog with many people.

You made the right decision @IBetGordonRamsayDoesntHaveTheseProblems - that walker took a massive risk with your dog and it's only luck that means your dog didn't bolt straight into traffic.

Sensible decision, OP.

Frankly, regardless of triggers and instructions about off lead etc, it is an absolute tool of a 'professional' that has someone else's dog off lead on a driveway like that.

Dog walkers should have insurance, if they don’t, they’re not worth the risk, if they do, they should be avoiding invalidating that insurance by having the dog off lead near a road. As much as people like to pretend there are no lead laws at all in the UK, there actually are, it’s a legal requirement for dogs to be on a short lead while near a road, meaning no unlocked flexi leads, or other retractable leads, no long lines, and no off lead walking near traffic.
My mum had to ask her sister to walk her yorkie once when she broke her leg, her sister walked the dog to my nan’s house, as they usually stop in on the walk to have a chat and a coffee together, she let him off before closing the door behind her and he ran home on his own, only two quiet roads away, but if we’d lived on the other side of the busiest road in the area, he’d probably be dead. Obviously not the same situation as it wasn’t his own driveway, but he is usually excited to be at my nan’s house (because she has tripe for the dogs, ew) and it was a shock to everyone that he’d bolted first chance he got, bearing in mind this is a dog that everyone there had known for like 9 years at the time.
I would never be confident enough in my ability to recall someone else’s dog to have them off lead near a road in a residential area. The dog is always going to know a cat is there before you see it, they can smell it and be gone before you know it.