Dogwalkers cancelling due to heat

[blanketsnuggler]

I'm wondering if I'm not thinking straight here.
Obviously it's too hot to take our dogs out for a walk at 1pm.
We have a dog walker twice a week and if the temp goes up to 26c she offers home visits rather than a walk.

Would you expect a reduction in fee's to not?
As you can imagine, it's happening quite a lot lately. (If we cancel we pay either full fee if it's short notice, or 50% fee if longer notice.)
is this normal practice?

If dog walker cancels due to heat you should not be paying unless you agree a home visit instead

Is she cancelling or doing a let out instead?
If shes doing a let out then she should still get paid

Not for my dog walker.
She texted to ask if I wanted bigger dog walked at 8am and I said no because it was already 23° here. She won’t charge for it, even at short notice ( I did pay her when I cancelled at a few hours notice because I felt that was only fair)

What does the contract you signed with her say? Ours specifies that where walks can’t be accommodated due to weather conditions, a reasonable alternative (e.g. home visit) will be offered instead, at the standard rate. If we were to decline the visit, we’d still be expected to pay.

Is she visiting or not? It doesn't seem clear.

If the visit is the same amount of time, then surely it would be the same fee? If she's just popping in for 15 mins, then a bit less (remember she still has the same travel time and costs).

I guess I’d just be thinking about her time. If she normally charges £15 for an hour long walk with 3 people’s dogs then I’d expect her to charge £15 and stay 20 mins with your dog so she’s making the same per hour (ish). If she normally walks your dog alone then I’d expect her to stay for the time she normally walks so your dog has a full hour (let’s say) of company. I assume the dog does need to see someone during the day so as long as she isn’t popping in for 3 mins and charging the same as an hours walk, I’d be fine with it I think.

Be kind and pay her anyway, she still has bills to pay. It’s not her fault the weather is too hot to walk your dog, she’s being responsible.

Your post isn’t very clear. She’s offering home visits instead- are you accepting these but expecting to pay less, or are you not accepting them and therefore not getting a service and still having to pay? No direct experience of this but I suppose it depends on how much time she is spending on the visits. I wouldn’t expect to pay the same for an hours dog walk as for a ten minute visit. But then I suppose it’s not her fault it’s hot and she still has a business to run. If I thought she was really good I might be prepared to still pay full price as a gesture of goodwill.

So you think you should pay less because she can't walk the dog(s) in this temperature, but she is still spending the same amount of time with them? I think you are paying for her time and not her activity. I looked after a mate's dog during the last heatwave and no way could we have gone on the pavement (and dog's bedtime is 10pm, so not point waiting for it to cool!) so instead we played in the garden with a hose and had cuddles and watched a crap movie on the TV with the fan on full blast. She wasn't paying me - although I think she might pay me in wine on Thursday night! - but it was all about adjusting activities to what was possible. I would have happily taken her for a yomp but it wasn't possible, so we did a bit of garden madness and slipper throwing! She was happy. You're fundamentally paying for your dog not to be alone - the exercise is obviously important, but we all have to adapt to situations such as this.

You should pay the full amount for the home visit.

I'm a dog groomer and i've had to cancel all of my dogs this week due to the heat and i'm not charging, i've just rescheduled them (my diary next week was already full and now looks mental 😭). However, I am able to do this and not suffer a loss of income, because the dogs are still being groomed, just at a different time. A dog walker can't move walks to next week instead, because it doesn't work like that! She's offered a reasonable alternative, and the weather is out of her control, so yes, I think she should still be paid, even if it is a reduced rate because it is less time, but there should still be something. Otherwise with summers seemingly getting increasingly hotter, I can't see that dog walking will be a sustainable job for long!

If I was getting a home visit in place of a walk due to weather, I would still pay because she would be spending the same amount of time

If she is showing up and attending to the dog in the manner that the weather makes appropriate, then of course you should be paying her!

Ideally there should be something in the dogwalker's Ts&Cs that covers this, but even if there isn't, you surely can't expect a reduction in fees just because the dogwalker is tailoring her care of your dog to take account of his safety and welfare!

Are you suggesting not paying the dog walker the full fee because your dog wasn’t walked and she just came around and ensured your dog was given the opportunity to go to the toilet, potentially given water to ensure they were hydrated, and had a little bit of company? If your place of work were to close due to the heat & you worked from home instead, would you be happy to have your wage reduced because you save on the commute?
You are trusting this dog walker with your family member. You are trusting her with the keys to your home. By all means suggest a reduction, but don’t be surprised if she sacks you as a client or refuses to help if/when needed

My dog walker charges £15 / hour group walk, and £10 / half hour home visit.

What's the alternative? She walks your dog in dangerous heat so that she can still pay her mortgage? Obviously not. A home visit is an excellent alternative, pay her.

Would you prefer she still took the dog for a walk in this heat?

They are still coming to your house and spending time with your dog.

Why would you pay them less?

Just to add, I think I have a higher acceptance than most MNers of walking my dog in hot weather (subject to commonsense caution), but if I was a professional dogwalker, taking responsibility for other people's pets, I would opt for a much higher degree of caution. I wouldn't know their dogs' capacities as well as i know my own, and there would probably also be insurance and legal reasons for being extremely risk-averse. There is also the issue of dog transport. Car/van travel piles on the heat stress even if there is adequate air conditioning

I'm guessing that the number of dogwalkers who don't have 'adverse heat conditions' nailed down in their Tc&Cs will become a lot smaller after heatwaves like the current one

I'm so confused. Is she meant to not eat or pay bills in the heat ? I know it's tricky but still .....

What would you do if she didn"t cancel? Let her take the dog out?

I am glad you asked this question, because I actually thought the same. I was really conflicted this morning.

Our dog walker has cancelled 3 times now due to the weather, however they haven’t offered a walk in the future as a replacement like they usually do when they cancel for other reasons. I was wondering if I should bring it up. But then I have had a good think, our dog walker is thinking of our dogs welfare, no way would I have wanted our dog out today in this heat, (they came yesterday at 7am to take them out for a walk to compensate for the heat) some of the days are too hot regardless of what time, unless they got up at 5am which would be unreasonable to expect.

It’s not their fault the weather is so hot, and they are literally just protecting the welfare of dogs, so now I have had a think. I don’t mind paying despite the cancelled walk, even though it’s slightly annoying. They have no other option and I don’t think it’s fair for them to lose wages because of the temperature, which is out of their control. Oh and they offered to come and sit with our dog today if we are out, so still offering support. So all in all, I say pay them even though it might be frustrating. If it continues or their overall reliability is poor then that is different

Just out of curiosity in general what do you do with your dogs toilet wise in these situations? When are they able to do their business ? Speaking as someone with the living on the farm so the dogs are in and out all day everyday find shade etc plenty of water troughs / long cool grass or a cool tiled floor as they please 😅

I don’t think it’s realistic to expect a reduced fee. She’s still setting aside the same amount of time in her day and making the visit, even if it isn’t a full walk. Our dog walker does exactly the same in hot weather.. she’ll take the dogs out for a quick toilet break in a shaded area, then bring them back inside and spend the rest of the visit playing with them or keeping them company. That’s for the dogs’ safety and welfare, not because the dog walker is being lazy or trying to do less work.
In fact, I’d be more concerned if someone insisted on doing a full walk in 26°C heat just to justify the fee. The service is still being provided, just adapted to suit the conditions. Personally, I think expecting a discount in those circumstances is unreasonable.