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?

I don't know a single dog walker that charges that much. £15-18 is the norm here for a solo walk, £12-15 for a group (per hour).

It definitely sounds like you need more flexibility than your current Dogwalker can offer you and that’s perfectly ok.
All Dogwalker offer different things. My clients appreciate my reliability and the fact that their space is their space no matter what, but they do have to commit to regular walks every week (bar reasonable holidays) as I need steady groups so my dogs are safe and happy AND I have a steady income.The flip side of that though is that sometimes I can’t be as flexible as other walkers who offer ad hoc walks because all my spaces are filled with regular dogs. The good thing about terms and conditions is that you can choose to agree to them or not.
Sounds like you and your current walker aren’t a good match anymore as things have changed.

But if you are self employed yourself, and someone cancels short notice, you would also be right in putting ‘payment still required’ in your T&Cs

It's a bit like nursery spaces when you're on holiday or something. You're paying for the slot, to make sure it's there when you do need it.

If you aren't paying her for a specific time, she's well within her rights to find another client who is paying her for that time. But that might mean that she's not available when you do need her again.

I have a standing, weekly slot with my walker. I let her know with plenty of notice if we're going away or I'm off work for a different reason and she plans accordingly for the fact that there will be short breaks in her income from everyone, because most of us work all year round. But that means she might have a two week period twice a year where she's not being paid by us, rather than a six week block, plus half terms/Easter etc.

I have been a paid dog walker since 2010. I am also a dog owner long-term. I work in Nottingham.

Like a lot of paid dog walkers, I have a maximum level temperature to walk dogs (customers’ and own). That is up to 24 degrees. If temperatures are that level or slightly below, I will still check with my human customers on the day to get their views on whether the walk should still take place, or perhaps whether I should do a garden visit instead.

My post cancellation free walk next time criteria for a customer is based around short-term cancellation by me for issues such as illness, domestic emergency – those kinds of things. In my walks agreements I state that if I cancel the walk on that basis within 24 hours of the start time, then the next walk will be free of charge. On the other hand, I am not prepared to do a free walk following a cancellation for excessive heat. That is an issue entirely out of my hands. Equally, if a customer cancels for adverse weather concerns, I wouldn’t be charging them either.

I think you’ll find a lot of professional dog walkers are very flexible over their cancellation charges to customers. I only charge a cancellation fee if I drive to collect a dog for their walk and find out when I get there, the customer has failed to cancel. Even if a customer phones me 10 minutes before I’m due to travel for a walk to cancel I’m still loathe to charge them.

You would also be surprised the amount of customers who seem to have little to no interest in being proactive whether it’s too hot for their dog to be walked. With me having to chase them on very hot days to find out what their views are on the weather in front of us. Luckily, most will agree to a garden visit, which all are happy to pay for on days where it is too hot to be taking a dog in a car for a walk or for a walk in general. You can’t expect a dog walker to offer free walks when they take the responsible attitude to protect your dogs because of excessively hot, sunny weather. Dogs can die on hot days like these and whether you want to take the risk as an owner is up to you but don’t expect others to do the same on your behalf.

What to other dog walkers do if you don't need their services for a while?

If I told my dog walker I wouldn't need her for a while I would be fully expectant that, as she's running a business, not doing me a favour by walking my dog, she would potentially fill the spot.

I think it just requires a little bit of lateral thinking.

I have a giant breed dog - as does my dog walker, so she completely understands how much they struggle in even slightly hot weather let alone this week.
So he's not been out with her all week but I will still pay her, because it's not her fault he can't go out & I don't want to lose his regular slot with her, or her as a brilliant dog walker, it's not like it's all the time.

A lot of dog walkers do charge a percentage for school holidays, they are basically holding a slot for you and therefore can’t take on another dog so are losing money.

I was advised that you shouldn't walk dogs when the temperature goes above 23 C.

In heat waves we walk them early morning and late at night, then use the garden in the shade in between.

We don't have a dog walker but I wouldn't want them walked in the heat anyway; a responsible dog walker will also know that.