Yet another disaster...

My washing machine has stopped working! It seems like one thing after another. Currently there is human laundry in there, but on the kitchen floor waiting are:

6 muddy dog towels
1 muddy dog coat
2 wet and/or muddy dog harnesses
1 filthy muddy dog lead
1 dog walkers coat, complete with mud, slobber and dog hair.

So I am hoping that's my 'Bad news comes in threes' all done now (one van written off, replacement van broken down and now the washing machine).

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, but I think I'm strong enough now, no more disasters please! When I started my own business I knew it wouldn't all be plain sailing, but I'd like something to go right now please.

Luckily, looking after dogs and cats mean I'm never short of a cuddle when I want one!

Now I must dash to beg my mum for a loan of her machine...

Muliple Dog Handling

This week I have been walking four dogs during my morning walk, one was Fred, which is my maximum. I won't take out more than three 'paying customers' so if there are four, one is always Fred.

At the end of the walk, I always approach my van the same way. One dog on my right, lead in hand, and three attached, via their leads, to a lead I sling around my body and walk on my left. All walking reasonably well, no pulling, no barking - the dog on my right throws himself at the other dogs (in play) which can cause chaos, which is why he's on my right. My left hand is free to deal with anything that needs dealing with, which is usually to guide one of the dogs back to their 'place' if they've wandered off course a bit.



One day this week, I clearly heard a comment from one of the runners who gather in the car park at around the time I leave.

I don't know how you can control that many dogs like that.

Well, let me explain. This is my job. Something I do every day. It has taken time to build the small groups I go out with, and I train the dogs to behave in a way that makes walking them in a small group pleasureable and safe.



I've walked Greyhounds from a trainer's kennel, and a rescue kennel, in pairs or threes. I grew up in a house with six dogs (Mum now has seven) and my first job was at a boarding kennel at 14 where I walked dogs in pairs. I own two of my own dogs, but over the past three years often have an extra one or two here through fostering or boarding.

I was disappointed that someone watching four dogs, obviously under control, was more interested in loudly commenting that she didn't know how I could do my job, rather than observing that I could.

I wonder what she would have made of the dog walker I'd seen the week before, walking seven?

 NOTE: Since this blog post was written in 2009 I have gained experience and attended training courses and now consider one handler per four dogs a reasonable number to walk. I'll walk 6 if the extra dogs are mine.

I have finally passed my 'Pet Sitting and Dog Walking Certificate'! I started studying with the Cambridge Institute of Pet Behaviour and Care back in September, when I started the business. I wanted to have 'paper proof' of my lifetime's experiences with pets of all kinds, but as work got busier I had less time for study. I kept on with it though, on quiet weekends and during my leave when the van was off the road.

The hard work paid off, and my certificate arrived this morning!

My next goal is to qualify as a Children's Educational Speaker for the Blue Cross, hopefully aided by Beauty. After that I have two practical courses lined up for August and October and I'd like to be able to switch to Compass and do some Canine Behaviour distance learning.

36 Claws

That's how many I clipped this morning. I guess I must be good, the dogs travelled 234 miles for their appointment!

They are two Jack Russels who are owned by my son's aunt and uncle, who happened to move to Yorkshire some time ago and I clipped them on a visit to see family here. Sounds good though, all that travelling just to have me attend to them!

I've always clipped my dogs claws (except for Fred, as he'd rather chew his own leg off), so now I know I can be trusted not to take a 'strange' dog's foot off I think I'll offer it as a service.

I think I'll offer furminating too. I love using mine, but don't really have a breed to get the best out of it. I don't think I'll ever stop wishing I could try it on Buster - who I could brush for hours and still have fur coming out.

Horses for Courses

Only without the horses.

This week while I've been off work I've done a couple of business courses. One included some information about marketing, which was REALLY useful, and I will be getting my website updated in the near future (and possibly going on a dedicated marketing course).

One of the things that came out was to put myself in my customers heads and really think about what is important to THEM rather than ME. I thought I was already doing this, as I am a pet owner, but gave it a go anyway, and then asked my pet owning friends on Facebook for their top three important things when looking for a dog walker/pet sitter.

Obviously I can't go into detail about my trade secrets, but my number 1 benefit is so far running at number 2, while my number 4 is topping the charts at number 1! So it's been a useful exercise.

I'd be very interested to hear what anyone else thinks are the three most important things

Stock

Well, I'm now a supplier (? - I've never done this before) of Pooch and Mutt's supplements for dogs. I've been a subscriber to their blog for a while, then at Discover Dogs I discovered them 'in the flesh' and put my dogs on their Mobile Bones supplement. Unfortunately I'd just loaded up with Feelwell's probiotics so I couldn't try P&M's.

My dogs have finished their first bag and I ordered again, so I also got hold of some smaller bags to offer to my customers, and if I have any trade stands over the next year. I'm a bit nervous as offering a service doesn't cost much, so paying for something in the hope I can sell it on is a big step for me. Doesn't sound much, but all I hear on the news is people losing their houses, their jobs, etc and it's not a good time to be starting a business! But we'll try, I do have a small captive audience, and the information will go out in my next newsletter so maybe we will get some customers!

Also I've had to set up a waiting list for dogs needing walks. Either I am too busy on some of the days they want, or I don't have another dog to 'match' theirs with. I must get my application for boarding off as well!

Astounding

On Tuesday I have a meeting (interview?) with someone interested in doing some dog walking term time only. This is ideal for one of my dogs, who has a student 'brother', so he doesn't need walking during university holidays. I can't hold a space for a dog for that long, even with my 10% charge, and yet I don't want to let a customer down. This is the perfect solution.

So, I will be contacting my business advisors with how to go about taking on a sub-contractor, and it means I can keep advertising for more dogs.

I just hope I am not rushing things, with a nasty fall ahead.

UPDATED:

Two problems...
1. Apparently if I give work to someone and give them hours to work, and the clients belong to my company, that person is an employee. And I can't afford an employee at the moment.
2. The person in question wanted to work cash in hand anyway.

So my empire will have to stay just me for a bit longer.

Back to Work

Well, in a kind of 'semi-working' way.

This morning I have an hour's work, tomorrow, two hours, and Friday, one or maybe two. So it's not exactly strenuous labour at this time of the year. Work really begins again on 5th Jan, when I'll be walking the grand total of... da da da da ta ta da... five dogs throughout the week (but not every day).

Two days I'll find it hard to squeeze any more in, but the other days I still have spaces. It takes some organising, this job. Should I be taking on part-timers? How am I going to fill in those spaces during the week if I can't take another dog on full time? Where will I find dogs who only want a walk on a Friday?

I've got to redo some of my advertising. A lot of walkers fill up with cats, especially over xmas. I got one enquiry but it was too far away, so I need to focus my advertising there. Also I wondered if I should be putting posters up where people might have pets but are unable to walk them. Shame there is no local hospital! If someone is home all day but unable to get out, timing of the walk won't matter and I can take on more dogs.

The council are apparently confused by my request for home boarding. One of the councillors emailed me this: "A kennel is subject to licensing so that certain standards of kennel etc. can be ensured however, if you are keeping them in your house they don't really know what applies!"

I'm not in a rush, Fred has told me he's not ready yet, but really I only want to offer overnight care, maybe a weekend, or to take in a pup to cover a family day out and that's a short enough time he can be sent to his room! I don't think I'd want a dog here for weeks at a time, unless it was one of my walking customers. Boarding is very different from fostering.

Home Boarding for the Future?

It looks like the possibilty of home boarding might be on the horizon. I gave up the idea because of the local council's licensing being rather behind the times, and because Fred's behaviour at home wasn't really ideal.

As Fred's behaviour is improving, I've started looking more into it and finding out information from other Essex councils about how they deal with it. I have passed some of this information over to my council and they have said they will look into it, contact the other councils (who they claimed were ahead of their time) and perhaps put it to the committee. The whole process, if it goes ahead, could take three months, which is ideal really, as by then I will know for sure whether Fred is settled enough to be able to take in paying customers (his behaviourist said that it would be doable if I stick to the programme).

So fingers crossed! I was told I didn't need to contact councillors, but there is one who has a lot of interest in dogs so I might drop her a line anyway.

And a Yes!

I've picked up another customer, but something is out to ruin my plans to earn enough money to become independant and pay my own mortgage once again.

My business plan revolves around walking three dogs, three times a day. Not necessarily the same dogs each time, but that was the plan. At the moment none of my dogs can be walked together, and only one with my dogs, and that one only once a week as she's still a pup and needs plenty of attention. In about four months I should be able to match her with another pup I am taking on after Christmas, but of course they'll both be at different stages of the 'who needs you?' phase and perhaps it won't seem like such a good idea. And of course, it's four months away.

Oh well, let's hope the writing work comes in to fill in some of the time, or I may need to apply for a job as a lollipop lady. In the meantime, I'm off to feed and walk the freeloading pair that live with me. ;)

More Nos

A mix of no to fixated with shadows, no to training, and no to home boarding.

It's a bit miserable this job sometimes. :( I have referred them all to colleagues, and if this keeps happening I plan to ask for a referral fee! I'm generating the publicity and passing most of the work on! Seems as if I'm working my socks off to try to bring in customers and other people are benefitting from the results.

On the other hand, I have a meeting this evening with someone who actually wants me for what I am - a dog walker!

Knowing When to Say No

Just had a lovely chat on the phone with a potential customer. Sadly I can't help her, as she wants some one-to-one help with a few problems her new 7 month old rescue dog has got.

I'd really love to help out, but with the problems she describes I may do more harm than good. If it were a foster dog I'd be happy to take it on, but of course I'd have expert back up for advice, and the tiny amount of experience at instructing people I do have is again with expert back up. I certainly don't think my first time alone helping a person should be with a dog with issues.

My next training course isn't until August next year, but of course it's in handling, not instructing.

I've referred her to a colleague who is more qualified and should be able to help.

First Aider

I have now been on my First Aid for Dogs course and graduated with the rest of the class.

We learnt how to deal with wounds, burns, bleeding and shock, poisoning, drowning and CPR among other things. I had a go at CPR on their dummy, and bandaged an ear, paw and tail on a stuffed Golden Retriever. Of course, these pretend animals don't wriggle about, so we were shown some ways to restrain dogs nicely, but firmly.

I've now got a certificate to go in my information pack, a full first aid kit for the van (which is now bigger than my 'human' first aid kit) and a smaller, basics only kit to carry on walks.

This is one part of my business I hope I never need, but it's good to feel prepared.

The Interweb

I really need some presence on the web, so I've got a friend creating a website for me, which is very good of him. I just need to find some time to write the content for it! I've got most of it through the adverts I've written, so it shouldn't take long.

Also I've got ads on Vivastreet, Gumtree and Preloved and slowly enquiries are coming in. It gives me some time to check out the competition as well - on one site most of the other dog walkers are over 20 years younger than me. I have put my age on my ads, as I hope my experience and professionalism will count for something - as all these teenagers are very cheap.

You get what you pay for!

Mud

Yes, it's great. It may have found me a new customer.

While in a muddy field with one of my pups, a little Cav pup came over to say hello. My pup, being a Weimy was very bouncy and the Cav jumped up at me a few times (probably thinking 'save me! save me!) and left me covered in mud. Her owner rushed over to apologise and we got chatting for a couple of minutes.

I left her my business card and she may call - her current dog walker won't let her pup off the lead, and seeing me with my charge off lead made her think she might like to change walkers.

I've added a couple of ads to Vivastreet and Gumtree, and I think it was this week that my ad was supposed to be in a local free paper. Which I haven't had, so I must chase that up.

I also realised I threw away a note from a customer thanking me for clearing up her dog's diarrhea (obviously I scoffed the choccies). I think I should have kept that as a testimonial for my info pack. I will be spending the morning going through the recycling bag!

Good News for Me

My terms and conditions have been okayed by my solicitor, so I can now ask customers to sign a registration form saying they agree to them.

I've also got two new dogs - Great Danes! Another dog walker has apparently given up so I have inherited one of her customers. I have traced her via the interweb and am trying to contact her to see whether she will leave my number with any of her other customers if she has them. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

My current pup is now able to go out for walks, so we've been doing 20 minutes round the block.

My new dogs start next week.

The Phone is Busy

Yesterday I had three calls for work! I am still a little bit surprised that people are phoning, despite all I've been doing to encourage dog-owners to contact me! I assume I will eventually get used to this.

Mostly it seems to be people getting puppies soon and wanting to set up a dog walker in preparation. I thought I'd get older dogs, but I suppose that people with older dogs already have a routine and don't need new people.

For someone who always said puppies are not her thing I am getting a little bit persuaded that perhaps they are more interesting than I expected. Such a blank canvas to paint on. Scary in a way.

My current pup is now fully vaccinated, although it will be another week or two until she can go out, so I am working on getting her to sit still nicely for her lead to be put on, as well as trying to teach her to walk nicely when she is on it. I am also feeding her half her dinner in my van, so by the time she is old enough to go out to the park she won't think twice about travelling. The other half of her dinner is used for training (sit is fantastic, recall 100% around the house and garden, down, not so good but working on it) with a little scattered on the patio to really get her sniffing. She has some treats as well, which she gets as a bonus for doing fabulous work. I think she prefers her dinner though, as when she's done well I drop it on the floor, where it clatters. I think I have clatter trained her, and the treats don't clatter!

Slowly Moving in the Right Direction

Things seem to be going the right way, I am getting customers calling up. I can't take every job, I have to be especially careful of boarders that they get on with Fred and if there is a clash of any kind I have to say no.

Giving out cards to all and sundry seems to be working - people are passing my number on to other people they know if they mention needing a dog walker etc. No more new customers yet, but we all have to start somewhere. My current job has doubled - I've been booked for four days a week from next week, which leaves me one day free for my office job. Hopefully I can keep that going as long as possible, but eventually I will have to give that up. Obviously being busy enough to keep myself going is a good thing, but I like working there and enjoy the company of other adults.

And on the 4th day

I rested. I was booked for three days this week, from now on it will be two days a week. Hopefully some more customers will come flying in. Silly really, I'm worried about how the other people taking care of the little pup will take care of her. I know her mum loves her - who are these other people?

I must get round to the other vets and groomers, pet shops etc in the area. I am also going to take in some chocolates to the vet nurse where I left a card, because that's where my lovely pup came from. As it's my first, nice to say thank you I think!

Today I'm in the office - I hope that I can manage to keep one day a week free for that when the rush of customers finally comes heading my way. I love working there.

It's Happened!

I have my first customer!

A 9 week old Weimaramer puppy, who is the cutest thing on earth. I love puppies, but can't be doing with all that getting up at night business so this is the next best thing.

I'm very excited about going to see her today.