Diary pt 1

A Day in the Life of a London Dog Walker

When I took the decision to leave the office and become a London dog walker, if truth be told I did think it might be an easy and idyllic career. How naive was I? Although there are days where I stroll through the beautiful English countryside with my four legged friends, enjoy the scenery and natural things in life, there are also the days where nothing goes right, there are days where I meet people who aren’t dog lovers and face the stress of their reactions and opinions of the dog I have who just wants to be their friend. Every day I work at least 7 hours,  walk, train, communicate and do stacks of paperwork to ensure my services are always the best that they can be. I also need to ensure that my accounts are always up to date and all the other mundane stuff that comes with working for yourself.

Although every day is different, a typical day will go like this:

6:00am –  Alarm goes off
6:05am –  The snooze button goes off
6:15am –  I am up and ready to start the day
6:30am –  Have breakfast and go through my plan for the day, set up the sat nav if needed and pack treats and poo bags (not glamorous, but needed!)
7:00am –  Pick up Kiki, the large lab, for her morning walk, open the curtains and water the plants
7:20am –  Walk 1 begins at Woodside Park watching the sunrise and the world wake up
8:30am –  Drop Kiki back at home, give her breakfast and head to my next appointment
9:00am –  Pick up Oscar, Yorkshire Terrier, for his first walk of the day and head to Dollis Brook
9:30am –  Walk 2 is started and both recall and lead training is incorporated – at owners request
10:30am – Drop Oscar back at home and head to my next appointment
11:30am – Arrive to pick up Barney the Tibetan and head over to Whetstone Stray for Walk 3
12:05pm – Take Barney home and head over to pick up Jenny the Whippet
12:30pm – Collect Jenny and set of for Walk 4
13:30pm – Jenny is returned and I head home for lunch
14:30pm – Collect Kiki for her second walk of the day – Walk 5
15:30pm – Take Kiki home, put down food and water, close curtains
16:00pm – Take a call from a potential client who’s seen Finchley Dog Walking on the Internet and would like to discuss his dogs being walked. Arrange a meeting for the following day to meet the dog.
16:30pm – Reply to emails, phone calls missed during the day and take care of paperwork.

So next time the weather is nice, and you’re looking outside and wishing you could be enjoying the weather as a London dog walker, bear in mind not EVERY day is so idyllic. Although I wouldn’t have it any other way!

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