Oy, My Feet.

I had visions of filling up my free time walking a dog or two or pet sitting on the weekends and making a little extra money.  I found out something really important.

The dog walking business is not all it's cracked up to be.

You have to keep to schedules, walk for hours every day in good and bad weather, clean up after your dogs after every walk, stay cheery for the human parents, clean up messes if there are accidents in the house, dodge traffic, other dogs and unfriendly neighbors.

It's important to be trustworthy because everybody counts on you being there when you promised.  You need a back-up system in case something happens to you.  There's a lot of paperwork and key shuffling when you have several customers. You are needed day and night - there's morning walks, afternoon walks, bedtime walks, and in-between pee breaks.  You have to get out of bed early in the morning, go to someone else's house to walk and feed their dogs.  Then you have to stay up at night to go to someones else's house to walk their dog before bedtime.  Their bedtime - not yours.

You should know how to deal with difficult dogs.  You should be strong enough to handle difficult dogs.  You need to be patient with difficult dogs.

You really should be knowledgeable in doggy CPR, healthcare, and training.  

Like human children, every dog has their own issue and preference.  They might have health issues.  They might have personality problems.  They have fears, anxieties, weight problems, allergies, and favorite foods.  Some are food gobblers and will eat anything that fits in their mouths.  Some nibble and can spend all day eating a bowl of food.   Some like you.  Some don't.

Things get a lot more complicated if you offer other services. Grooming, over-night sitting, specialty treats, taxi services and weekly bed and breakfast services can add to your business, but make you seriously indispensable.  You end up working 16 hours a day and can never take a day off.

You need a good pair of walking shoes.  And hair resistant clothes.  And you can't worry about your own hair.  And you need a lot of poop-scoop bags. 

When I decided I wanted to try the business and supplement my income, I didn't realize how demanding tho job really was.  I was hoping to spend my days playing with other people's dogs and meeting interesting people, maybe lose a little weight with a few walks a day.

It's really hard work!

If you're considering supplementing your income with a little dog walking, I recommend working for someone else for a while first.  You may make only ten dollars an hour, but you'll get a good taste of what it takes to run a successful business.  You might decide, like I have, that you should try to be happy with a dog of your own and find another business that easier on the social life.

I'm still walking dogs, but it's become a way to explore a different avenue of pet care - Reiki.  I can become a Reiki practitioner and have access to some potential patients. It's my next new interest, and as you can tell from my previous posts that I have a lot of new interests.

Reiki promises to be the next big thing in pet care.  It's a Japanese healing technique that practitioners use to transfer universal energy through their palms to induce stress reduction and relaxation.  Even though it was developed for us humans, Reiki allows for self-healing and a state of equilibrium that works as well, maybe even better, for animals as it does for people. 

Yes, our pets get stressed.  And like with us, stress leads to health issues and emotional problems.  The difference between us and our pets is that our pets are more open to the energy flow of their environment.  Their ability to block or ignore environmental stressful situations is nothing like our

ability.  It's almost non-existent.  It makes them more susceptible to health disrupting negativity.  Reiki, which is as beneficial to the practitioner as the client, attracts a positive "life force" energy flow to help us heal ourselves. 

It's been a popular practice since the 1920's and I've known about it for years.  I can't believe it's taken me so long to decide to do it.  Even though my primary reason for learning it is to help animals,  I hope to make a daily practice that I can use to help me with my other new business, becoming a creative career counselor.

A whole new set of blogs to come.

Anyhoo,  if anyone out there is thinking dog walking may be a fun new career, think some more.  Be prepared for the hard work and dedication you're going to need.

Remember that those dogs are going to become dependent on you.  So will their parents.  Be ready.

And have a good pair of shoes.