As new new owner to a 5 month old pup we need a dog walker during the day subject to my boyfriends shift pattern.

I have employed a gentleman over the past couple of months only to discover that his hour means 10 minutes walking , I thought an hour was 60 minutes walking.

This "gentleman" has robbed my dog of precious one to one company and fun and - in my eyes - stolen money from me. I am only grateful that I had a headache yesterday and was in bed to hear him come and go within 10 minutes. There have been a couple of other incidents that came to mind so now he will no longer have the honour of my babys company.

Have other people had similar problems with their dog walkers ?

As a dog walker myself i usually give the dogs{2 x breeds plus my own} a walk of about an hour sometimes it may be 40mins if it is really raining but sometimes it may be up to 2 hrs.
I do hope you find someone else to walk your puppy.
The best dog walkers tend to be ones who have dogs themselves woh do the job for the pleasure more than the money.
Where abouts do you live? as I may be able to put you in touch with good dog walkers........
Did your dog walker give an explaination as to why it was only 10 mins walk????
only asking as 60 mins for a very large breed 5mnth puppy may be a little too much at the moment

Griffeys Mum, yes you have not got what you paid for but that is probable a good thing as two months ago you puppy only needed 10 minutes walk and the dog walker did you a favour, but the dog did need the company if only by the walker making a cup of tea and sitting down and talking to the pup or even taking him for a pint. If you get another walker/sitter don't demarned 60 minutes walking because that is too much. :)

Thank you for your replies.

Griffey is a dalmation, so she does need a fair bit of exercise. By 60 minutes walking I do actually mean a walk to our local green (which is five minutes away) and a nice slow walk round the park for plenty of sniffing and playing with other dogs for her and a short walk back home. I can assure you that when I take her at the weekend to the park there is someone very tired at the end of our walk (and she doesn't have four legs!!)

When I first spoke to our previous dog walker he at no point said I was walking her too far or too little, nor did he make any recomendations.

We have found another dog walker upon recomendation and I am seeing her tonight (she has 3 dogs of her own) so hopefully this one will work out.

We are however moving next month to Chesham, Buckinghamshire so the search will begin again in a few weeks time.

Sorry but IMO an hours walking for a 5 month old is too long, the larger the dog the more important it is not to over exercise. It has nothing to do with the number of legs it is the soft state of the bone and the growing plates that have to be protected if the dog is not to have trouble latter in life, I would say an hours excercise should not be done until the pup is about 18 months old and the time spent walking should be increased slowly from about six months by about 5 mins. a month. Several short walks a day are OK. Ja:)kie

Jackie is right. A Dal does need a good amount of exercise - but not as a baby. When fully grown - by all means give as much as you can - but until then all puppies need only gentle short walks. Any more and you run the risk of damaging their growing joints. Just because someone walks dogs - it doesn't mean they know all the ins and out of exercising a young dog.

Perhaps a walk to the green a short sniff around and a walk home would be better. The walks are important for socialising. To help prevent problems with over-excitement in the future - try to vary where your puppy goes for a walk and also the times of day.

If you are very tired at the end of the walk - you can be pretty sure your puppy's bones will be feeling the strain too. Remember they are only soft and still growing. If you put too much pressure on them - even just by walking - you force the growing plates to grow too much and or in the wrong way. Puppies are like children - they don't necessarily know what's best for them - but give them the opportunity and they'll do something until they drop.

jmho

Does anyone know of a good trustworthy dog walker in Barnet, Herts??? If so pls pls pls let me know
xx