Dog Walking5 Walks

Booked one at a time, a walk is a nice thing that happens occasionally. Booked five at a time, it becomes something the dog can count on — and dogs are far better at a routine than they are at a surprise. By the second or third walk the same person is arriving, the lead comes off the same hook, and the whole thing stops being an event and starts being Tuesday.

That predictability is most of the benefit. A dog who knows a walk is coming settles better in the hours before it than one with no idea whether today is a walking day, and the restless behaviours that come from an empty, formless day — the pacing, the barking at nothing, the door-watching — tend to ease once the day has a fixed point in it.

Both dogs from the same house come on every walk in the pack, not just the first, and you get a photo from each one.

Five walks at R200 each with 3% back, and twelve months to use them — so a rained-off walk or a fortnight away doesn't cost you anything.

Before we come

Tell us honestly how your dog is on a lead. Pulling, lunging at other dogs, barking at cyclists, bolting at a gate — none of it is unusual and none of it is a problem, but we need to know before the first walk rather than discovering it on a pavement. The same goes for a dog who's nervous of strangers; we'd rather take the first few minutes slowly than have you worrying about it. We walk on the lead, always. Not as a rule we bend for well-behaved dogs — as a rule. A dog that recalls perfectly for you has no reason to recall for us, and a loose dog near a road is not a risk worth taking with somebody else's family member. If you were hoping for off-lead running, this isn't that service. Heat matters more here than people think. A Paarl summer afternoon is genuinely dangerous for some dogs, and tar stays hot enough to burn pads long after the air feels bearable — the back of your hand held on the road for five seconds is the usual test. Flat-faced dogs, heavy-coated dogs, overweight dogs and elderly dogs are all worse at shedding heat than they look. Talk to us about timing in summer; earlier or later is usually the right answer. Forty-five minutes isn't right for every dog. A puppy's growth plates, an arthritic hip, a heart murmur, a recent operation — all of them are reasons to do less, and doing less is fine. If your vet has put any limit on exercise, tell us what it is and we'll work inside it. Puppies also shouldn't be walked in public before their vaccinations are finished; check with your vet where yours is up to. Have the lead, collar and tag ready, and check the tag is current. A dog that slips a collar with an out-of-date number on it is a bad afternoon for everyone. Decide how we get in, before the first walk. We come to the house and collect your dog, and there are three ways that usually works: you leave a key with us, you give us a gate code, or somebody's home. Any of them is fine — we just need it settled in advance rather than worked out on the doorstep while your dog loses its mind at the window. Tell us where the lead lives too, and anything about the gate, the alarm or the other animals in the house that we'd want to know before letting ourselves in. If you need to cancel, tell us. Things come up — a vet appointment, a sick dog, a change of plan. Get in touch and our support team will sort it out with you, either moving the walk to another day or refunding it. What we'd rather not do is have you feel you've lost a walk because you didn't ask. Two dogs from one home, on one package. A third dog needs a package of its own. Tell us what rhythm you actually want. Five walks spread over five weeks is a different arrangement from five walks in one week while you're away. Both are fine — we just plan differently for each. Tell us if anything changes mid-pack — a new limp, a course of medication, a house move, a second dog arriving. Five walks run over enough time that things do change, and we'd rather adjust than keep to a plan that's stopped fitting.