Skills for Dog Walkers by Nalaka Daundaratne
Physical Skills Requirement
Dog walkers need to possess a certain level of physical fitness and physical skills based on what kind of services you are planning to offer. Generally, dog walking involves walking, jogging, running, flexing, and carrying supplies for extended period while you work. Also, most tasks require working against resistance like when taking your god clients on leash for a walk or handling an emergency that may require more physical effort. For an instance, your pet starts to get agitated over another dog that bumped into while walking in the dog park. Therefore, having sufficient level of physical fitness and endurance is an important requirement in your check list. Now don’t be discouraged. You have time if you feel like you should start build up little strength by walking 30 minutes a day and doing some exercise at home. For anyone who has physical challenges engage in strenuous activities, still you can start a career in pet setting buy focusing on how you can provide live-in or animal daycare services. So, there are always options. Remember, dog walking business is a very rewarding in so many ways and it's definitely worthwhile to put some effort to improve your physical skills. This guide by Nayanthara Kumar and Nalaka Daundaratne will be discussing how you can improve your fitness gradually by starting slow or small with one client in detail when discussing your next steps.
Mental Skills
Confidence and mental preparedness are crucial mental skills when starting to work as a pet sitter or a dog walker. Basically, you must be passionate and love being around dogs. Certainly, the fear factor should be either minimized or absent. Remember, being fearful and cautious are two different things. Dogs sense our feelings through smell, and they would mirror the same while the reaction can be of many extremes like causing aggressive behavior or running away. It’s either fight or flight reaction as with all of us during a crisis. Get some experience by helping your neighbor or a friend by walking their dogs or sitting pets. Volunteering at a pet shelter or working part-time in a pet shop will give you enough exposure to be familiar with animals and learn so many things about them. We have organized a short e-mail-based course that includes everything that you need to know in detail. If you are interested, please contact Ms. Pravitha Nalaka Daundaratne, the program coordinator and facilitator for information about packages we offer. No matter what, always remember to start slow and little with only one dog and then gradually increase the number only if you prefer. Having a good knowledge about certain characteristics of specific breeds is very important at first when deciding which kinds that you are going to start with. This knowledge can give you information like about the size, common behaviors, how friendly they are popular to be and the breeds that you are comfortable to start with. Check our personal recommendation of top 10 breeds to start your dog walking business with to get a better idea. Remember, you are planning to take care of a loved one of a family and it carries a great responsibility as well as many legal obligations that you really must be proficient to act safe and professional. So, investing good time on learning and preparing is worthwhile to be a successful dog walking business owner.
Communication Skills for Dog Walking
Learning how to communicate effectively and appropriately is important for both gaining and retaining customers during your dog walking business career or any other job you are planning to do. Always be polite and respectful when talking with your clients. Be aware that over 90% of communication is done by nonverbal elements and focus on learning positive body language through valid sources of information that you may find online or from printed publications. Always learn to listen to your client carefully and actively. Know that it’s the owners of your pet clients that know best about them and encourage them to speak about their knowledge, concerns, and tips to take care of the pet that you are assigned to sit or walk. Try to build the connection and trust with all your clients by clear, genuine, and concise in all communications. Don’t be that “I know all” attitude which is a negative behavior always giving a bad impression leading negative business outcomes.
Be Professional at Best
Being professional throughout all functions of the dog walking job is very important. It is what make your unique and allow you to be validated as a recognized business or a “professional dog walker”. In fact, it is the reason people will start to build trust and credibility in you and your company. So, what are we looking at? Simply adapt to effective communication skills, be confident, develop pleasant attitude, be organized, respect agreements, own your mistakes and say “sorry”, always present yourself in decent yet appropriate clothing for the job, etc. For example, keeping your work environment neat and clean after sitting your pet when you leave their home is a professional behavior. Have well organized and formed paperwork when you deal at any stage with your clients whether electronic based or printed. Keep your marketing materials on the professional side of the spectrum look while doing all the attractive additions. Remember, your language counts throughout all communications whether verbal or printed. Pravitha Nalaka Daundaratne and Nayanthara Kumar
Basic Knowledge About Dogs' Behavior
Dog walking business is not a joke. Knowing what you do is important no matter what your profession is and same applies here. Know your basics. Question what you know about dogs, their behaviors, how to handle them, knowledge about dog behaviors, use off walking accessories, your knowledge about specific breeds and their unique attributes, how to handle dogs, early signs of aggression and safety concerns, how to handle an emergency, etc. If you know someone who already does dog waling or pet sitting, ask and learn. Use internet or take a course online or in-person. If you are completely new to pets of dogs, then you have a lot to do. Learn and master in a continuum. Then again, work on building knowledge about how to start a business in your province or where you live. While we will be discussing almost everything that you need to know exploring more is your responsibility.