Solo Dog Walks

What is a Solo Dog Walk?

These walks are a one-on-one service where your pet has the exclusive attention of their Pet Carer. They are particularly suited to dogs who may for one reason or other, not be suited to walking a group situation.

Solo walks are most suited to dogs who:

• Are anxious or nervous around other dogs
• Require extra attention around people or children
• Are strong pullers and do not walk well on leads
• Have poor recall skills
• Are too young for group walks or lack social experience
• Are reactive to one or multiple things
• Display obsessive or compulsive behaviours
• Don't like to walk very fast or very far

There is absolutely no judgement on owners whose dog needs to be walked solo - there are so many reasons why this might be and we will always discuss in detail what those are before taking on a client.

Please note that we only offer solo walks outside of peak walking times to maintain our availability to our group walking clients. Please speak with us about availability options.

Reactivity

You may have heard the term 'reactive' when listening to descriptions of dogs with behavioural quirks. Reactivity is a vastly sliding scale of the way a dog presents behaviours when a stimulus is present. Reactive dogs could well present aggressively, but they may just as well present as nervous or flighty dogs. Some dogs are wonderfully social and well mannered off lead, but on lead snap and lunge at other dogs. There is no one rule for what a reactive dog reacts to, or how they will react. In nearly all cases, reactivity is borne out of a nervous or fear response so it is important for us to know our dogs individually and understand what makes them uncomfortable. This is why we offer only solo walks to dogs that have displayed reactive behaviours. During your meet and greet session, a full discussion will be had about your pet's individual responses to certain situations and how you manage them. It is VERY important that clients are open and honest about their pet's reactions so that we know what to expect and how best to handle it.

Restrictions

Although we are willing to work with reactive dogs with certain precautions in place (the use of muzzles for example), there are limitations on what we are able to do. We have a duty of care to the public when we are out with dogs so unfortunately for the safety of everyone, including our own team, we are unable to walk dogs who have shown aggressive behaviour towards humans, or who are known to have attacked other dogs. 

We only work with positive reinforcement methods of training - we are unable to walk dogs if clients request we use negative reinforcement methods on their pet.