How to vet a dog walker

The questions that reveal competence

Anyone can say they love dogs. These are the questions where a professional's answer sounds obviously different from an amateur's.

"What would you do if my dog slipped its collar?"

You want an immediate, specific answer — a plan, not a reassurance. Good walkers have thought about this and often use a harness plus a backup connection precisely because they have. An answer along the lines of "oh, that's never happened to me" is a bad sign.

"What's your policy on off-leash?"

The correct default is that a walker never lets a client dog off-leash without explicit written permission from the owner, and often not even then. Enthusiasm about letting dogs run free is a warning, not a selling point.

"How do you handle a dog that reacts to another dog on the street?"

You're listening for distance management and redirection — crossing the road, creating space, using treats. If the answer involves corrections, leash pops, or "showing them who's boss", keep looking.

"What happens if my dog is injured or seems unwell?"

A professional has a clear escalation path: contact you, contact your vet, and authority to seek emergency care if you're unreachable. They should ask you to nominate your vet and set a spending limit in advance.

"What's your backup if you're sick?"

Solo walkers should have a named, vetted substitute you've been told about. "I never get sick" means that one day you'll get a cancellation text at 8am.

"How many dogs do you walk at once?"

See group walks vs solo walks. What matters most is that they give you a real number and a reason for it, and that they know each dog in the group.

"How will I know how the walk went?"

Some form of report — a message, a photo, a route note. The specifics matter less than whether they have a habit.

Paperwork and protection

The administrative side is less interesting and more important than most people treat it.

• Insurance. Ask for proof of liability insurance, not just confirmation that they have it. It covers your dog injuring someone, someone's property being damaged, and injury to your dog in their care. Independent walkers should carry their own; if they work through a company, check whether the policy actually extends to them.
• Bonding. Relevant because they'll have keys and be alone in your home. Less universal than insurance but worth asking.
• A written agreement. Rates, cancellation policy, what happens on holidays, vet authorization and spending cap, emergency contacts, key handling. This protects both sides and its absence tells you something about how the business is run.
• Pet first aid certification. Not essential, but a meaningful signal that someone treats this as a profession rather than a side gig.
• References from current clients. Two or three, and actually call them. Ask specifically how long they've used the walker and whether anything has ever gone wrong.

The meet-and-greet is the actual interview

Always insist on a meeting at your home before the first walk, and pay attention to how the walker behaves rather than what they say.

• Do they ignore your dog at first? A good walker lets the dog approach in its own time rather than immediately reaching over its head. This is the single most telling thing you'll see.
• Do they ask about your dog specifically? Fears, triggers, recall, health conditions, what it's like with other dogs, how it does with the mail carrier. A walker who asks lots of questions is a walker who's paying attention.
• Do they ask about your routine? Where the leash lives, the feeding schedule, whether the dog is allowed on furniture, how the alarm works.
• How does your dog respond? Not decisive — some dogs are slow to warm — but a dog that actively retreats and stays retreated is worth taking seriously.
• Do they take notes? People who write things down remember them.

Red flags

• No insurance, or evasiveness about it.
• Won't do a meet-and-greet, or wants to start immediately.
• No written agreement or invoices.
• Talks about dominance, alpha rolls, or being pack leader. This vocabulary reliably indicates outdated methods with a documented record of increasing aggression.
• Won't say how many dogs are in a group, or the number keeps changing.
• Unclear about where the walk actually goes. Vagueness here sometimes means the dogs spend the hour in a van between pickups.
• Cash only with no records.
• Pressure to sign a long prepaid package before you've had a single walk.
• Bad-mouths previous clients. You'll be next.

After you hire: verifying it's going well

The first few weeks are the real test, and there are a few unobtrusive ways to check.

1. 1Look at your dog when you get home. Genuinely tired and settled is what you want. A dog that's still bouncing off the walls at 6pm may not have had the walk you paid for.
2. 2Check the water bowl and whether the leash was put back where it lives. Small things that indicate care.
3. 3Ask for a photo occasionally, framed as wanting to see your dog rather than as a check. Most walkers send them unprompted.
4. 4Work from home unannounced once. Not paranoid — just useful. You'll see the handover, the energy, and how long they actually stay.
5. 5Ask your walker a specific question about your dog after a few weeks. "Has she been pulling toward the park entrance still?" Someone who's paying attention will have an answer with detail in it.

Walkers are part of your dog's social world

One thing that gets overlooked: a walker often knows more about your dog's friendships than you do. They see which dogs on the route your pup lights up for, which ones it avoids, and who it's genuinely bonded with — and that knowledge usually stays with them.

It's why Pawcial supports walkers directly rather than treating them as an afterthought. Walkers can check client dogs in, see which of their dog's friends are out, and keep those relationships going on the days you can't make it out yourself. Once you've found a good walker, that continuity is worth a lot.