Would you use a dog walker that...

I use dog walkers that walk my dogs how I say to walk them and that's about it.  Honestly I've had really good luck with a nice student from my neighborhood who loves dogs and misses her big dogs back home.  She is not a self-proclaimed "professional" trainer or anything, she loves my dogs and as far as specifics she will do what I ask.  Actually she goes above and beyond what I ask.  When I explained how much I could pay and for what she said it didn't matter b/c she enjoys spending time with the dogs.  It's been much better for my wallet and for my dogs than the "professionals" who charge like $20 for a potty break and 10 minute walk.

Usually, a good dog walker or pet sitter/care taker will do exactly what the owner requests.

I agree that a good dog walker will walk the dogs however the owner deems appropriate. But the whole point of a dog walker is that I will not be there to monitor him/her and how they are handling my dog. Quoting a controversial, if famous, trainer on their website related to how they treat their dogs makes them appear biased towards one training method, IMHO, and I would be worried that they would resort to their dog handling beliefs when the owner is not around.

I could be completely paranoid, so I'm wondering what others' opinions are.

 Yeah... my #1 requirement is that the walker be able to handle Rascal, who can be difficult to leash (he gets scared easily). #2 is that they are gentle with him (i.e., no leash jerking or dragging him along). #3 is that they do what I ask. I don't care if he walks forward, backward, to the side, whatever. Whatever the walker wants. But they have to do it gently, using non-coercive methods, to avoid contributing to Rascal's inherent fearfulness.

I don't really let the dog walker use ANY "methods" on my dogs.  There are some tools and methods and things each dog is working on but that is with me.  She walks the dogs on flat collars and 6' leashes.  I showed her some of the basic things they can do so she can give them treats if she wants but I don't expect her to do any sort of training.  She asked me about discipline and corrections and I said don't worry about it.  If she has anything to be concerned about she makes note of it.  I leave a clipboard and she has to sign in so I know she was actually there and she will leave me a note if she has a concern (like a dog pooped diarrhea, or one of the dogs was barking at another dog on the walk) and then *I* will work on it in training if need be.

stormyknight

specifically quotes "Power of The Walk" from Cesar Milan on their website? Figuring that they are only coming to walk your dog for 20-30 minutes or so, would you still consider them as a potential candidate if the rest of their services looked good? Or would you feel that too much could go wrong in that 20-30 minutes?

No, I wouldn't use them.  I don't agree with their ideology, & I wouldn't be comfortable turning the leash over to someone who I did not share similar training beliefs with.  I would worry the entire time that my dogs were out with the dog walker, & quite frankly, it's not worth the worry to me, or the possible stress to my dogs.

Exactly what I was going to say.  I personally know someone who spouts that terminology all the time and she's not allowed anywhere near either of my dogs even supervised because the behaviors that go with that ideology are so ingrained.  I don't think she even realizes that she's "pshhht"ing or poking someone else's dogs...and that's just strangers at playgroup or during social visits with friends, not clients!

I actually started desensitizing both of my girls to the pssst sound and "hand mouth" grab so that if she did start doing it with them it wouldn't be as immediately problematic (it used to really concern both of my girls the few times it happened before I wised up).

Nope.  Absolutely not.  The dog walker is supposed to WALK the dogs, period.  I don't want my dogs "handled", I want them given a chance to potty.  Period.  I personally wouldn't trust anyone with my crew anyway, but I surely wouldn't trust someone who makes a statement that so greatly disagrees with my own philosophies.  I'm the one that's got to undo any damage that is done, and I'm the one who has to deal with any issues that arise from that philosophy, so NO, I wouldn't expose my dogs to someone who is so completely opposite of me.

Why do you automatically assume that, just because she has a quote on her web site, that she's going to try to train your dog???  Good lord, you've never even met her and you're throwing stones because she quoted someone that she likely admires on her web site?  I'd rather have a Cesar freak walking my dogs than someone who will let them get away with murder and misbehaving.

Why not get references and talk to some of her other clients before being so judgemental?

And FWIW, the website states that walk visits include "a refresher on basic commands" - another reason I'm a bit concerned.

I may try to contact some references...but when i've done so in the past, they never give out bad ones!

stormyknight

My question is if you were looking at a dog walker who appeared to follow the practices/beliefs of a method of training that you did not follow, would you continue to consider them as a potential service?

No.

Well, in short, no, I'd pass unless there were no other choices.  Opposite of Karissa I'd rather have my dogs misbehave than someone else trying to train them a different way.  By misbehave I mean stuff like not walking in heel or perfect loose leash.  My dogs have different commands/expectations for heel, loose leash, or just walking along so they know when they are "working" and when they are not.  If the dog is reactive or a bad puller, I probably wouldn't have a dog walker walking that dog until I did more training to fix that.

As a dog walker I can tell you what I do. I do whatever the owners ask. That's it. Not a big secret, lol! I do not train, because simply, I'm not a dog trainer. I have no interest in training someone else's dog. I follow specific instructions, I'm there for either a 30-45 minute leash walk or a 60 minute playgroup, you get charged $20 per dog.

IDK why you would even consider hiring someone that states visits includes "a refresher on basic commands" if that is not what you want and is not something you agree with. Also, if you're already having concerns before you even meet him/her you obviously won't be trusting this person at all, so I wouldn't hire them.

Just move on and hire someone else.

 It'd depend.If they looked good otherwise, I might contact them and talk to them. I've used some of the 'dominance' crap to explain things to clients who just weren't getting it when explained in a behavioral mode. (Why clients can understand "He's countersurfing because you aren't alpha and he's disrespecting your food! NILIF!" and can't get 'He's jumping up there because there are no consistant rules or boundaries and while you sometimes yell at him and remove him, you keep leaving food out and letting him get it so he's intermittantly rewarded and we need to enforce some reasonable boundaries and manage his behavior while we train an alternative behavior and get a history of THAT being reinforced"  is frustrating but understandable.Especially with people who don't CARE about the science or why of training, they just want the dog to quit whatever habit is annoying them, the sooner the better.)

 Frankly, I have a demo site which has very similar stuff. I think the "Includes training!" may be more in the way of 'value added' service more than selling point to someone who is already dog-savvy.