Lucy’s Leads

20/08/2024

When you’ve not seen each other for so long 💜

10/08/2024

Such an important read for anyone using a dog walker

Yesterday when using a local Renfrewshire dog field for my own dogs I witnessed something that made me sick to my stomach and I cannot ignore it.
This is a long one but please read:
As I was leaving the field, another person was walking towards it. (This site has 3 fields, one can be driven into, the other two are walking distances away from carpark and not visible from the carpark.

She had one large dog and 4/5 smaller dogs with her.
As I stood talking to a friend using the drive in field, this woman walked by me again with no dogs, heading back to her very small 2 door car. She then took 3 more dogs out this tiny car, leaving at least one more dog still in it.
All the while leaving 5-6 dogs in the field unattended.
By this point I had put own dogs away safely in their custom built crates in my van.
I couldn’t hold my tongue, I asked if she had actually just brought all those dogs out of that tiny car, which she said they were seat belted in (I’m not sure how 10 dogs can be seat-belted into any car) when I asked if they were her own dogs she proudly declared she was a dog walker.
I asked how that was legal or safe and she walked away, leaving at least one more dog in the car.
My jaw hit the floor.
If she was in a car accident and was rear ended, every single one of those dogs would be killed without a doubt. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

So so many people are choosing dog walking as a career, but how much research do YOU do when looking for a dog walker?

Personally, for me when researching, first and foremost is how they are transporting my dog(s) from my house to the walking destination or field.
Are they secured in the vehicle? Are they in crates? Is the vehicle size appropriate for however many dogs they have? I prefer knowing my dogs are in safe crates in case of an accident.

Secondly is how many dogs they are taking at a time and where are they taking them?
If walking in an unsecured area then 6 is normally the maximum allowed but different councils and insurances allow different amounts so best to check this individually.
If they are using secure fields, more dogs are allowed however I would want to know how they get from the vehicle to the field. Majority of the fields dog walkers are using are drive in fields, so the dog walker can securely be in the actual field and get all dogs out safely at the same time.
I would NEVER allow my dog to be abandoned alone in a field for 1-10minutes while the walker is going to get MORE dogs out their vehicle.

Thirdly what insurance do they have? Dog walker insurance, key loss insurance, public liability insurance, accidents & injuries insurance. Licenses, training, first aid trained, the list can go on.

Fourth is the time I am paying for.
Most dogs walkers will advise a time frame, be that 30 mins, hourly etc and although things can happen occasionally that means a dog walk needs cut short, you should be paying for the time advertised. Do you know your dog is actually being exercised for the time you are paying for, not including travelling time.

Fifth is transparency.
Is your dog walker happy to share this information with you? Do they have a public social media page or is it a “private” group or page, hidden from outside feedback. Do they provide updates to you? Or is everything a little “too perfect” on their social media page that they spend more time on it than paying attention to the dogs.

I witnessed a dog walker a few weeks ago that “walked” the dogs for less than 15 minutes before they were all put back in the van.
I have heard of a dog walker that purposely walks the dogs through muddy puddles so it looks like they have been out longer than they have.
I have heard of countless dogs being attacked when the dog walker isn’t present or isn’t paying attention.

There is very little regulation around the dog walking business so it’s up to US to do the due diligence to ensure our dogs are SAFE AND SECURE!

09/08/2024

This week in pictures 🤎

Hope you all have a lovely week, I’ll see all my gorgeous pooches in a week 🫶🏻

31/07/2024

Sun, sand, sea and cooling bandanas!!

Walks are done for the day to beat the heat ☀️

30/07/2024

Tongue out Tuesday

18/07/2024

Who was the most excited for todays beach walk 👀

17/07/2024

Todays office 🫶🏻

16/07/2024

Tongues out!

09/07/2024

It’s still wet dog season!

04/07/2024

Pretending it’s been sunny all day

01/07/2024

Hello July 👋🏻

30/06/2024

An amazing morning mantrailing with the fabulous Chloe from and all the other teams

Finn proudly sporting his longline and .official mantrailing harness

28/06/2024

Last working walk of the month 🌸

19/06/2024

Water babies

18/06/2024

We do love to live beside the seaside

17/06/2024

An afternoon with your bestie, is an afternoon well spent 🐾🫶🏻

15/06/2024

Dog walkers day out, Dog fest 2024 🎉

14/06/2024

Is it June or November ☔️🥶

11/06/2024

Rocking the windswept look 💨

08/06/2024

This week 📸🫶🏻

31/05/2024

Suns out ☀️ tongues out 👅

28/05/2024

Soggy beach days

21/05/2024

Perfect pooches ❤️

14/05/2024

Beach day ☀️

11/05/2024

📍Hoylake side by side

Meet the Team

Lucy is a Pack Lead for Side by Side. She has spent the last few months training with Piper’s Pack and runs our Hoylake Walk on a Tuesday Evening.

In the week you will mainly find Lucy on the beach dog walking dog as the proud owner of her own dog walking business Lucy’s Leads.

In Lucy’s spare time she love’s to experience new things with her own dog, Finn a rescue working cocker, such as doggy swimming lessons and mantrailing.

Lucy is canine first aid trained.

Why not send her a message .leads_
Or DM us to find out more about our Hoylake walks.

09/05/2024

Thursday 🫶🏻

30/04/2024

Happy pups

26/04/2024

🐾

23/04/2024

💛🖤💛🖤