11/01/2025
As you may be already be aware, a dog called Olive went missing from our field on Wednesday under my care. She has since been found safe and well.
Since then, Cheshire Paws has been inundated with many messages, comments, and reviews, all negative, many threatening and intimidating, and all containing information that isn't accurate.
So here I'd like to explain what's happened, and the steps I am already taking to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.
Olive was on her first walk with Cheshire Paws on Wednesday. She was offlead in our field, that I believed to be fully secure. I do full perimeter checks every Monday, to ensure everything is as it should be.
Unfortunately Olive got spooked by another dog, ran along the fence, found a hole that wasn't there on Monday, and escaped. I had called her back to me, but she did not respond.
I immediately put all other dogs back in the van so I'd know they were safe, then called the client to explain what had happened. I then started a 4.5 hour search for Olive until it was so dark that it was pointless to continue.
Thursday morning, as soon as it was light, I continued searching for another 5 hours, until the lady from Bindi's Lost & Found advised me that there was no point in driving round, because we just didn't know where Olive was.
I was in touch with Olive's owner almost hourly since she went missing, and frequently asked what I could do to assist, or to help in any way possible. At this stage, I wanted to do whatever I could to help find her.
Friday morning, Olive was found, safe and well.
I did not operate any dog walks on Thursday, but on Friday, once I'd heard the wonderful news that she'd be found, I recommenced the walks, and took the dogs to a different secure field, which we will be using for the forseeable, in order to give myself chance to thoroughly check the perimeter again, and to make any necessary repairs over the next week or so.
Extra information to defend myself in light of the torrent of negative comments being posted currently:
- the clients signed an offlead consent form
- they advised me Olive has good recall, and is confident around other dogs. I should never have trusted the client's judgement on this, and I made a huge mistake in doing so
- the field was secure, to my knowledge. The hole Olive got through was definitely not there on Monday, and must have been caused by a wild animal
I hope that this helps answer some of the questions or concerns that may have arisen from this incident, and to reassure my current clients that this was a freak accident, caused by a cocktail of many individual issues, and that I am now working from another field to ensure the safety of all dogs under my care.
False information that's going around social media:
- I did not have permission to let Olive off lead (client signed the off lead consent form)
- I ignored contact from the client (I called her immediately and was in touch almost hourly in daytime hours, until she was found)
- I did nothing to help (I searched for hours on Wednesday & Thursday and continually asked the client what else I could do)
- I promoted my business on social media whilst Olive was missing (no posts were made in those hours)
- I deleted the negative Google reviews (you cannot remove reviews from a Google business page. There were so many negative reviews posted all at once, that it got flagged as spam, and Google automatically removed them)
- I deleted my Facebook business page (I took it offline because I couldn't cope with any more abusive messages)
- Other dogs have been lost under my care (I took over the business a year ago, and no dog has been lost in that time, other than Olive)
- I have no insurance, and do not pay tax (I can provide proof of both of these things)
- I shouldn't be allowed to run a dog walking business and I am not fit to do so (Cheshire Paws took 5,796 bookings last year, and not a single dog was lost)
To finish, I'd just like to add how distressed and upset I am that this happened to Olive under my care. I did not lose her on purpose, nor lose her with intent. I was not wilfully negligent or careless with her. A dog's welfare is always my utmost priority, and this has all felt like the most terrible nightmare.
Moving forward, as mentioned, dogs will be walked on a different field, I will be perimeter checking before every single walk, and I will never ever trust a client's judgement on their dog's behaviour again.
If any one has any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Debbie.
