# Charges for Pro dog walkers



## michie

Just seen in Telegraph today that the Royal Parks in London have started charging £300 plus £100 extra if you use a van. I think they are also limiting to 4 dogs a walk. All sounds a bit harsh. Can understand the limiting bit though because I think some people are just taking the mickey, my limit is 6 and that's tricky enough keeping an eye on that many pooping, never mind 12 that I've seen being walked. Is it just London so far?

Michie.


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## Mark Walden

I do walk through London from time to time and I often see rather small handlers with about 6-7 dogs on each hand... Surely thats dangerous? Jeez, I find it hard having 2 Beagles on a lead, let alone 12!


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## michie

Hi Mark. 
I've got 3 beagles on my books, they are very determined souls  and pretty strong for their size. Eat extra spinach on their days  Its difficult to set numbers I suppose, not so bad to control 12 Chihuahuas compared to 12 boisterous Labradors.


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## Mark Walden

michie said:


> Hi Mark.
> I've got 3 beagles on my books, they are very determined souls  and pretty strong for their size. Eat extra spinach on their days


Wonderful! Yeah, if they want to have a go at something, give them time and they'll achieve it... everything from opening doors and gates to filtering out your rubbish bin!


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## totallypets

This is in my area, although I haven't walked in the Royal Parks for a while. I used to walk in there with 4 dogs (I'm insured for 6) as the guidance was a maximum of 4 dogs per person. What I didn't realise was that you were not allowed to make an income using royal land without paying a licence fee, but they wouldn't licence professional dog walkers. 

The new licence is limited to 4 dogs and many of the local dog walkers who have walked 6 dogs in there for many years are upset about the limit on numbers and the level of the licence fee. We have 2 royal parks here and you have to be licenced for each individually at £300 + VAT plus £100 + VAT for use of the car parks per year. That's nearly £1000 a year! 

I haven't decided if I will get a licence, there are times of the year when you wouldn't want to walk there because of the deer and ground nesting birds, so in effect you would pay your licence for the year and maybe walk there for 7 or 8 months of it.


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## michie

Blimey that is a lot, down here in Hampshire I buy a Country Park season ticket to park, usually around £75 and that gets you in to 2 local parks close to me. Think the rangers are quite happy for us to use the parks, as we are their eyes and ears all year round and help to police it in a way. I let them know if there are any problems like fly tipping, injured wildlife, car break ins and dodgy characters! You get a instinct for them  Only one flasher in 18 years  
I've the signed the petition on APDW calling for them to at least increase it to 6 dogs.


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## DollyGirl08

michie said:


> Hi Mark.
> I've got 3 beagles on my books, they are very determined souls  and pretty strong for their size. Eat extra spinach on their days  Its difficult to set numbers I suppose, not so bad to control 12 Chihuahuas compared to 12 boisterous Labradors.


Also easier to walk 12 calm labradors as opposed to 12 nutty little chi's  
My limit is 4 dogs. I take my 6 out together, but they are my own dogs...out of the lot the ones i have to keep an eye on are 1 of my labs and my dachshund! My chi is good as gold.


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## BoredomBusters

If you only use one park it's not much more than £1 a day. If you (like us) do multiple walks a day it's not that costly (especially as London dog walking prices are more expensive), but of course for us we'd have to only licence one person to walk there. The other people would have to walk elsewhere, but I'd make damn sure that person had 3 or 4 walks a day to make the most of it!

They are also charging personal trainers I noticed.


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## totallypets

BoredomBusters said:


> If you only use one park it's not much more than £1 a day. If you (like us) do multiple walks a day it's not that costly (especially as London dog walking prices are more expensive), but of course for us we'd have to only licence one person to walk there. The other people would have to walk elsewhere, but I'd make damn sure that person had 3 or 4 walks a day to make the most of it!
> 
> They are also charging personal trainers I noticed.


They have always had a licence for personal trainers, filming and professional photography, the introduction for the dog walker licence is new this month with no consultation. As I said before, because of the deer and the ground nesting birds part/all of the royal parks locally aren't really suitable IMO for walking dogs at certain times of year (approx 4 months) so the daily cost would go up. The royal parks will also be out with scanners as I understand it stopping unlicenced people (you have to wear an armband if you have a licence) with multiple dogs and scanning the dogs for microchips to see if they match the details of who is walking them!

Personally with a limit of 4 dogs I'd probably still never walk there as other walks are more suitable due to location/type. If the limit was 6 dogs then I could see myself getting a licence and walking there maybe 3 times a week at certain times of year, it would work out very expensive for me though so I may just carry on as I am.


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## BoredomBusters

totallypets said:


> They have always had a licence for personal trainers, filming and professional photography, the introduction for the dog walker licence is new this month with no consultation. As I said before, because of the deer and the ground nesting birds part/all of the royal parks locally aren't really suitable IMO for walking dogs at certain times of year (approx 4 months) so the daily cost would go up. The royal parks will also be out with scanners as I understand it stopping unlicenced people (you have to wear an armband if you have a licence) with multiple dogs and scanning the dogs for microchips to see if they match the details of who is walking them!
> 
> Personally with a limit of 4 dogs I'd probably still never walk there as other walks are more suitable due to location/type. If the limit was 6 dogs then I could see myself getting a licence and walking there maybe 3 times a week at certain times of year, it would work out very expensive for me though so I may just carry on as I am.


I can see your point, but we have a walker round here who regularly takes 10 dogs out, never picks up poo, smokes, and has been seen sitting on benches watching the dogs just milling around drinking from a hip flask. I would love him to be checked and thrown out! A couple of people think he works for me as I have mostly male dog walkers and I'm horrified that people think we would walk that many dogs (ie uninsured) and drink on duty! Regardless of what's in the flask, people assume it's alcohol. Someone phoned me to complain they'd had trouble with one of my dog walkers and it was him! So I guess I've got that kind of making me wish we had more regulation here.

I should appreciate more what it's like to actually be affected.


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## totallypets

BoredomBusters said:


> I can see your point, but we have a walker round here who regularly takes 10 dogs out, never picks up poo, smokes, and has been seen sitting on benches watching the dogs just milling around drinking from a hip flask. I would love him to be checked and thrown out! A couple of people think he works for me as I have mostly male dog walkers and I'm horrified that people think we would walk that many dogs (ie uninsured) and drink on duty! Regardless of what's in the flask, people assume it's alcohol. Someone phoned me to complain they'd had trouble with one of my dog walkers and it was him! So I guess I've got that kind of making me wish we had more regulation here.
> 
> I should appreciate more what it's like to actually be affected.


I hate 'Unprofessional' Dog Walkers with a passion, they give us all a bad name. We had a Dog Control Order put in place last year to combat this. The original proposal was a limit of 4 dogs with only 2 off lead, but they changed this to 4 dogs with all/any off lead. The problem was that many unscrupulous walkers like the one you mention would come from Central London with up to 16 dogs and literally open the back doors of their vans with a scene reminiscent of 101 Dalmatians before you. No picking up, no control and no regard for any other people walking with or without dogs. In the end the DCO was fixed at 6 dogs as that is what most people were insured for and has worked well since. The Royal Parks are independent and not covered by the DCO, we'll have to wait and see what happens.


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