Young Schoolgirls Asking To Take The Dogs For A Walk

[Boronia]

I had three girls, the oldest being about 12, come to my door this morning asking if I'd like to let them take the dogs for a walk. I explained that they have to be 18 to walk a dog and it may be an idea to shelve their idea as there are some quite aggressive dogs in the area, some are just wandering around out of their yards can rush at other dogs.

I also said that it unwise for them to go into peoples yards when they have a dog inside that yard.

Off they went up the road to, obviously, ask other neighbours as I can hear dogs barking all the way up the road. There are four more houses and each one has a dogs...a Ridgie X, a nutty GSD, a Canaan dog and two fierce little Yorkies

They are going to be another dog-bites-children statistic and I am wondering if their parents know what they are doing?

[Leah82]

I commend these girls on wanting to be a part of the community and make a bit of money on the side but I agree with you Boronia that this business plan of theirs is fraught with potential issues.

Hopefully your neighbors will also be wary of handing their dogs over to young girls with little to no experience handling strange dogs.

[Loving my Oldies]

I commend these girls on wanting to be a part of the community and make a bit of money on the side but I agree with you Boronia that this business plan of theirs is fraught with potential issues.

Hopefully your neighbors will also be wary of handing their dogs over to young girls with little to no experience handling strange dogs.

I think you need to know their motives first. :)

Boronia if you don't know these girls or know where they live, I'd suggest a letter to the editor of your local paper just to alert parents what was happening.

Is it 18? I thought it was 16? But maybe I'm thinking of volunteers at pounds.

ETA: A couple of years ago I thought I had something tatooed on my forehead because I was asked this by two neighbours ..... the mothers that is. One on behalf of her son who was going for the Duke of Edinburgh Award (of some sort), she thought dog walking would be okay because he "wasn't good with people" ; and the other on behalf of her daughter who despite living across the road from me for years and seeing me countless times out with my dogs had never approached me to pat them, but on the contrary behaved as if I had 1/2 dozen slavening Hounds of the Baskervilles on the end of my leads. It goes to show that people really have no idea and think that a dog is a piece of meat to be handed around willy nilly with no thought as to his/her personality or needs.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Dame Danny's Darling

[Loving my Oldies]

They are going to be another dog-bites-children statistic and I am wondering if their parents know what they are doing?

And if the neighbours aren't as savvy as you, Boronia, and let their dogs go with these girls, at the first hint of trouble, the girls won't have a clue, will probably drop the leads and god know what might happen.

Their parents must be made aware of the dangers they could be letting themselves (and any unfortunate dogs they might end up walking) in for.

Oh, before anyone jumps on me for being somewhat heated, I've seen it happen in my neighbourhood where children who are too young are walking dogs on their own and not just big dogs either.

[raineth]

When I was a kid, my sister and I went around knocking on doors offering to wash people's dogs for some pocket money. We brought all the dogs back to our place, tied them to the balcony rail and washed them with hoses. We had about six tied up there at once.

Miraculously there was not a single incident!

I am also kind of amazed that people let us do it, especially as we were taking the dogs back to our place!

Last year I actually had a child knock on my door and give me his business card for walking dogs.

[Rosetta]

This is quite common in school holidays. There are ads on Gumtree advertising their "services" by kids. I don't think people have a clue that there is any age limit.

[Guest Wildthing]

I have responded to ads on Gum Tree out of curiosity. Most do not have insurance should anything go wrong. One person had no idea about Public Liability and another said they were trying to make some money and could not afford the insurance!!!!!

Whilst I do not have a dog, there is no way I would entrust someone as young as the girls seemed to be who knocked on your door, with any animal.

Some parents might encourage their children to do these things because they believe it is the child using their initiative. However, I would have to wonder if the parents realise what the consequences of the childrens behaviour could lead to. An unknown person walking a dog they have never met leaves the person and dog in a very vulnerable situation, should anything go wrong.

I have to wonder what these girls would do if they found themselves in a situation like Hazywal has just experienced with her 2 greyhounds.

[Clyde]

When I was a kid, my sister and I went around knocking on doors offering to wash people's dogs for some pocket money. We brought all the dogs back to our place, tied them to the balcony rail and washed them with hoses. We had about six tied up there at once.

Miraculously there was not a single incident!

I am also kind of amazed that people let us do it, especially as we were taking the dogs back to our place!

Yep, I used to do this too. Take the dogs home, tie them up and wash the poor things with a hose and sunlight soap :laugh: I also used to walk peoples dogs for them, I wouldn't have been more than 12. I had a regular GSD, Dally, Keeshonds etc. There is NO way I'd allow my daughter to do that. Times have certainly changed! :laugh:

[Diva]

My retired neighbours offered take my dogs along on their regular walks while I was at work. They would be fine with them but the risk of attack from a loose dog is too great in my suburb, I couldn't risk it. Bad enough it happens when I am walking them, worse if it was with others not as dog savvy.

[Loving my Oldies]

My retired neighbours offered take my dogs along on their regular walks while I was at work. They would be fine with them but the risk of attack from a loose dog is too great in my suburb, I couldn't risk it. Bad enough it happens when I am walking them, worse if it was with others not as dog savvy.

This is another thing. How badly would they feel if something totally out of their control happened on their watch?

[Steph M]

When I was a kid, my sister and I went around knocking on doors offering to wash people's dogs for some pocket money. We brought all the dogs back to our place, tied them to the balcony rail and washed them with hoses. We had about six tied up there at once.

Miraculously there was not a single incident!

I am also kind of amazed that people let us do it, especially as we were taking the dogs back to our place!

Yep, I used to do this too. Take the dogs home, tie them up and wash the poor things with a hose and sunlight soap :laugh: I also used to walk peoples dogs for them, I wouldn't have been more than 12. I had a regular GSD, Dally, Keeshonds etc. There is NO way I'd allow my daughter to do that. Times have certainly changed! :laugh:

I think that's a part of it too. Most suburbs don't have that safety barrier of community that I remember from when I was young. Not saying things were fine and dandy then, but we knew our neighbours and they knew us. Everyone looked out for each other a bit and I think the lack of that makes it harder.

[Loving my Oldies]

When I was a kid, my sister and I went around knocking on doors offering to wash people's dogs for some pocket money. We brought all the dogs back to our place, tied them to the balcony rail and washed them with hoses. We had about six tied up there at once.

Miraculously there was not a single incident!

I am also kind of amazed that people let us do it, especially as we were taking the dogs back to our place!

Yep, I used to do this too. Take the dogs home, tie them up and wash the poor things with a hose and sunlight soap :laugh: I also used to walk peoples dogs for them, I wouldn't have been more than 12. I had a regular GSD, Dally, Keeshonds etc. There is NO way I'd allow my daughter to do that. Times have certainly changed! :laugh:

I think that's a part of it too. Most suburbs don't have that safety barrier of community that I remember from when I was young. Not saying things were fine and dandy then, but we knew our neighbours and they knew us. Everyone looked out for each other a bit and I think the lack of that makes it harder.

Another thing too that is lost sight of, I think, is that (although I am a lot older than most DOLers) when I was growing up more married women were at home and there were many more so-called blue collar jobs whereby men were home a lot earlier (that is if they weren't in the pub ). There were fewer rules and regulations and, most importantly, I think in terms of people's perception of what was dangerous, there was no instanteous media coverage of all the dangers that might lurk in quiet streets.

People lived close to where they worked and where children went to school. So very very different from today.

I still find it hard to comprehend how parents wouldn't know and, thereby by assumption, allow, their children to go around knocking on people's doors asking if they can walk their dogs.

[raineth]

When I was a kid, my sister and I went around knocking on doors offering to wash people's dogs for some pocket money. We brought all the dogs back to our place, tied them to the balcony rail and washed them with hoses. We had about six tied up there at once.

Miraculously there was not a single incident!

I am also kind of amazed that people let us do it, especially as we were taking the dogs back to our place!

Yep, I used to do this too. Take the dogs home, tie them up and wash the poor things with a hose and sunlight soap :laugh: I also used to walk peoples dogs for them, I wouldn't have been more than 12. I had a regular GSD, Dally, Keeshonds etc. There is NO way I'd allow my daughter to do that. Times have certainly changed! :laugh:

I think that's a part of it too. Most suburbs don't have that safety barrier of community that I remember from when I was young. Not saying things were fine and dandy then, but we knew our neighbours and they knew us. Everyone looked out for each other a bit and I think the lack of that makes it harder.

Another thing too that is lost sight of, I think, is that (although I am a lot older than most DOLers) when I was growing up more married women were at home and there were many more so-called blue collar jobs whereby men were home a lot earlier (that is if they weren't in the pub ). There were fewer rules and regulations and, most importantly, I think in terms of people's perception of what was dangerous, there was no instanteous media coverage of all the dangers that might lurk in quiet streets.

People lived close to where they worked and where children went to school. So very very different from today.

I still find it hard to comprehend how parents wouldn't know and, thereby by assumption, allow, their children to go around knocking on people's doors asking if they can walk their dogs.

well I reckon the kid with the business card's parents must have definitely known.

It doesn't surprise me at all really. I knew the family he came from, they have two dogs that never got walked so they have no idea of what can go wrong when walking a dog as they never do it.

As for my own dog washing story, I have absolutely no recollection of whether we asked permission to do it.

[mixeduppup]

I used to walk my neighbors dogs for money, i walked a gsd and a bull mastiff and quit a few large mixbreeds when I was 11 until 15. It was a small country town and i loved doing it. they gave me $10 an hour. I also used to sell rocks from door to door to make money. I made $27 in one week selling people pretty rocks. It's sad how the world has changed but at the same time i understand the concern.

[kelpiecuddles]

I used to walk dogs when I was a teenager for a local lady but I had grown up with dogs, was tall and very strong for my age and was dog savvy even as a teen. Looking at my own kids I could see some of them being fine doing it at 14-15 and others not being good candidates for that sort of job so I do think to some extent it depends on the teenager.

[Dogsfevr]

No insurance in this day and age no way.

I would not trust any teenager to walk my dogs no matter how savy they are & if they don't have public liability insurance any parent that allows then to do this is nuts .

When you walk these dogs you are the guardian at that time ,any issues the kids pay the price or the parents that allow it .

[Guest donatella]

This is insane!! I would never let a child with my dogs for a million reasons I hope some naive older person doesn't fall for it.

We used to bake cakes and cookies and have roadside stalls out the front of our house I don't remember going knocking around the neighborhood

[BC Crazy]

No insurance in this day and age no way.

I would not trust any teenager to walk my dogs no matter how savy they are & if they don't have public liability insurance any parent that allows then to do this is nuts .

When you walk these dogs you are the guardian at that time ,any issues the kids pay the price or the parents that allow it .

YES......

[dididog]

I walked my neighbour's dog and looked after him for sometimes over a week when I was about twelve. We were pretty chummy with them and they knew how much I wanted a dog so let me walk him whenever I wanted but mum or dad would always tag along. They did pay me to look after him while they went away and I would just camp out at their house for a week (they had foxtel and a pool ) Considering I barely let my own brother walk my dog I don't see myself ever allowing strange children to do so, I can only imagine the multitude of things that could go wrong...

[denali]

I have run a rather successful little pet sitting and dog walking company from the age of about 12/13 :) It was my pocket money throughout school.

I used to walk a GSD girl every afternoon, and did so for many years until they moved

Not all 12 year olds are idiots- i think at 12 yrs old i knew more about dogs and their behaviour than the average person :laugh:

I started at the age of 10 working for another company, under my mums name, but i was the actual sitter and was paid as such.

ETA: I wouldn't trust anyone with my dogs. Regardless of age. I considered getting a dog walker for every now and again, but decided against it as I like knowing where my dogs are all the time . Crazy dog lady i know!

Edited April 10, 2014 by denali