Dog Walker burn out

Dog walker burn out is real. There is a lot of misconception about our job and what it actually entails but our day is not just filled with puppies and rainbows.

We have to walk for hours a day

Watch our surroundings for approaching dogs or danger

Monitor dogs for signs of stress or illness

Be in charge of keys and house security

Drive like we are transporting diamonds

Plan routes for pickups and timings

Adapt to changing weather

Deal with invoicing/admin/tax returns and hiring fields

Reply to customers

Engage in social media

Stay up to date with our own training (pet first aid/changes in legislation and behaviour)

And so much more!

For us, Summer is our busiest time and we are just finishing a 54 day stint back to back with no day off. This is because we offer pet sitting as well as dog walking and also co-ran a recall workshop with a positive reinforcement trainer. This is the time of year when many clients want to get away for their vacation and we stay in their homes ensuring their pets are as comfortable as possible and in predictable routines. It is lovely for us to be able to spend more time with our clients pet’s as we usually only get to see them for the hour walks, out of the house, and filled with excitement, so to see them at home relaxing can give us a better insight into their personalities (for better or worse!).

Being self employed also poses a unique set of challenges when it comes to having boundaries. I fall into the category of having very few when it comes to my free time or annual leave. We do have a couple of clients that have moved out of the area and have requested that we still pet sit them - and we, of course, said yes. In an attempt not to affect the business by taking extended time off, we have used our annual leave dates to fulfil these requests, leaving us with just 2 weeks leave to ourselves.

Over the summer, as requests come in, I have often taken bookings for pet sitting that fall over weekends as during the hot weather, dog walks have to be altered. This means either reduced time and garden visits, or early morning/late evening walks which makes the day so much longer. Having the back up of additional bookings can really help cover the bills during heatwaves. Clients often overlook the fact that we are out in extreme heat attending to the dogs and we need a break from the temperatures too, for our safety! - it isn’t just your dog we are visiting.

I used to believe that being self employed, the business had to come first and foremost - with personal life taking a backseat and expecting friends and family to understand that we take bookings sometimes a year ahead, so inviting us to functions in a shorter time frame may mean we are already booked and can not attend. We have missed birthdays, weddings, Christmas gatherings and important moments in people's lives. It is what it is. We can't let people down at the last minute, reputations take a long time to build and a second to break. However this last week for me has been grueling.

I pride the business on being made by exceptional clients that share the same ethics around positive reinforcement, and a desire to have the happiest, most well rounded, pets that they can have. We do this by using enrichment, training and social time to help their dogs experience a world full of love, away from fear and pain. Perhaps that is because we started our careers in rescue and have worked with thousands of dogs that have found themselves living at a rescue center for reasons that they do not understand. When you have worked with dogs so confused, scared and lost - knowing you are the only thing they have, it can break you. Compassion fatigue is hard, we have both experienced it.

I honestly thought that leaving rescue work would see the end of the suffering but in the last weeks I encountered a situation that literally broke me where an animal was not being looked after and I had to find a way to handle the situation, as well as a meet and greet where the clients were rude, dismissive and disrespectful to me. I really had to take a step back and ask myself if my emotions were valid or due to being exhausted, and it turns out they were both valid and I have dealt with them to the best of my ability, but the shadow of the events are still lingering.

I am exhausted. Physically and mentally done.

We started the countdown with 30 days to go, 20 days, 2 weeks left, the light at the end of the tunnel was on the horizon. However, each day that passed felt like another rock in a rucksack I was carrying. I was hoping the countdown would motivate me to keep pushing just a little bit harder, to get organised with bookings and meet and greets for when I come back from holiday. Instead, I found myself wondering if I should just squeeze a meet and greet in over the weekend and worrying about missing emails from potential clients.

My feet have felt like lead, the spark of joy to get up and out waning. The dread of getting things up to date before we go on holiday felt like a burden I wasn't strong enough to carry. These last few days have been an uphill battle where I am usually so motivated to do a job I love more than anything in the world. It is part of me. Pets are my life.

We have lots of experience, a great website and awesome testimonials from clients, but in today's fast paced/social media driven world it is often not enough. Speed is of the essence when a client contacts you - it's not necessarily about who is the best fit, but who is fastest to reply. I am anxious that if I turn my devices off for the rest I deserve, I could miss a potential new client. I worry that even though I have messaged all of my clients several times, at least one will forget I am away - and the pet will be the one that suffers because I took time off.

I live in the envy of believing that all the other dogs walkers have really good boundaries set up and have their life in order. They make time to go and see friends, have days off and get the clients - but in reality I doubt that is the case, but what social media tells us is that everyone else has it figured out apart from us. Probably the algorithms.

SO… how do we set healthy boundaries? When is it ok to say “it’s too late to respond to that text from a client at this time of night?” When is it ok to say no! I don’t want to work 54 days back to back again but I have done it to myself every year for the last 5! Even today, my first day off, a client had text me asking for cover this week and we have had to really talk about it together and remind ourselves of the boundaries we were just talking about!

For next year, we will be cutting back on the pet sits and booking a week off every 3 months for us. So that we get to have that time away and reset, ready to come back motivated - but also to spend quality time with our families too.

Setting boundaries is not an art form we have yet managed to master, however, we are learning. Burnout is real, but it’s not inevitable if we treat ourselves with the same care and compassion that we give to every animal entrusted to us.

To my fellow dog walkers and pet sitters: please know you’re not alone if you feel exhausted. And to our clients: thank you for trusting us with your beloved pets, and for understanding that behind the scenes is a human being who needs rest too.