Entrusting Mr. Barkypants, my first-born son, to a dog walker is akin to how I imagine it might…read morefeel to someday entrust a less furry child of mine to a nanny: He/She sure as hell better be committed, conscientious, able to survive blizzards*, and love Mr. Barkypants as his/her own. Using this (perhaps slightly unreasonable) standard, I interviewed many, many dog walkers before I found Dean Gray of The Dog Train, a dog walking and training company that Dean and his business partner own and operate. Though I haven't yet had to put them to the blizzard test*, it is clear that Dean is an excellent dog walker and human being, more generally.
Importantly to me, Dean and his business partner are the only dog walkers in their small company and they generally only walk one dog at once (or three dogs, together, at the most, who have had time to acclimate to one another). I feel strongly about not having just any random person walk Mr. Barkypants: I've witnessed how some walkers who work at larger operations treat (or rather mistreat) the 5-10 dogs they walk at once. Sadly, it doesn't seem uncommon for some dog walkers, on the Upper West Side at least, to roughly yank leashes or yell and scream at dogs, or to refuse to stop walking to allow one of their charges to use the little dog's room, or to tie dogs up to a post in the park while the walker enjoys a cigarette and long chat with his friends. I am confident that Dean does NOT do this; Mr. Barkypants would probably behave very differently with him than he does.
Interestingly, though Mr. Barkypants isn't terribly fond of strangers and he is particularly non-fond of strangers who are male and who wear hats, he took to the hat-wearing Dean like he took to liver treats from the first or second walk on. Dean has a gentle, quiet, calm, non-domineering manner with dogs (and humans, really). He isn't embarrassed about speaking to dogs in goofy voices -- a talent I quite appreciate. Moreover, wrt his human dealings, too, Dean is prompt and as honest as Abe: He lets us know when he isn't able to walk a full hour (because of severe weather or sickness) and deducts from his pay despite our asking him to take the full amount.
In truth, I do find Dean's business partner, Jessie, to be less conscientious. In contrast to Dean, who deducts whenever he does not walk the full hour -- even if it's due to circumstances beyond his control like extreme heat -- in our experience, Jessie consistently shaved time off of walks. I know this is not unusual for dog walkers in Manhattan, but it just highlighted for us the difference between a truly excellent walker and a more run of the mill one. In one instance, she also did not call us when she was unable to open the inner door of our home, until after the time for the walk had passed, claiming that she had called Dean for our number and that he didn't have it. (He does have it and texted it to her.) If she'd called when she'd arrived, we would've been able to arrange for her to get in the door. She insisted on charging us for the walk, anyway, because she had stopped by. Luckily, we have Dean almost all the time.
Rates, by the way, are extremely reasonable for Manhattan dog walking, especially since Mr. Barkypants gets Dean all to himself on walks.
According to their website, Dean is bonded and insured as a dog walker and is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. Dean is also Animal Behavior College certified. I haven't hired Dean for dog training, since Mr. Barkypants is already perfect. ;) But I can speak with knowledge about Dean's excellent credentials as a dog walker. He *will* treat your dogs with respect and patience -- or at least I'm pretty sure they will based on how they've treated my first born son. I can't recommend him enough.
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*I've walked for an hour and a half through snowstorms while sleep deprived at midnight (uphill both ways, barefoot ;) to give my baby a good walk. Anyone who takes him out better give a shiznit -- or better, yet, two.
