4 minutes remaining
Busy Work-Week Households
Looking for a dog walker while you are at work? That is the core of this plan. We take a midday walk and run the yard on the same stop, using one set of access notes, so neither job waits for your weekend. You do not need to be home for either one.
Your situation
Gone all day, and the yard and the dog both need handling.
You leave before the dog is really awake and get back when it is nearly dark. The yard becomes a weekend chore you resent and the dog spends the middle of the day waiting. One stop handles both without you being home for either.
What usually goes wrong
Saturday lost to scooping
Dog crated through the middle of the day
Two vendors, two gates, two things to chase
What the chore actually costs you
Ten minutes, twice a week, is the number people quote when they are talking themselves out of hiring someone. It is also not the real number, because the ten minutes is not the expensive part.
The expensive part is that the task sits on a list all week and gets moved to Saturday. There it competes with the only free morning you have, and loses often enough that the yard drifts from maintained to neglected without anyone deciding that. By the time it is genuinely bad it is a two hour job rather than a ten minute one, which makes it even easier to postpone.
What the first month looks like
Week one is the setup visit and, on a yard that has been slipping, usually a longer clean than the ones that follow. You get told honestly whether one pass got there.
Weeks two and three are where the routine becomes invisible. Same weekday, on-the-way text, photograph, done. Most people stop reading the photographs somewhere around week three, which is the point.
Week four is when we would normally check whether the frequency is right. If the yard is spotless on arrival every week, we will tell you that bi-weekly would probably hold, rather than waiting for you to work it out.
When your week changes
Work patterns move, and the plan that fit in February often does not fit in September. The mistake is letting a schedule that stopped working run on because changing it feels like a hassle.
A shift to more days at home usually means the walk matters less and the yard matters the same, which is a step down rather than a cancellation. A shift the other way, or travel picking up, usually means the walk matters more and a combo starts earning its cost.
Either change is one message and takes effect from the next cycle. There is no term to run out and no penalty for moving in either direction, which is deliberate: a plan people are reluctant to change is a plan they eventually cancel instead.
The plan that fits
Usually the right starting point
Weekly Walk and Scoop
A combo is the right call here specifically because it collapses two vendor relationships into one set of access notes. Two separate providers means two gate codes in circulation and two chances for nobody to tell you what happened.
Get a starting numberHow we set this up so you never have to be there
The entire configuration assumes nobody is home, which changes what we need from you up front. We want the gate method, whether the dogs are inside or out on a normal weekday, and a phone number that gets answered during business hours rather than one that goes to voicemail all day. Once those three things are settled you stop being part of the process. The photo lands while you are at your desk and that is the whole interaction.
- Gate method and dog location settled at setup
- A daytime number that actually gets answered
- Written access notes replace you being home Read the full standard: Written access notes replace you being home
- Photo of the closed latch before we leave Read the full standard: Photo of the closed latch before we leave
What this setup adds
Everything in the standard visit still applies. These are the configuration choices that make a nobody-home arrangement actually work rather than merely being possible.
What changes on this ticket
- Gate method recorded permanently rather than per visit
- Photo lands during your working day
- Combo option so the dog is walked on the same stop
- One invoice covering both jobs
What does not apply here
- We will not hold a visit waiting for you to get home
Other situations we handle
Families With Kids
Kids on the grass means the yard has to actually be clean.
Multi-Dog Homes
Two, three, or four dogs make a genuinely different job.
Large Yard Homes
Half acre and up, where in bounds is the whole quote.
New Puppy Households
Frequency changes fast in the first months.
Senior Dog Owners
Slower pace, same paid time.
Seniors and Mobility
If bending is the risk, this is the job.
Questions
What if my gate code changes?
Text us and we update the ticket the same day. What we ask is that you tell us before the next visit rather than after we have arrived and could not get in. A missed visit caused by an unannounced code change still uses up your slot for that week.
Is the combo actually cheaper than two vendors?
It usually lands close on price. Where it clearly wins is that one vendor means one set of access notes, one gate code in circulation, and one person to ask when something goes wrong. That is the part that actually causes problems with two providers.
How long can a dog be left alone during a work day?
It depends on the dog's age and health, so your vet is the right person to ask about yours. What we can say is that a full shift plus a commute is a long wait for a potty break. A midday walk cuts that wait roughly in half.
How does a dog walker get into my house when I am at the office?
Through a lockbox, a door code, or a key you hand over at the meet and greet. A physical key gets a number and a log entry against your account. Hiring a dog walker while you are at work only works if entry is planned ahead, so we plan it.
What time will the midday dog walk happen?
We agree a weekday window with you at setup, inside our posted hours of seven in the morning to six in the evening. The route is fixed the evening before, and a text goes out as we head to your street, so you can glance at your phone and know.
How much does a dog walker cost for every weekday?
A recurring thirty minute walk five days a week starts at four hundred fifty dollars per month for one dog. Three days a week starts at three hundred. If you also want the yard handled on one of those stops, the pricing page shows the Walk and Scoop rates.
How will I know my dog really got walked while I was gone?
Your phone tells you. One picture is taken as the walk begins and another as it finishes, and the minutes between them are the minutes you paid for. A short written report follows, so you can read it at your desk instead of wondering all afternoon.
Is a thirty minute walk enough for a dog that is home all day?
For many dogs it is, since the main job at midday is a potty break and a change of scene. Young or high energy dogs often do better with forty five or sixty minutes. Start with thirty, read the notes for a couple of weeks, then adjust.
Can my dog walker also pick up the yard so I get my Saturday back?
Yes. That is what our Walk and Scoop plan is for. The same person who walks your dog cleans the yard before leaving, so the weekend chore is already done by Friday. You deal with a single company and a single bill instead of juggling two.
Should I crate my dog before the dog walker comes?
Either way is fine, as long as we know which. Tell us at the meet and greet where your dog spends the day, where the leash hangs, and which rooms are closed to us. After the walk your dog goes back to that same place with fresh water.
Get your weekends back
The whole point of this arrangement is that you stop thinking about it. Access notes go on the ticket once and the photo arrives while you are at work. Tell us your gate situation on the quote form and we will confirm the day.
Monday to Friday 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Saturday 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM