Guidelines and suggestions for how many visits per day your dog needs when booking multiple visits on multiple consecutive days.
Healthy adult dogs that are larger in size (over 50 lbs.) usually require 3 or 4 visits per day.
Early AM (7:00 AM – 8:30 AM) – First Let/Out or Walk and Breakfast.
Late Afternoon (2:00 PM – 5:00 PM) – Let/Out or Walk and Dinner.
Evening (7:00 PM – 9:00 PM) – Bedtime Let/Out or Walk
Some dogs can get away with only 2 visits per day. We do not recommend only 2 visits per day as the feeding routine as the dog may have to “hold it” for over 12 hours.
A minimum of 3 visits per day is recommended. (Morning, Afternoon, Bedtime.)
Ideally, the late afternoon walk with dinner gives the dog enough time to have a “productive” bedtime walk, reducing the risk of a middle-of-the-night accident.
If the dog is having accidents in the middle of the night, we are going to charge for clean-up if its particularly bad the first time, and then each accident thereafter.
Most customers schedule 4 visits a day. Some dogs need extra exercise or extra let-out. Some dogs need to see a familiar face or get anxious if left alone. Other dogs need someone to play “don’t take my squeaky toy”, because that’s how they manage stress.
Only a few dogs we have had as customers over the years have not seemed to care that the owner went away. Nevertheless, most dogs after the third or fourth day of the owner’s vacation start to miss the family and need attention, even if the Walker is just there to give belly rubs.
Cats, although they may miss their owner, usually act like they don’t.
Smaller adult dogs (Yorkie, Maltese, Chihuahuas) might need five or six visits a day because they can’t “hold it” like the bigger dogs, and like the attention.
Puppies and Senior dogs also usually need 4 to 6 walks. Senior dogs, especially, need to keep their eating and let-out routine as consistent as possible.
The Length of each daily Service Visit can be 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, or 60 minutes. A typical daily schedule is below.
Early AM – 15 minutes to 30 minutes – Enough time for business, some exercise and breakfast.
Mid-day – 30 minutes to 60 minutes for the exercise. Older dogs might just need the 15 minutes to be let-out and have their water bowl refilled or have a snack.
Night – 15 minutes to 45 minutes.
We typically restrict Early AM and Late PM visits to 15 minutes or 30 minutes.
