Where is the line between basic dog walking and professional training services?

For this dog, it’s Completely appropriate to Not offer any discounts IF you want to book it. At some point your availability might not allow for this dog to be booked. If you’re not sure that you want to book it as training, another option is to lock rates for your regular clients (excluding this one) and then raise published rate (which will result in this client and new clients seeing / booking at higher new rate). Unless I had certification to lean upon as a trainer that made me feel like my reputation was bulletproof (especially against potential false claims later on if something happens-possibly with someone else), I probably would not book it as training.

What you’ve described is kind of in a gray area, but I would think it’s more like reinforcing learned behaviors, as long as the owner is also doing so on walks. *

• By the way, the client/owner absolutely has to reinforce this behavior consistently or else this will continue to be a problem. Anyone who thinks that they can just do the training once as a puppy, put it behind them to never think about it again or believe it’s effective to have a trainer do all the training for them to never think about it after that is kidding themselves.

I recently told a potential client "I'm not a trainer. I am here to reinforce what owner and trainer are working on and have almost dialed in. " I've paid a professional trainer for my dog - they charge way more than most rover walkers and for good reason. I have strong instincts and animal awareness, but trainers study that dog and come up with a protocol they have a strong idea will work, with structures and tactics. This was for a "territorial leash aggressive pit bull". I was basically saying, I can't walk your dog unless you are working with a trainer. I probably won't get the job. But their dog needs support! Not just thrust on the community with a dog walker exp[ected to fix the problems

Clicker training is super easy and you don't have to be a trainer to use a clicker. Anyone can do it. The problem is that the owner is very irresponsible and doesn't get the dog trained. I myself had a 98lb White Swiss Shepherd who didn't like others men or other dog and I had to sign up for professional training to get him trained for obedience and K9 good citizen, because he was difficult to walk.

In your case, the owner doesn't care about his dog's safety and definitely doesn't care about you and your safety. You are saying you have difficulties walking her, you should give up this client, even though I understand the motivation to make money can be stronger than caring about your safety and other people and other dogs safety.

I don't see a "hefty" fee listed on your page, unless you mean the $25 you charge for a walk? I can't possibly understand why would you even say you're charging a hefty fee and want to discount your services? If you are good at what you do, don't ever think you are charging too much and you need to give out a discount. Do you even know how much a private dog walking company charges for a dog walk? Basically a double what you charge! Don't sell yourself short. If the owner is unwilling to train a large sized dog and doesn't care about your safety, I would let them go and get a better person to walk for.