Pros
Some of the dogs were really sweet and cute. A few of the owners were pretty nice people.
Cons
Strap in because this list is long. (ALL OF THIS IS ALLEGED)
1) This is not a salaried position, you don't get paid a set wage every hour. It's more like freelance work. At the most you'll probably make $500 a month.
2) Unprofessional. I know its nice to have a laid back boss, but the person/people in charge were way too casual about certain things. I'm not a vet tech or have any type of professional certification in terms of animal work; but I know dealing with any type of animal in a professional setting requires some form of training. Being in the presence of a scared/aggressive dog can be very dangerous; especially in a public setting. Our 'training' only consisted of two days of a 30 minute presentation with a PowerPoint on dog behaviors. Not once did we go to a doggy daycare, shelter or training facility to learn hands on how to work with these animals.
3) Once the 'training' was over we were literally thrown headfirst into work and appointments. On the job description I read, new workers were supposedly required to have interviews with the clients (pet owners) before we were to start servicing them. That never occurred. So we were essentially going into strangers' homes dealing with dogs that never met us. Like I said previously, it can be a very dangerous situation when a dog becomes aggressive. Thankfully I never had an experience where a dog I walked attacked me. Instead I would learn about a certain dog I had to walk that day has an anxiety condition, and I'm dealt with using up walk time just trying to coax them out of their crates. Some dogs wouldn't come out at all.
4) Going more into the 'dogs with preexisting conditions" things. It really should've been company policy that only dogs with a certain level of training would be given service. Cause again keep in mind, most of us were not people with professional animal care backgrounds. I too often had to deal with rowdy, ill trained dogs that either refused to walk properly, would not listen to commands, or pulled incessantly. Not exaggerating that this is a huge safety hazard. A few times while working here I've been pulled into streets by large dogs.
5) No benefits/promotions
6) Very rarely did clients tip.
8) The app used to log appointments was shoddy and crashed often.
9) The scheduling. Appointments were almost always scheduled to close together which would guarantee you'd be late to your appointments. Often there would be appointments that would be booked within 10-15 minutes from each other and households would be nearly a mile away. Keep in mind if you're not coming out of your own pocket to pay for ride shares to get there (which I very often had to do), you had to walk. There's no fleet of cars, scooters or bikes on deck. It wasn't taken into consideration the time it would take to get back to the dog's home situate them, log the end of the walk, leave and lock up, etc.
10) There were almost always problems with getting into the dogs' homes. A lot of the clients lived in apartments that either had buzz in doors or front desks where you have to get keys from. This causes time constraints. Several times I'd have to wait at least 15 minutes for either someone to come out/in to the building to get inside. Luckily, the maintenance people who recognized me would also help out. They're the real MVPs.
11) Boss wasn't the greatest at communication. Times when I've needed help or had mild emergencies (dog not cooperating, locked out of client's home, etc.) I'd either get hit with a voicemail or an 'I'll call you right back'.
12) Getting paid was a hassle. So often the site that was in charge of the direct deposits would crasht, so you'd either be paid late or have to go in person to the boss to receive a check.
13) No sick days/vacation. Didn't have the option of choosing my own hours.
(AGAIN THIS ALL ALLEGED)