Hi Pack Leader, Congratulations on your success! I'm going to provide you a brief list from my book in case you haven't purchased it on the traits I find in my good walkers and they are:

o Easy-going

o Mature

o Reliable

o Detail-oriented

o Animal lovers

o Good communicators

o Interested in animal psychology / training (not required but the mark of my best walkers)

Have I ever had a walker (including myself!) who embodies all of these traits, all the time? Probably not! But they are the things I look for in an applicant. And they are the words I use to describe our ideal walkers in prospective walker ads.

How would you write a help wanted ad?

Hi Pack Leader, congratulations on your success! There's a lot can think of but I'll try and condense it into a few key points:

* A walkers career pursuit will directly relay to their performance.

* What is the walkers availability?

* What are their monthly bills?

* How long will they be available for?

* Have they applied for any other jobs (more geared to a career pursuit lately) or internships they are waiting to hear back from?

More important than their answers to your questions (which will not always be truly reflective of them anyway), how do you find them personally? Are they on time to meet you? Do they have good manners? When you show them how you walk the dogs are they interested? Do they ask questions? When you give them feedback do they take it and apply it? Or do they sulk and shrug. I'm sure you're familiar with the idea, "hire slowly and fire quickly?" I find that idea very true with our business.

yes..my first hire is my reason for being hire shy again..LOL

I totally hear you! It's really scary to have someone else walk dogs you were trusted to take care of, right? I hired some real zeros in my first few years ); If you don't have a non-compete or non-disclosure of your own I'd check out ours here: http://petsitterbible.com/pet_sitter_forms.shtml

And have a lawyer look it over before using it. I know it seems over the top but I wouldn't hire someone without having them sign something. Some of the walkers I've gotten along with best have done strange things, nice to have a contract.

I always do my interveiws on a dog walk. Amazing what happens when you ask someone to pick up the poop! I love honesty and flexability. Everything else is teachable. :)

My first warning sign for a bad employee, aside from signs you pick up during the interview, is when they sound hassled when they answer the phone. I try to call all of my employees at least once a day (although more often than not out of necessity) and if they answer with an irritated tone every time, I just know we're going to have problems. One of the issues with dog walking employees is that because they work alone during the day, they can often become deluded that they're self employed and that when their boss deviates them from their bubble of solitude, they're being oppressed. I've had many employees who have constantly answered the phone with that "what is it now" attitude. Usually I'll have a friendly chat with them about it, but if they continue regardless more often than not it won't work out as any further attempts to straighten the problem out just lead them to feel like they're being hassled even more.

It's really hard to pin down the characteristics of a good employee: it's tempting to see patterns in certain age groups, or social backgrounds, or educational level - but to be honest I've had good and bad employees from every group. I will say however that one of my favorite types are walkers in their mid to late 20's/early 30's who are married to/living with someone who is earning more than enough for both of them. Walker seeks independence and their own spending money and the dog walking job provides everything they need. If they're good with dogs and have a strong work ethic, you're laughing!

I have found marketed improvement in my walkers' performance and interactions as I've increased the amount we see each other. My new apartment has a nice big private backyard and I sit down with 2-3 employees a day for a coffee and a talk about life, the job, etc. and it definitely helps head off anything they are unhappy about they might keep bottled up if we didn't speak in person as much, not a cure all but I've found it HUGELY HELPFUL to increases face to faces