Advice needed on Dog Walkers

I am wondering if anyone can offer me some advice, i had a dog walker and she walkes up to 12 dogs at a time, due to an incident on Monday i no longer require her services.

I have been advised that she should not be walking that many at a time its illegal and it would only be a matter of time before dog warden closed her down.

I have spoken to my local council dog warden service and they inform me that people can walk as many dogs as they wish to, is this the correct advise.

Whether it is legal or not i would question my dogs safety being walked along with 11 other dogs.I would be looking for a more personal service where the walker can actually interact with Fudge on the walk and kep a very close eye both on her and other dogs in the area that she may meet.

The legality would depend on which borough the dog-walker was operating in and what Dog Control Orders are in force (for example in Greenwich only four dogs can be walked by one person at a time, in Wandsworth a special license is required to walk more than four. Some councils have set the limit at five dogs, Camarthenshire is considering three.)

Your enquiries of your local dog warden suggest that no such Control Orders exist in your borough and so the dog-walkers actions are not illegal.

That said it is still highly undesireable. If the walker encounters a problem (a fight, an injury, a non-recalling dog, etc.) it would be very difficult to deal with whilst keeping control of the pack. Very few people walk such large numbers of dogs and it is almost certain that those boroughs who have enacted Control Orders to limit numbers have done so precisely because they have professional walkers in their area like your one.

In my area many of the dog walkers walk that number of dogs usually , off lead

It probably won't be illegal, but I think most insurance companies insuring dogwalkers stipulate a limit on the amount of dogs walked at the one time - usually it is a max of 4.

Having been a dog walker for a short while, I really can't see how one person can control 12 dogs at one time. With 12 dogs it would even be easy to leave one who is lagging behind unaccounted for somewhere.

That very helpful advise, thankyou

Yep. I have had a couple of 'strays' tag along with me and dog without the dog walker (usually with a group of 6 or more) noticing.