Dog Walker
What the work is
Walks dogs for exercise on behalf of owners.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Walks dogs for exercise
- Transports dogs safely and securely between homes and exercise locations
- Ensures health and safety of dogs under their care
- Encourages good behaviour and applies positive reward methods to dogs in public settings
- Cleans up waste and follows council guidelines
- Evaluates situations to ensure own personal safety
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a fictional pet care business with a boarding kennel, a grooming room and morning dog walks. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A shy rescue dog wags at you for the first time and leans into your leg
- A matted, miserable dog walks out fluffy and prancing, and its owner tears up
- A morning walk with five dogs that behave perfectly all the way round the park
Hard days
- Wet, muddy, cold mornings and dogs who still need to go out
- A dog that is frightened or snappy, and an owner who says it never does that
- Cleaning kennels and bowls for hours while the barking never stops
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 461431, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.