Hi everyone,
just a quick question, has anyone found that the Homeowners dog walking requirements bear no relation to what the dog wants to walk.
We are currently caring for 2 dogs and the HO stated 45 - 90 minutes walk per day, however one of the dogs only wants to walk 20 minutes!
Are HO not being truthfull with those timings?!
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My current sit dog is the laziest Iāve ever sat, even among elderly dogs. She does her business right by the house and then makes a beeline for indoors. Sheāll stand by a door barking to be let in if I say walk over to pick up the paper and keep her waiting for even like 15 seconds.
My hosts showed me the short walk they want her taking daily, telling me to drag her a bit if she resists, because she often does. I donāt like dragging dogs, so Iāve been carrying her part of the way, then getting her started walking. Worst case, Iāve carried her one way and then sheās forced to walk home. 
Sheās hilariously adorable. Sheās in perfectly fine health, is actually spry. She even goes up and down stairs quickly. Sheās just stubborn and lazy. Fortunately, my hosts know and said if she refuses to walk at all, have her wander across the front lawn a bit.
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Iāve wondered this myself before. I saw one sit advertised that expected 3 walks a day and another had several large dogs that must be walked separately twice a day. How do these owners get anything done? My guess would be its inflated for the sitter.
On a personal experience, I sat for 2 dogs where one was super old and sick, he could barely walk, and the owners insisted he be taken for a walk. I chose to play ball with him instead in the yard, he was tired after 2, 3 rounds only and went back to sleep. There was no way they were walking him every day.
On another sit, one of my most favourite pets Iāve met, We would walk and walk and walk and when she had enough, she would head home and knew the way, like a homing pigeon. I was so impressed.
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Maybe the HO meant that the ā45 - 90 minutes walk per dayā is the total amount of time for the dogs to be walked for the total day. For instance, you would take the dog out for three - 20 minute walks and that falls within the time of the 45 - 90 minute walks per day.
Did you get clarification from the HO? Did the HO state 45 - 90 minutes per walk or per day?
If it is the latter, then the HO is being truthful.
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We looked for sits where the dogs could be walked for hours, not necessarily walk lengths stated by the HO.
Dogs that were capable and young enough to do these walks.
I can guarantee they all enjoyed them, and so did we.
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We tend to expect that others will behave the same as we do. If a HO is not fully truthful, they would expect the sitter would not be either. I n that case, if they expect 40 minute walks, theyāll say an hour because they expect the sitters wonāt fully commit to the total amount. The problem is thereās no way of telling until you are in the sit and the dog sometimes clearly tells you.
I have also found that sometimes owners may feel a bit embarrassed about the pet habits and arenāt fully honest about that. When you see that the dog prefers to pee on a pad or keeps asking for a bit of your toast at breakfast, you know that is what they usually do and may not fully match what the owners have said.
In this case, it could also be what @sharondc has said, that the total time is not done in just one walk. But I am a bit surprised that this was not clarified before the sit started.
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@Maggie8K
We believe if a dog does itās business, then turns back for home, the dog is revealing how much exercise itās used to, despite what the HO may say 
.
Even though they canāt talk, they say so much.
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We once sat two older dogs - the owner told us she walked them down to the beach every day, and it would be around a 40-minute walk there, some frolicking on the beach, and back. Sounded good. Until the first day, when it took us 40 minutes just to get the dogs around the block! Nowhere near the beach yet. They were so persistent in their obsessive sniffing (and they were heavy and ignoring our guidance completely), it was such a struggle to even get them around the block, that I only managed to get them to the beach once in 14 days and it took way more than 40 minutes. Honestly, it was such a fight that we just gave up. We gave them their 20-30 minutes outside, but we rarely ventured more than several hundred metres. It was one of those complete mismatches in theory vs practice. Luckily, during our handover, the owner made a flippant comment to the tune of āthey wouldnāt walk for my sister at allā - my ears picked it upā¦hmmmā¦are we going to have problems? Turns out we did our best. They were still darlings to look after, but the walking was a nightmare. I nearly made a comment in my review, and then I thought: you know what, sitters can work it out for themselves.
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The sits weāve had were accurate on what the dogs needed. The HOs would say that āxā is the ideal but if the weather is too hot or raining then the dog may want less. When that happens I try to supplement the time not spent walking with play time instead. I think the biggest priority is that the dog is getting enough exercise and stimulus.
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I usually find the opposite, that the dogs want (or need) to walk longer than their owners walk them!
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Had a similar experience with an older dog. The owner said we had to be firm with her. She was ok once she got going but the energy required to get her up and out was stressful.
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There was a listing that said dog need one 40min walk a day ( which is the kind of sit that we enjoy )
When we had a handover and were chatting with the owners about the dogās usual routine / local walks etc they said we take him out for about 20 mins ( they must have forgotten what they wrote in the listing )
We must have looked surprised, because they said oh you can take home for longer if you want to ! Which we did, except when it was raining and then we didnāt feel guilty about a shorter walk on rainy days .
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Although I agree with @Gabba that time sometimes can be inflated, if I use my own dog as an example she would probably use more sniffing-time with a sitter than with me. She is a smart dog who likes to save energy 
but will come if you walk a little quickly and in an even pace. As soon as you slow down she will drag you to the grass for a thourough sniffing. So-eeehhh. The Ā«walkĀ» can take some time but you wonāt get far!
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A recent host showed me their dogās routine walk and I was shocked by how short it was, considering the breed, age, health and such.
The weather made for miserable walking for humans, but I walked that dog more than requested every day. She loved it and her poops increased with the activity, which also is better health wise.
I didnāt challenge the hostās routines, but I shared enough during updates that they knew what I was doing. I figured they could object if they wanted to, but they actually said they should walk her more and appreciated how I looked after her.
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We find that happens a lot. Then if thereās rain or blustery howling winds some dogs donāt like it etc etc, but itās great to have the timings as a guide line to go by, but then you need to use your initiative for what the dog wants thereafter.
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However, I think that some of the owners go back to the usual regular, shorter walks after Iāve left!
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Oh, that sounds just like our dog Sheās lazy!
But we tell sitters just let her be, if she doesnāt want to walk further, no dragging. If itās raining (or if it has just rained and everything is still wet from the rain), therās no way to make her go for a walk.
I think itās partly because she used to live on the streets and sheās never quite picked up the concept of going for a walk just for the sake of walking. If sheās on the mood, she can walk kilometers, loves running etc., but for most days she doesnāt bother.
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Yup, I feel bad for such dogs ā the ones who want to walk or hike, but who have humans who canāt or donāt do that enough to match.
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Quoting myself hereā¦ But for our dog, the length of a walk also depends on with whom sheās walking.
She goes very confidently pretty much anywhere if sheās walking with my husband, or better still, with both of us. If itās just me, she wonāt go as far (eventhough I do walk her daily, as does he). And with sitters, itās even shorter walks.
I think itās about trust. She trusts my husband can keep her safe from any other dogs (there arenāt any dangerous ones where we live now, but sheās lived on the streets 
). I am much smaller, and donāt provide the same level of security and power in her mind. And sitters are knew, so she donāt quite trust their ability to protect her.
But, I think this type of dogs are not too common, @Twogrey.
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Itās interesting to see or hear about differences among pets.
Our roughly 6-year-old rescue generally likes to walk (doesnāt like being in rain or snow). Because my husband and I work from home, he gets three walks a day.
He also walks well with strangers. Like weāve hosted family from across the country who just met him and walked him without problems.
We have him stay with professionals if my husband and I travel without him, and theyāve not had problems getting him to walk. He has other issues, though, from being a stray.
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