Cassie Jefferies: Professional Dog Walkers' Association on Auckland Council's proposed changes to dog walking regulations

Professional dog walkers say proposed Auckland Council changes will impact their services.  

The council's looking at limiting the number of dogs people can walk at once to six, with only three of those able to be off a leash.  

There are also changes proposed to keep dogs out of places with vulnerable wildlife at parks, and to provide some places that are completely dog free.  

Cassie Jefferies from the Professional Dog Walkers' Association told Francesca Rudkin they take large packs of around 14 so it's affordable for people.  

She says they take them to the beach or forest, and the cost of petrol is balanced out by taking the numbers they do. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Auckland Councils considering new restriction for dog walkers councils. The
council is suggesting a maximum of six dogs we walked
together at a time, with only thrieving allowed off leash.
It's also looking at making more of Auckland's fourteen regional
parks and sixty four local parks completely dog free. Feedback
on the proposals is now being accepted. Cassie Jeffries is

(00:21):
a dog walker from the Professional dog Walkers Association. She
joins me, now, good morning, Cassie, thanks for your time.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good morning. How are you doing good?

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Hey? What are these restrictions going to mean for professional
dog walkers?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
At this stage? Council hasn't given us any other options,
so it'll mean exactly what it means to everyone else.
Most likely a lot of services will have to change
if this all goes through.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
How will that a pac impact your business?

Speaker 2 (00:47):
For me? We walk packs of about fourteen, so we
will be looking at dropping numbers, possibly maybe going to
private land. We haven't completely decided yet, but we are
looking at lots of different options.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, because you kind of get hit two ways, don't
you get hit on where you can go? And you
can get hit on how many dogs you can.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Take exactly, And for us, it's not necessarily about the numbers.
But the reason we run the service way that we
do is so that it's affordable for people. We pick
up a group of dogs, we take them out to
the beach or the forest, places that do take or
require quite a bit of driving. So we do spend
a lot of money on petrol and the way we

(01:26):
balance out all those costs taking the numbers that we do,
and we do want to keep our service as affordable
as we can for people to actually utilize it, because
a massive three our adventure in the middle of the
day is so good for so many dogs when they
have quite high energy needs.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Okay, see, do you know how much of the complaints
to counsel are actually about walking multiple dogs?

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Zero point seven percent of all complaints received last year.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Right, So you're taking a hit here, and I imagine
you're taking I imagine you're taking a hit here because
there's probably a few people out there that aren't as experienced,
knowledgeable who have entered into the industry causing some issues.
Would that be fair to say.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, absolutely, So there's obviously been a lot of feedback,
especially last year due to an issue with a particular
dog walker, and we've been very aware of her for
quite a long time. We also tried to get to
stop doing what she was doing and then unfortunately it
just went the wrong way. But yeah, there's been a
lot of negative feedback. Realistically, though, the actual feed that

(02:27):
council has gotten is so much left.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Okay, So if the council looked at easing the rules
for professional dog walkers, what would you like to see?
What would help?

Speaker 2 (02:36):
So we're pushing for a licensing system. We think it
would have a lot a much better effect. Basically, any
kind of limit it ignores the real situation. Walking multiple
dogs requires training for both handlers and dogs and the
establishment of processes and safety and so that we can
create a quality service.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Right Yeah, I mean, I agree, I agree with you.
I'm not a dog owner, but I'm out and about
walking around a lot and i'd like to know that,
you know, whoever's got fourteen dogs knows what they're doing,
right yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, exactly that. And so with a licensing system, we
would actually be able to monitor those dog walkers. We
might be able to put them a certification system. We
might be able to ensure that they have a certain
level of dog first aid, and I M sure they
actually have control of their dogs, and if they don't,
we can take those licenses off them and they can
stop operating.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Oh sounds good. Thanks so much for your input, Cassie
really appreciate that. That was Cassie. Jeffries, a dog walker
from the Professional Dog Walkers Association, can to hear what
you think about this. Wherever you are, is there a
problem with dogs? Would you like to see more restrictions
on dogs where they can go, how many dogs a
dog walker can take with them. I think the council's
heading in the right direction here, but I think you
are say you've got to be really careful that you're

(03:50):
not penalizing all those people who know what they're doing
and are really responsible dog owners. For more from early
edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to news talks there'd
be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.