City considers leashing dog walkers

The growing popularity of dog walking servicesin Calgary and growing concern about the number of dogs some of those companies take off-leash has city hall looking at bringing in new rules for the industry.

After receiving complaints that some dog walkers let as many as eight dogs run off leash at a time, city officials are working with businesses to come up with rules that could include licensing and limits on how many dogs can be let loose.

"With the amount of dogs that were being allowed to roam off leash by some walkers others members and other users of the parks and off leash areas made complaints to animal services," said Tony Thomas, an operations manager with animal and bylaw services.

Putting standards in place for the industry makes sense, according to Angie Bailey, who walks dogs for Love Your Pet, one of the city'slarger walking services.

"I think more businesses with regards to pets should be regulated. We should have a standard that everybody is held to just for safety sake," she said.

'You're going to see a lot of these smaller companies going out of business.' Angie Bailey, Love Your Pet

But restricting the size of the packs professional walkers can bring to city parks would drive up prices and stifle competition in the industry, Bailey added.

"For a smaller business,one-man operations, that's going to probably either put them out of business or cause them to raise their prices drastically which a lot of people just won't be able to afford to paysomebody to walk their dogs," she said.

"You're going to see a lot of these smaller companies going out of business and possibly one or two of the larger companies surviving."

Toronto has a permit system for commercial dog walkers and limits them to six animals off leash at a time in public parks.