The Heads Up

The Weird, The Bad, and The Ugly

[There isn't a single thing under the sun that could make me stop doing this job. I adore it and *hope* that I have gotten pretty good at it over time. 

The "over time" part is important, though....

Trial & Error is a pretty significant element to learning how to Do Life -- and that includes how to become a great dog hiking leader. "The Weird, The Bad, and The Ugly" -- which are examples that have actually taken place over the course of my last five years as a dog hiker, is now Some Of the last section in the Trail Rompers New Employee packet.... This is only a portion of the list. 

If you wanna be a great off-leash dog hiker, but also have fun at the same time, you're gonna have to learn how to "shake it off" like our dogpals do -- just in case you run into any of the scenarios listed below...!!]
 

1. One of your dogs will roll in poop.....

2. ....then many of your dogs will join in on the fun

3. You will find body parts (hopefully all animal!) 

4. You will lock yourself out of your car

5. You will lose a leash

6. One of the dogs will eat your lunch

7. You will get yelled at by a park-goer (and then your DogPals will try to engage this loud human)

8. You will get caught in awful weather conditions 

9. You will fall / get a bit injured

10. Your phone will die

11. You will get bit (finger-grabs by HungryHippo DogPals always an option)

12. You will forget to pick up a dog

13. You will step in dog poop 

14. You will get knocked down

15. Your dogs will find and roll in dead animals

16. Your dogs will eat things they shouldn’t 

17. One of your dogs will find something dead and Run Off with it

18. YOU will find dead animals 

19. You will lose a client's house-key

20. One of your dogs will throw up in your car

21. One of your dogs will poop in your car

22. One of your dogs will pee in your car

23. One of your dogs will throw poop up in your car

24. A dog you care about is going to move

25. A dog you care about is going to pass away 

26. Someone will “inform” you of inaccurate dog laws (don't forget to brush up on the accurate ones!) 

27. You will forget poop bags

28. One of your dogs will refuse to leave their house

29. One of your dogs will refuse to leave the hike

30. One of your dogs won't walk during a hike

31. You will drop your phone. A lot. 

32. You will slip on ice

33. One of your dogs will fall through ice 

34. Someone will make you cry 

35. Something will make you cry

36. You will get bit by a tick

37. One of your dogs will get kennel cough…

38. …then many of your dogs will get kennel cough

39. One of your dogs will get injured 

40. You will get a flat tire 

41. You will come across turkeys

42. You will come across deer

43. You will come across a coyote

44. You will get vomit on your hands

45. You will get poop on your hands 

46. Your clothes will get dirty. Very dirty. 

47. One of the dogs will rip your jacket

48. At some point, even the best of dog-buds will quarrel

49. One of the dogs will knock down your car barrier

50. One of the dogs will chew a hole in your clothes

51. You will (almost) see a client naked

52. You will get home and realize that you still have a dog in your car

53. You will have to pull ticks off of your dogs

54. You will run late

55. One of your clients will have a webcam (wave or don't ... depends on your comfort level!) 

56. You will arrive at a pickup and dogpal won’t be home 

57. You will find a lost dog during a hike

58. You will see an escaped / lost dog strolling a sidewalk while driving

59. You will see snakes 

60. You will work when you’re sick 

61. You will lose a check payment 

62. You will need to pee during a hike

63. You will pee in the woods

64. You will get caught peeing in the woods

65. You will get a sunburn

66. You will get windburn

67. You will get mosquito bites

68. You will run early 

69. You will get tired 

70. You will get flustered

71. You will talk to the dogs

72. You will talk to yourself 

73. You will memorize all of the local coffee shop locations

74. One of your dogs will run off when the hike is about to end

75. You will run out of storage on your phone because of dog pictures