h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yes. I think I will. Don't tell anyone. Especially not the large association I am a member of - I promised them I wouldn't slag off anyone else in the same business as me.

I check out all the dog walker/pet sitter ads on free ad sites, as well as googling my nearest competitors.

So far I have enjoyed these ads:

Spelling own website address incorrectly
Claiming to be 'proffessional' (really, how professional can you be!?)
Guaranteeing to be the cheapest in the area, despite being more than twice as expensive than me (which takes some doing!) for anything above Labrador size
Owning their own dog (as opposed to owning someone else's dog, which then they wouldn't own, as it was someone else's, oh I could go round and round, loved this one!)
understanding how to hold a dog right and how to discipline them when they are not walking on command (that just sounds MEAN!)
i have a good experience in looking after cats (each to their own?)
People who offer to walk dogs for a fiver (they will have to walk loads of dogs at once to make any money OR not have insurance of any kind, or a licence, or a safe way to transport the dogs)

Okay, so that last one was more of a rant, rather than a stupid mistake to laugh at. I don't care.

Oh, I forgot, also:

PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE ANY VOICE MAIL MESSAGES AS I DO NOT READ THEM

She is the one who also organises a 'roter', but it is quite a hard word to spell and she is young and ENTHEUSIASTIC, so I can forgive her that.

Sounds like your puppies are safe from her

Yes... it's rotor, isn't it?

I don't know how many people really search these sites for dog walkers, but it's not really a very good impression to give out!

People too lazy to walk their own ?

Nothing like a good day out with one's faithful companion with the ol over and under to destroy the peace of the countryside with

Tally ho!

I've found exactly the same thing with loads of digital and online design agencies, who should really know better as their business is all about doing these things brilliantly. And they don't!

People are NEVER too lazy to walk their own dog. They have busy lives/prefer to spend their time with their dog doing other activities so leaving the boring walking bit to me/working/not mobile enough perm or temp/have a new baby and don't want to neglect the dog or restrict it to boring old walks with the pushchair/want the dog to experience other people and dogs in a positive way/want the dog to have a damn good run once a week because they can't let it off the lead/or... er, a million reasons.

Personally I love walking my dogs and won't delegate, but when I had my first dog and then a baby 18 months later, he didn't get walked every day.

Peta, post some up when you find some! At least dog walking you don't need to be good at doing online stuff. I just happen to be good at both! Just the business bit I'm rubbish at, but that's not online for people to mock!

I will do!

Loads of them are a hoot, they're supposed to be good at it!

Good luck with the dog walking, totally agreed with your FB post about the coins in the end. Gut instinct. Always right!

Hang on, just clicked the italics on h2g2.... Are you back?

No not back, well yes to back at the BBC but not back to h2g2, working on the completely fantastic 6 Music and Radio 2.

Ah, so how come the italics on h2g2?

No idea. I have superuser status so it's probably related to that somehow.

I read that the first time as 'superstar status'. Was going to see if I had anything you'd signed knocking about to see if it was worth flogging on ebay.

LOL, yes. Superstar no. Host is as good as it gets I'm afraid.

Although I did meet Tom Jones the other day at work, so if it rubs off a bit maybe that almost counts?

I saw the photos! Did you throw your knickers?

Super name-dropper maybe.


Reading some of the above put a little tear in my eye. When I met my current darling other, she was going through a split from her ex and they had lovely wee dog Barney. Half Staffordshire terrier he was. Throw him a stick and it came back in bits, no matter how sturdy!

Sadly with her husband gone neither she nor I had the time to look after him properly because we were at work all day and her kids, although most upset at the thought of losing him weren't prepared to actually do anything about walking him.

I loved going our for walks with him but it wasn't fair to leave him indoors all day so in the end we found him a new home.
I always wonder what became of him, had we known about such dog walking services we might never have let him go...

I feel the same about my dog Buster - he suffered from terrible separation anxiety, and howled the place down when I went out. When I moved to this house the neighbour created merry hell and so I asked the dog warden for help. At NO TIME did she say people existed who could help us, just offered me a shock collar so he'd get a shock every time he made a noise!? Which I refused.

We just managed it in the end, never leaving him at home, so poor bugger spent a lot of time in the car or at my mum's if I had to go out.

A shock collar

How very Barbara Woodehouse.