Dog Walking Policies & FAQ
If you don’t see your neighborhood listed below, just shoot us a message, there’s a good chance we can still service your area.
Monday – Friday, 10AM – 6PM
Office Hours: Monday – Friday, 8AM – 5PM
Our office is closed on the weekends, however weekend walks can be reserved in advance. Please try and submit requests for weekend walks by Thursday or Friday afternoon (at the latest) so that we can make the necessary arrangements.
“Weekender” walks are standard rate + $5
“Early Bird” or “Night Owl” walked scheduled before 10am or after 6pm are standard rate +$5
Based on Availability and must be reserved in advance
Our offices are closed and regularly scheduled services are suspended on the following days:
We are closed from Christmas Eve to New Years Day and ALL services during that time frame must be reserved in advance.
Due to the complexity of our Pup Parent’s varying schedules and the unique challenges of maneuvering through NYC in all climates, we reserve a two-hour window around the time of your scheduled walk.
For example, if your pup is scheduled for a 3PM walk, you can expect your walker will arrive sometime between 2PM and 4PM.
This window helps us manage constantly varying schedules, bad weather, toweling dogs off after rainy or snowy days, varying travel times between clients, and of course elevators that sometimes take forever to come for what ever reason.
We do offer a 1-hour pickup window for puppies under 6 months of age and senior pups.
We accept all major credit cards, and payments are fully automated through your Charlotte Pooch client portal. With the exception of overnight sitting and training, which is billed in advance, your card will be automatically charged each week for the previous week of services.
We typically process billing on Mondays, however occasionally on Tuesdays during a holiday week. We do not have any contracts or minimums and keeping track of every detail it’s easy in your online portal/app.
Establishing a regular schedule for your dog is recommended. This helps us allocate our walkers and ensures everyone gets walked within their desired time frames.
That said, we are happy to accommodate clients with occasional dog walking needs based on availability. We recommend setting up an Charlotte Pooch client account so you can easily request walks, and we can be there when you need us.
If you need to cancel a walk or service, please let us know the day before. This gives us time to reallocate the time to a different pooch.
If you have to make a last minute cancel, please do so by no later than 8am on the day of the scheduled visit. Cancels received after 8am the day of the visit will be charged the full price of the visit.
Weekend/evening/early morning walks must be cancelled with 24 hours notice, otherwise will be charged the full price of the visit.
Most of our walks are individual.
We’re more than happy to walk pups with a buddy or two as long as the they are of similar size, temperament and with permission from all Pup Parents.
We never pack walk.
We know that sometimes you are in a pinch and need help caring for your furry family member, and we’ll always do the best we can to accomodate.
Should you have a last minute request, please try and let us know before our office closes so we can do our best to make it happen.
If your schedule changes from week to week, submit your requests via the portal (or via email) so we can plan and make sure your pup is covered. The more notice you can give, the better.
Our office is open M-F 9-5pm. if you catch us outside of these hours, someone will respond to your request first thing the next business day.
Every request, cancellation or schedule change is confirmed via email and through our portal/app. If you send a request outside our regular business hours, we will confirm first thing the next business day.
Cancelations, requests, changes, are not confirmed unless you receive a confirmation from our office.
We work with the most highly regarded insurance companies in our industry, Pet Sitters International and Insurers of the Carolinas. Every person on our staff is fully insured and bonded!
Finding truly amazing and special dog-people is no easy task. It’s pretty much the most important thing we do besides take great care of our pups. In fact, only a very small percentage of our applicants even make it to the first in-person interview.
Why, you ask? Because we only work with candidates who are shining stars when it comes to understanding dogs.
Applicants are chosen based on professional and personal experience. They take part in a series of in-person interviews and tests to ensure they have a proper background and understanding of dogs.
Once we find a rockstar candidate, we send them out with a senior member of Team Pooch to see if they really have what it takes. The best of the best are then sent to our certified dog trainer, where they are trained using our signature training curriculum focused on positive reinforcement, health, safety, breed specific traits, gear, and problem solving. Training takes place over several days and new walkers are transitioned into their new role equipped to handle anything.
Our office hours are Monday – Friday, 9AM – 5PM. During that time feel free to call our office directly, email us, or message us through the portal and someone will reply to you ASAP (usually within a few minutes).
If you submit a request over the weekend or during off hours someone from our office will reply as soon as we get back in. For emergencies, please call 704.750.1088, leave a voicemail and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.
We know that when young puppies first come home it’s a transition process to begin walking outside (whether it be pre-vaccinations, the scary bustle of the big city, or a combination of both). Your walker will come to your home for 30 or 60 minutes to play and focus on socialization, practice puppy basics, offer tons of positive reinforcement and love, and clean up/replace wee pads. Of course each visit is followed with a Pup Report and tons of pics of your little Queen City pup.
Your pup is your family, and we know how important it is to have someone that you know and trust in your home, caring for your pup.
Each of our walkers has an assigned geographical neighborhood (their “route” as we like to call it) which consists of a specific set of pups that they see each day. The pups (and their parents) really do become like family, and we do our best to encourage longevity and limited turnover amongst our team.
Should your walker resign or move to another route for any reason, we will notify you as far in advance as possible and give you ample opportunity to meet and get to know your new walker before they take over.
Things happen, and if your regular walker is unavailable for whatever reason (sick, vacation, emergency at home) we will ALWAYS have you covered.
Our goal is to give you as much notice as we can about coverage (generally at least a few days in advance) but sometimes when a walker get’s sick, we may notify you the morning of that a substitute will be filling in.
If you prefer to cancel on days that you have a sub, that’s completely fine. Otherwise rest assured knowing that our alternate team consists solely of rockstars who are used to adapting to all kinds of situations and meeting all sorts of different pups. They will be fully prepped on your pup’s individual personality and routine and come ready to give them an awesomely customized walk.
Even pups get sick sometimes! We’re more than happy to administer pills, topical medication, and really anything that doesn’t require a veterinary technician certification. Keep us in the loop and we’ll help however we can.
Not a problem. Please include all specific feeding instructions to us in an email so we can make sure your walker is notified and add the notes to your pup’s profile.
You can either give us a garage/entry code, a spare set of keys for your walker to keep on their ring, or if you have a doorman/front desk you are welcome to leave your key for us to sign out. We ask that you make sure your front desk has both “CHARLOTTE POOCH” and your specific walker’s name on file.
Don’t worry, if your walker is ever out sick or on vacation we will take care of the key handoff or notify you with plenty of time to alert your front desk.
We know that you and your pooch are inseparable, but what about those days when you just can’t take your furry friend with you?
In-home sitting is $90/night (for 1 pup) and includes care in-home from noon on the start date through noon on the end date, including all normal walks, feedings, medications, overnight care, and more love and playtime than you can imagine!
Some of our sitters are able to board pups in their homes, however space and availability is limited so inquire today. Rate is $75/night and cancellation policies are the same as dog sitting.
Could your pup use a nice workout to exert that extra energy? We have a team of runners who will take your pup for either a 30 or 45 minute run and bring them home tired and ready for a snooze.
Submit your request today as running availability is limited.
7 or more days notice, full refund – For example, if your sitting is scheduled to begin at 12PM Friday, your cancellation must be received no later than 12PM the previous Friday for a full refund.
4-6 days notice, 50% refund – For example, if your sitting is scheduled to begin at 12PM Friday, you must cancel no later than 12PM Monday of the same week for a 50% refund.
2-3 days notice, 25% refund – For example, if sitting is scheduled to begin at 12PM Friday, you must cancel no later than 12PM Wednesday of the same week for a 25% refund.
24 hours or less notice, no refund – For example, if sitting is scheduled to begin at 12PM Friday, cancellations received after 12PM on Thursday will not receive a refund for all or any part of the sitting.
If the scheduled sitting is cancelled, your refund will be returned as outlined in the terms above (directly to the card used for payment). If client ends sitting early for any reason, the remaining unused sitting days/nights are non-refundable.
