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The Entrepreneur's Edge

by Teena Massingill

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Dog walkers bark at new permit policy

Professional walkers who use regional parks will be required to purchase permits for $200 starting this summer.

It's not a glamorous job, and those who undertake it hardly ever get rich.

But for people like Wendy Balleaux, being a professional dog walker is the best job in the world.

"I'm definitely a big outdoors person, and I just love animals," said the 32-year-old owner of Pets Pampered Plus, a Lafayette business that also does pet sitting.

These days, Balleaux and others who make their livings by walking and caring for other people's pets in the East Bay have their dander up because of a dog-walking permit program. This summer, the East Bay Regional Park District plans to enforce a new policy that requires all professional dog walkers who use the parks to purchase permits for $200. The permits are valid for a year.

Also, the policy prohibits anyone from bringing more than six dogs at a time to the parks and prohibits dogs from certain areas and trails. Park officials will revoke permits of those who can't or won't obey park restrictions on controlling their dogs and keeping dogs off restricted areas.

The cost and restrictions will take a bite out of Balleaux's already tight profits.

"For this type of business, people mainly do it because they love animals, and they love to be outside, and they enjoy the freedom involved in owning your own business. You don't make a big profit, so the $200 is a bit excessive. For people like me, it's certainly excessive," said Balleaux, who charges $20 to $25 per day for each dog she walks.

Balleaux's sentiments are shared by many professional dog walkers and dog owners, who also will be affected by the permit requirement, Ordinance 38 section 801.11. Dog owners who walk three or more dogs will be required to purchase separate permits for $30 or $40 a year, depending on whether the permit is for an individual or household.

Not only is $200 expensive for some dog walkers, but the six-dog limit will force dog walkers to either decrease their customer base or make numerous trips to the park each day.

"What am I supposed to do, leave two dogs in the van on a hot day," complained Corenna Lee, 21, who had eight dogs with her at Richmond's Point Isabel Regional Shoreline on Thursday. She was being paid to exercise only three but brought her own dogs and a neighbor's dog with her. She sometimes exercises up to seven client dogs at once.

"How can (the park district) say I can't control them? How can they dictate how much money I can make and whether I can make a living," Lee said.

The park district approved the permit provision in September but held off on its implementation until Tuesday. According to the park district's acting lieutenant, Dale Davidson, input from dog walkers, dog behavioral experts and dog owners helped determine the number of dogs a person could effectively control when in a park. Davidson said instituting a limit to the number of dogs and restricting dogs from certain areas will keep the parks safe for all users.

"The policy will direct dog owners who have more than three dogs to designated trails in those parks. These trails were determined by the park supervisors, based on population and use of that trail, that the trail was appropriate for that many dogs. A lot of this has to do with bicyclists and hikers who use the trail and what they've said," Davidson said.

Davidson said the real reason that many dog walkers oppose the permit regulations is because they don't run legitimate businesses.

"A lot of dog walkers are under the table. They don't report their earnings to the IRS. I've heard claims that ‘If you institute this, I'll go out of business.' If it's a bona fide business, that shouldn't happen," he said.

According to the park district's written guidelines for the dog permit program, the purpose of the permit is to "assure that commercial or professional dog walkers complied with Ordinance 38 Section 700.2, (which regulates commercial activities on district property) and that all persons walking numerous dogs are familiar not only with Ordinance 38 dog regulations but with aspects of dog handling which may change when multiple dogs are walked as a group."

That's an explanation that Emily Rosenberg, president of the 1-month-old California Dog Owners' Group, or CalDOG, doesn't buy. Rosenberg began watchdogging the East Bay Regional Park District two years ago out of concern that dogs would be completely pushed out of the public parks. She said dog walkers aren't the only people who use the park for commercial purposes.

"They say dog walkers are a concession making money in the park, so they want dog walkers to have a permit. Yet they allow nannies. Nannies are making money by bringing children to the park," she said.

But not all animal lovers are upset about the permit requirement. Claudia Kawczynska, the editor-in-chief of The Bark, a Berkeley-based magazine for dog enthusiasts, said the regulations are reasonable.

"I think if a person is using the park in any professional capacity, it's fair to asses a fee," Kawczynska said, adding that limiting handlers to six dogs will help keep the animals under control.

"Some dogs, when they get in a group of five or six or 10, they become like a pack, and they could act like a pack toward other dogs. So if they see another dog, they may all start chasing it," she said.

copyright (c) 2001 Contra Costa Times Photo
Caption:
Wendy Balleaux, owner of Pets Pampered Plus in Lafayette, takes Nick, Kendall and Katie for a walk in Alamo on Friday. (Norbert Von Der Groeben/Times)

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