Coronavirus Protocols

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The below protocols will be in place until further notice. I appreciate that there may be some disruption at this time, and I am very sorry about that, but I hope you can understand that all procedures are in place to protect you and your dogs.

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Dog Walking

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When we move into a less restricted version of lockdown in Wales, I will be commencing group and solo walks with some changes to keep everyone protected:

• All clients will be asked to sign a waiver when they commence walks to ensure that you are abiding by the protocols that I have in place, and to make sure that you understand the risks involved with continuing walks.

• When collecting and returning the dogs, I will ask that you leave them in the vicinity directly behind the front door. This reduces the need for me to touch things whilst in your home. If you are going to be home then please let me know so that I can text you on arrival and you can quickly pop them out for me. Please ensure that social distancing is observed during collection/drop off, ideally by waiting in another room until I have gone.

• I will carry large amounts of hand sanitiser in my cab to be used before and after entering every home. This will help to prevent the spread of bacteria between households.

• I will be using my own leads and collars on the dogs whilst they are with me to reduce the risk of cross contamination. Please remove your own collars before I collect. They will be washed in between uses on a high temperature cycle to kill any bacteria. You may leave your collar on them containing your contact details but please don't put any harnesses or leads on them as I am unable to use them.

• All dogs will be wiped down from head to toe with a pet safe disposable wipe before entering the van and before being dropped home.

• We strongly recommend giving your dog a bath after they have been walked to further reduce the risk of contamination.

• The van will be deep cleaned using disinfectant in between walks to prevent bacteria being passed around. This means I will need to reduce the number of group walks that I can fit in to a day temporarily to ensure proper cleaning. Towels and bedding will be changed after each walk and washed on a high temperature cycle.

• As we already keep our groups small in size, there is no need to reduce group size at the moment. If you would prefer for your dog to be solo walked, please contact me and we can arrange for this to happen.

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New Clients

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If you would like your dog(s) to start walking with us, then we are more than happy to discuss your requirements. Ordinarily, we would arrange a meet and greet session in person to ensure that everyone is on the same page, your dog has met us and is happy to come with us, get some paperwork signed and collect a key. In the current circumstances, this is a little more tricky so we will be following the following protocol:

• We will discuss your requirements with you either via email, messenger or on the phone. Once we have established that we can meet your needs, we will offer a socially distanced meet and greet.

• The meet and greet session will be conducted out on a walk locally to you so that we can ensure a safe distance is maintained at all times. This allows them to get used to us being around without breaking the government advice. You can discuss any concerns you have with us at this time.

• Once you are happy to go ahead, I will email you a copy of the paperwork for you to complete and email back to me. I ask that you please print the forms and then scan them in so that I have a handwritten signature. The signatures are a lawful requirement and therefore, they need to be properly signed.

• We will then arrange a mutually suitable time for us to come and collect a key. We will text you once we arrive and you can put the key on your front step. We will disinfect the key before storing it safely in our key safe. All keys are stored with the dogs name on only in our secure key safe.

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Daycare

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Unfortunately, we are unable to continue daycare at this time due to the risk of infection being too high. We can move all daycare dogs on to group walks for the time being until restrictions are relaxed.

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Dog Training - Group Classes

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We are currently unable to run in person group training classes, including puppy, beginner and tricks, as the risk of infection is far too high. It would be impractical for the classes to be run outdoors due to a whole host of other factors including the weather, members of the public and vaccination status of the dogs. As soon as we are able to continue in person classes, we will do so. In the meantime, we are offering online classes to those who don't want to miss out on crucial development phases, or want something to help keep their dogs busy during the lockdown period. I understand that many people book on to puppy classes to help socialise their puppies, but it is much better to get the training started whilst they are young than to wait until this is all over, which could take several months, if not longer. We have had some great feedback from those who have completed the online courses already and it gives you much more for your money as you have regular access to me to ask any questions or discuss topics such as teething, toilet training, etc which we would not have time to cover in an hours class.

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Dog Training - One to One

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We are not currently conducting in person one to ones. If you have a specific behavioural concern that you would like to work on; such as barking, toilet training, pulling on the lead, etc. then we can book a video call where I can discuss it with you and we can talk about ways to combat the problem. I would recommend finding an open space, such as a kitchen or living room, to give you plenty of space to manoeuvre and have your dog present as well as a large selection of high value treats. If you can set yourself up in the area where the behaviour usually happens, such as near the front door for dogs who bark, for example, then this will be beneficial. If you would prefer to have an in person session, then we can put your name down on a waiting list ready for when the restrictions are lifted.

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Pet Shop

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Our online shop is open as usual, as per government guidelines. To help everyone during the pandemic, we are offering free contactless delivery within 5 miles.  Stock is limited and we will make every attempt to keep stock levels as up to date as possible but please bear with us if there are some discrepancies. Postal delivery will depend on options chosen at checkout, and please be aware that there may be some delays in delivery due to circumstances out of our control.

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If you have any worries or concerns, or would like to discuss your specific requirements with us regarding the Coronavirus outbreak, then please contact me via email, phone or messenger and I will do everything I can to accommodate your needs. This is a completely unprecedented situation and we are all just doing what we need to do to get through it. Please know that I am taking every precaution to ensure the safety of you, your family and your dogs.

 

Take care and stay safe,

Hannah x

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