The names in this article have been changed because I would never disclose another's personal information and I’d love to keep it that way. Hehe.

Let’s get something straight here: I am known amongst friends, coworkers, exes, my partner’s family… basically anyone that has hung out with me for longer than 2 hours: I freaking love dogs. I will cross the road to pet a dog, I will stop whatever I’m doing, interrupt whoever I’m talking to just to get some dog-petting-dopamine. My entire Instagram feed is cute (and not so cute, but still cute in my eyes) dogs doing, well it doesn’t really matter what they’re doing, I will always watch and like. 

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Last year, I went back to being a student after 4 years of professional life and of a somewhat decent monthly salary and found myself struggling to go back to a student budget. Not only did my student visa not allow me to work for longer than 20 hours a week, my Masters was a lot to handle. BUT I WAS IN LONDON, I needed to explore the city, the restaurants, the bars. Student life when you’re 20 is not the same as student life at 26. Pretending that you’re still as young and fun, on a shoestring budget. It’s not the same kind of fun the second time around. 

I’m being dramatic, it was one of the most amazing years of my life, but I wasn’t willing to go back to an instant-noodle-based-diet so looked for options to make some extra cash. Who isn’t at the moment? A pub or bar wasn’t really an option for me: I’m an old-soul totally incapable of staying up late and I don’t drink much. Retail was an immediate no-go because of the hours. So, in my lazy and uncreative mind, it was down to two options: going back to selling feet pics or dog-walking. I didn’t really have the energy that selling pictures of your feet requires (both physically and emotionally), but if you want to read about that, you can here, so dog-walking it was. 

I found this app called Rover which had a pretty straightforward (yet professional) sign-up process. I’ve had dogs for most of my life and even though I know there’s a huge gap between that and a professional dog trainer, I had the experience that I needed: being totally confident around dogs, knowing the basics of walking dogs, leash etiquette and a bit around treats and a lot of pictures with dogs (the app asks you to upload at least 10 pictures with dogs!).

I got a few enquiries from different people and their dogs but for whatever reason it didn’t really work out until Sarah and Tully, her gorgeous 1 year old Labrador, popped up in my inbox. Tully needed an hour walk every day of the week whenever I had the time between 11am and 2pm for £22 a walk. WHAT A DEAL! 

The family lived in a three bedroom flat in Grosvenor Square and had one of those wine fridges that lights up blue when you open it (not that I did!), to give you an idea of Tully’s situation. I did a three day week as a try out, but Tully apparently liked me way more than any other walker they'd ever had, so they immediately booked me in for the rest of the month. 

My relationship with Tully the Labrador was like any other toxic relationship: a honeymoon phase, blinded by red-flags, being too permissive, and him taking advantage of the love I had for him. Not my first rodeo. Except that it was, because he was a dog and he wasn’t my dog, which made the power dynamics even worse, as hard to believe as it is. 

We had good days. We had some horrible ones. Tully had constantly been walked and surrounded by other people, he never really knew how or when to react to different situations and commands and it all exploded in an almost tragic afternoon. The worst time involved me chasing after him for 45 mins and him sprinting across a high street full of busy, moving, London traffic. (He was fine). The thing is, when it’s not your dog, you don’t feel comfortable being as strict with them as I had been with my dogs in the past (I mean raising my voice enough for him to listen to me and notice that I’m not playing around anymore). Poor guy was just confused and so was I.

At this point, I was dog-sitting him for 10 days so we rushed back to his lovely home in Grosvenor Square and we cuddled on the couch for hours, as I cried and he trembled. We both knew it was over. Imagine the fear and stress of going back to an owner, holding an empty collar? So the final 3 days were bittersweet and we had another honeymoon-phase. By this point, you might have forgotten that I’m talking about a dog. It’s crazy, right? Or rather, I’m crazy?  

That day I decided I could never again go through the terrifying thought of harming or losing someone else’s dog. Also, that little cute fucker had so much control over me, that I knew walking dogs wasn’t an option anymore. I’ve always tried to not get emotionally attached when it comes to business and walking Tully I failed tragically. That doesn’t mean that you will have a bad experience walking dogs, if you find a great match, it’s a good, flexible and wholesome (hopefully) way to make some spare cash. Good luck my aspiring side hustlers, it’s a dog eat dog world out there.