How to become a dog walker in London

The short answer

You don’t need a licence or a qualification to walk one household’s dogs in London. You need to be good with dogs, reliable and safe. With Seekies you apply online in about ten minutes, we check your ID and right to work, have a conversation with you and meet you in person, and then walks near you start coming through the app. Joining is free.

What the job is

Seekies is a new on-demand dog walking app in London. Owners book a walk, a drop-in or a cat visit, and nearby walkers get the offer in the app. You see the length, the distance and the pay before you accept. Take it or leave it; turning a walk down is never held against you.

Every walk is one household’s dogs, on lead. No packs, no juggling six leads on Clapham Common.

What you’re paid

£12 for a 20-minute walk, £16 for 30 minutes and £24 for an hour. Your walks for the week are added up and paid every week. It’s per walk, not per hour, so what you earn depends on how many walks you take.

See How much do dog walkers earn in London? for honest example weeks.

Working for yourself

Walkers are self-employed. You choose when you’re available and how far you’ll travel, and you handle your own tax and National Insurance through Self Assessment.

The checks

Every walker is ID and right-to-work checked, hand-picked and personally vetted by our team. In practice that means:

• Your ID, and permission to do self-employed work in the UK. On a visa? Check that it allows self-employment (Student visas generally don’t). Not sure? Say so on the form and we’ll look at it with you.
• A conversation with us. A person reads every application. Nobody is approved automatically.
• Onboarding in person at our office in Shoreditch, where we go through how walks, pay and cancellations work.

Experience that counts

You don’t need to have been a paid dog walker. Your own dog, a family dog, a friend’s dog, volunteering or kennel work all count. Tell us honestly what you’re comfortable with. If strong pullers aren’t your thing, say so; your answers decide which walks you’re offered.

Cats too

Not only dogs. You can also take drop-ins (a feed and a check-in) and cat visits, if you’re happy to. The application asks.

Where we’re starting

Clapham, Battersea, Islington, Hackney, Peckham, Bermondsey, Camden and Shoreditch. Nearby? Apply anyway and tell us how far you’d travel.

Seekies hasn’t launched yet. We open area by area, and approved walkers start taking walks when we open near them.

How to apply

1. Fill in the application at seekies.co.uk/become-a-walker. About you, your experience with dogs and when you’re free. About ten minutes.
2. We read it and get back to you about the checks.
3. Meet us in Shoreditch for onboarding.
4. A person approves your account, and walks near you come through the Seekies for Walkers app.

Questions

Apply to walk (free, about ten minutes) Get it onGoogle Play