Job Discussion Forums

[sheena maclean]

A few teacher friends and I have been thinking of enterprising ways of making money during the lean summer months and one said he quite fancied being a dog walker. Could any of our resident porten�os maybe shed some light on his employment prospects. Give some insight into this 'profession': pay, conditions etc. I have to admit to being curious myself. You don't see too many female dog walkers out there, whys that? Maybe that could be a good marketing angle!!!
Thanks folks!!!
Sheena

[carlos-england]

(a)It is harder than it looks and you have to be
very fit and (b) You will be taking work off someone who
relies on dogwalking for a living, and if I remember
your big lecture to 'tourists' coming to Buenos Aires
and tipping the locals to excess making it harder for
the expats there. I think you should think carefully about
muscling in on somebodys living. Not that I think you would
last a day of course:)

[sheena maclean]

Actually Carlos,mate you must be thinking of someone else I never gave any 'lecture'about tourist coming here and tipingand making life hard for ex patriots. So please get your information right!!!!! and if you re read the post Iwasn't talking about myself but a male friend of mine who believe me would be more than fit enough tohandle those dogs. And what makes you think I'm not fit enough??? . Seeing as you haven't actually met me you are making an awful lotof assumptions there Carlos. The comment at the end about female dogwalkers was a jokey aside. Are you familiar with those???

[carlos-england]

Sheena, I can't remember your whinge was word for
word but it was something like people (Americans
or Europeans) coming over here and it was either
tipping or paying over the odds for consumer goods...
I forget which but it was a typical expat whinge about
how you have it as hard as the locals blah blah blah.
I could if I could be arsed dig it out and print it on
here but I'm sure you will agree it classifies as a
whinge...

Right, dog walking! say a medium sized dog weighs
30lbs for example, 5 dogs will have the combined weight of 150lbs
pullings and running in all directions. Argentine dog walkers
have about 10-12 dogs as an average, their combined weight
if all dogs were of average size is over 300lbs... you have to
hold on to that and not lose any, could you do that? I don't think
so... I actually knew a professional dog walker and he used to
train in a gym to be fit enough for his job...

I'm a fit, strong man and I weight train and run, I'm also 6ft 2ins
and about 210lbs. I couldn't do the job... it is harder than
it looks...

Stick to teaching English and tell your friend to do the same
and leave the dogwalking to those who need it most.

[conalson]

You know on my first visit to Argentina I remember seeing all the dog walkers and thinking the same that maybe I could do that when I come. Now when I see them I cringe that I actually thought that, Carlos is completely right, it would be taking very good well respected work from an Argentine and I think really wrong for an expat or at least an illegal expat to be doing. Apparently there is specific training qualifications etc and its not just some stop gap job. Thats my two pence worth, I dont remember seeing Sheenas mail on tipping but expats who systematically dont tip or criticise people when they do really winds me up too, cya

[snielz]

Dog Walking!!
Ah c�mon guys. Yeah, it is work but it�s not as if it is a job with a lot of opportunity for advancement and professional development. Immigrants always do these type of jobs- Ukranian taxi drivers in NYC or Mexican housekeepers in the US for example. I mean, you make it sound as if she should only teach English or do other English-related jobs. WTF!! Not everyone coming here just teaches a few hourse of English and then hangs out in boliches with their pockets full of US dollars or British pounds (don�t get me wrong- I do). I say try to do something that doesn�t pertain to teaching English or working at a call center. Now, if Sheena had used her military to force the Argentines to choose her to walk their dogs that would be a different game.

On the other hand, Sheena, I�m sure at times it is a lot harder than it looks when you see those dog walkers hanging out in the parks with all the dogs tied together at a tree or lamp post and the guy is having a pickup game or smoking weed... You asked for the abuse.

[carlos-england]

Sneilz... Sheena is not a Mexican housekeeper though
is she? she has a lot more choices in her life (no I don't
know her but the fact she is in Argentina doing a job she
wants to do tells me she is not the same as a Bosnian immigrant
emptying a bin)

She should do jobs where she is not taking the liveliehood
of people who rely on dogwalking full time. It is a serious business
as we all know and she is lucky to be able to have the pick
of 'English speaking jobs' as there as thousands of piquerteros
marching around Buenos Aires with thier pickaxe handles who
who wish they had the same opportunities as her.

[sheena maclean]

I never even said I was going to walk dogs anyway I was curious about it it was my friend that was intwerested in actually doing it. I thought we had established this already!!

[carlos-england]

Yes but me and snielz are talking hypothetically and
there is no need to state this as I guess the smarter
readers would have figured this out... I'm glad you
caught up in the end Sheena

[Maria Kirby]

I like dogs but I'm not sure I can work as a dogwalker for love or money! It looks incredibly hard to do, I can just see myself flying all over the streets of BsAs!

Maria

[Gareth2000]

just start with one dog and progress 1 dog at a time until u can handle no more. its like english teaching u only get abit of work to start with and as u get more u learn to cope and balance it.

ive seen smaller people walking the dogs so its doable - just dont get overzealous and try to pull any records for most dogs walked at once.

Its a good idea - helps u to intergrate into the society and become more argentine instead of just being a tourist.

Gareth