Richmond Council's Regulatory Meeting

Rocco sleeps

We were in France last week when Richmond Council had its regulatory committee meeting so I was unable to add my fourpennyworth but Lucy Bonnett was and excellently presented the professional dog walkers case, well backed-up by other committee members of the newly formed Association of Professional Dog Walkers.. 

 

Lucy wrote the day after: "As most of you know the Regulatory Meeting took place last night.  It was a huge success and Richmond Council have decided to pass a DCO restricting the number of dogs any one person can walk to 6 dogs max per walk. Notices will be going up soon in the parks so the general public will be aware. I had previously raised concerns with David Allister that the public are confused as to the rules as the four dog max signs are still up. There will be now be a period of notification and the DCO setting the limit to six will come into effect on the 1st July, although of course for those of us already signed up to the Association we are already abiding by that.

 

The meeting was a huge success for us. Although there were some sticky moments and difficult questions, they loved the Association and everything it stands for. They want to work with us and endorse us. David talked to us at the end of the night about a press launch and other exciting things. We are delighted that finally we have had the opportunity to explain to the council, not only exactly what being a dog walker involves, but also that we are a group of dedicated professionals and that through our Association we will at last receive some recognition for our contribution to the community. David asked for us to contact him today to arrange another meeting where we can have a more in depth discussion.

 

Thank you to everyone who has supported us and applied to APDW, all your applications are being processed and we welcome you all on board.

 

I would also like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to Christabel Molesey from Twickenham Vets who spoke at the meeting last night and gave us her full support."