I've heard horror stories about dog-walkers. People who hired a dog walker to come in every day to walk their pup, only to find out that the person took the money daily, but never touched the dog. Or the one about the woman who returned home from work once to find that the pup waiting there for her belonged to someone else.
People who hire dog-walkers trust that they will actually show up, actually take their dogs out -- and keep them out and moving for the amount of time paid for.
But that doesn't always happen.
A company has invented a device that effectively allows people to check-up on their dog-walkers.
Pet Check Technology claims to be the first software designed to do this.
It's supposed to work like this. Dog walkers scan a bar-code when they arrive, with a mobile phone. Customers get an alert with the scan. GPS then tracks where the walker goes with the dog. A departure scan lets the customer know when the walk ends.
It's not clear how someone would know that a dog-walker is actually walking the dog, though, and not just arriving at a house, scanning the device, and then walking aroung the block themselves. I suppose you have to trust if they make the effort to get to your home for a scan, they'll actually take the dog out. But who knows....
The company is marking the technology dog walking companies, as something to offer clients.