The best parts of being a dog walker on Wag for almost 6 years
Yes, black women of all ages are dog walkers and dogsitters too
“You don’t seem like a dog person,” my college friend said to me, shortly after we did the usual catching up on social media. “Are you walking dogs for some kind of competition?”
I stared at those two sentences for a while, thinking, “This lady doesn’t know me at all.”
Meanwhile, a childhood friend of mine gave me a poster-size drawing of my Lab mix of 13 years, who died while I was in college. (It is in my dining room right now — two decades later. I cannot think of a better gift, considering she gave it to me as a Christmas gift the same year I graduated from Lincoln University.)
It was one of those moments when you realize whether you have surface friends or real friends, and who you share what with. While my parents didn’t get another dog for a few more years, I still would smile when I saw a dog on the street. Losing one dog didn’t make me any less excited about getting another one.
However, I was speechless when a cousin of mine took an early flight back to her home (on the west coast) for a dogsitting job. This wasn’t a teen girl who randomly saw the post on Craigslist. This was a black woman in her late 50s, early 60s.
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As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases with my referral links. I know some consumers are choosing to boycott Amazon for its DEI removal. However, after thinking about this thoroughly, I want to continue promoting cool products from small businesses, women-owned businesses and (specifically) Black-owned businesses who still feature their items on Amazon. As of the first date of Black History Month 2025, each new post will ALWAYS include a MINIMUM of one product sold by a Black-owned business. (I have visited the seller’s official site to verify that Amazon Black-owned logo.) I am (slowly) doing this with older, popular posts too. If you still choose to boycott, I 100% respect that decision.
I was stunned, especially when I found out how much she was going to make for this dogsitting job.
All I could think was, “That’s a real job? I would’ve done that for free!”
And on March 5, 2019, I made dog walking one of my “real jobs” after quitting my last corporate job. My mental health was way more important to me than a raise, and if dog walking on Wag! (and dogsitting on Rover) was going to do it, even better.