Calgary’s community development committee took more than two hours to debate whether to issue permits to mind multiple dogs at once to professional dog walkers at no charge.
Those permits would allow the professionals to have more than six dogs at an off-leash park at one time, more than what the updated Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw will allow when it comes into effect in the new year.
There are no changes to the number of dogs allowed to be walked while on leash.
The idea came to the committee after city officials met with members of the public and professionals. Dog walkers helped the city develop the proposed permit.
Hailey Seidel is a dog walker of 15 years and a representative of the newly-formed dog walkers industry group with around 80 members. She said there are between 150 to 200 professional dog walkers operating in the city.
Seidel contended the permit was unnecessary as the concerns about having a large number of unleashed dogs in parks was already captured in the bylaw.
Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra tried to get some clarification from Seidel.
“You’re here representing an industry group, suggesting that you do not want to be differentiated from amateurs and everyone else,” Carra said.
“The issue is this permit doesn’t offer any differentiation. Everything that they want to regulate is already accounted for in the existing Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw,” Seidel replied.
When asked by Carra, Seidel said the group doesn’t want any limits for the number of dogs a single person can handle in an off-leash park.
Jennifer Lawlor, strategist with the city’s community standards branch, said the off-leash limit was set after looking at what limits other municipalities like Airdrie have and hearing concerns of safety from the public.
“Limiting the number of off-leash dogs per handler improves the ability for the handler to identify and clean up defecation, respond to nuisance behaviours and maintain voice and sight command with each dog,” Lawlor said.
Lawlor said the cost of permitting could be absorbed within the existing budget, negating the need for a permit fee. She also said any fee increases would require a decision from council.
She said the online application process would take about two weeks or less to complete.
Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp said she heard from dog walkers this permit is an “impact” to their business.
“This is a change to their business model and as a city, we shouldn’t be impacting a business model in any business.”
But Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian – who said she uses the services of professional dog walkers – viewed the impact to the nascent dog-walking industry differently.
“I don’t see this as contradictory to their business. It doesn’t materially change their ability to make money,” Mian said. “I think there’s some hesitation or fear about what might come in the future.”
The committee endorsed the idea, with only Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness voting in opposition.
If approved by city council on Dec. 20, the permits would go into place on June 30, 2022.
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