Many owners hand their dog to a walker or sitter every week, often not knowing how that person was trained. For the dog, that hour outside may be the most rewarding part of its day. APPA’s 2026 State of the Industry report found that spending on pet services such as boarding, grooming, training, sitting, and walking reached $14.3 billion in 2025. The workforce is growing to match. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics expects jobs for animal care and service workers to grow 11% by 2035, much faster than average. It also notes that most of these workers learn on the job.
Tom Simpson, founder of Community Happy Dogs, explains that many owners and care providers treat a walk as a quick break rather than the center of a dog’s day. Community Happy Dogs is a walking, training, and pet-sitting business near Washington, D.C. It mainly serves busy households, including apartment dwellers whose dogs spend much of the day indoors. Simpson says he has worked with tens of thousands of dogs over nine years.
“Dogs are not small humans,” Simpson says. “They have their own needs and their own way of seeing the world. When a service is built around a lack of knowledge of dogs, the dog is the one who misses out.”
From Simpson’s perspective, much of dog care is designed around the owner’s schedule, such as a short solo walk around the block. He believes dogs, as social animals born into litters, often need longer activity, company of other dogs in a pack, and calm, experienced handling. He notes that many providers he has observed send staff out with little to no training.
The company walks dogs in packs, typically around eight, and rarely offers solo walks. It runs 30-minute and one-hour walks, and Simpson focuses on the hour. Packs mix breeds and change daily depending on bookings. “Our model is designed around the dog, not the human,” he adds. “A dog in a pack feels safer, expends more energy, and returns home more relaxed and happy.”
Simpson ran a marketing company before starting the business with his teenage son. Before committing, he worked the numbers. His test was whether a walker could build a significant income. That math pointed to walking several dogs at once rather than one at a time, and it shaped the model the company still uses. He later left marketing to run the business full time.
Most animal care workers learn on the job, and at Community Happy Dogs, that learning follows a set process. New handlers work under Simpson’s direct instructions for two weeks before building their own client base. They must be able to walk eight dogs at once to his standard. “Handling a group of dogs is a skill,” Simpson explains. “It has to be taught, practiced, and checked before anyone does it alone.”
A typical walk would be where a handler leads a mixed group, such as a Shih Tzu beside a Bernese mountain dog, through the neighborhood for an hour. Simpson shares that the aim is a calm pack that can pass other dogs without reacting. The same handling principles carry into training and pet sitting. For instance, during stays, Simpson keeps water bowls away from food bowls, as he believes many dogs prefer them apart.
“The model suits owners who want their dog exercised and socialized while they work, particularly those clients whose dogs spend long hours alone,” Simpson says. He elaborates that science clearly shows that pack walks work best for dogs, helping maximize their mental and physical well-being. Because bookings shift daily, a dog may walk with different companions each time, which Simpson sees as part of the social benefit. The benefits, he explains, are based on his extensive experience rather than independent measurement.
Looking ahead, Simpson plans to franchise the model so other operators can train handlers and run walks the same way. He is also writing a book on understanding dogs, drawn from his years of work. For owners weighing their options, his approach points to a practical step. Before choosing a walker, ask how that person was trained and how the walk is structured, not just how long it lasts.
