We are looking for optimists. People who believe in the power of exercise, pet care, and positive human connection to improve lives. The world may have its problems, but problems are solvable, and doing good is possible so long as people work together today to make tomorrow better than yesterday. At Burton and Dogs / Making Happy Co., we believe that the world is a brighter place when our dogs are happy. When dogs are contented, we humans who love them are happy too, and that has further beneficial consequences down the road as we interact with other humans.

By putting the joy of dogs first, our optimism is that we are making our society a happier place than it was yesterday.

Burton and Dogs / Making Happy Co. is a pet care and positive human relationship company. It is more than just a dog walking business. We walk dogs, yes. And perhaps you’re the kind of person who would love to care for animals for a living. But we also love people. We are an optimistic, prosocial company built on a foundational concern for the conscious experience of both humans and animals. Our goal is to improve the conscious experience of all living creatures (“and the whole of nature and its beauty…”) by putting the joy of dogs first and sharing in that joy with their owners.

To accomplish this, Burton and Dogs runs according to a system of standard operating procedures designed to keep dogs safe and happy so that at the end of every service event we can provide the most important product that we produce for customers—the post-visit report card.

The post-visit report card is a digital report sent to clients after a walk, visit, or overnight stay. It contains checkboxes for various information (did the poo, did they pee? etc.) and a bunch of great photos that we took during the visit. And, crucially, it includes a fun, creative paragraph or so of text written with care and the goal of making the client smile. This document is where staff members get to put their personalities into their work. And it’s our primary means of communicating with customers and trying to make their day, wherever they are.

Our mission is to increase joy and optimism in the world through physical exercise, pet care, and positive human connection. And the primary channel through which that gets accomplished is the post-visit report card.

So, can you write a great report? Take great photos? Do you love animals and humans both? Do you believe in the joy of dogs? Then you may have been born to be a Joy Walker.

Joy Walkers work outside and enjoy the fresh air while walking dogs in our service area for a few hours each weekday. You’ll use your personal vehicle to travel to our clients’ homes and either leash dogs up or receive them during a handoff at the front door. You’ll walk them around their immediate neighborhood for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes or as long as an hour depending on the client and time of year. Most homes only contain 1 to 2 dogs that we walk at a time.

You’ll be entrusted with sensitive security information such as access and security codes. Your daily schedule will be provided via our pet care app (Time To Pet) and you’ll be able to navigate to each home from it. Joy Walkers maintain positive and joyful customer service relations with their clients in person, as applicable, and through text-based communications mediated by the app. You’ll take great photos during walks, follow all protocols, and, finally, provide for our clients our most important product—the post visit report card.

Something to keep in mind: dog walking does not usually entail constant work throughout the entire day. Rather, you’ll complete 1-4 visits during a scheduled time block, and then you will have a break. Depending on your availability and our client base, you may have a few more visits later in the day. Additionally, the job does entail a fair amount of driving from house to house, though we do make an effort to only assign walks within 10 minutes of the Walker’s home—and we pay extra for visits that are further away.

This part-time Joy Walking position will be responsible for:

• Providing incredible customer service. Burton and Dogs is about people just as much as it is about dogs. We take care of dogs so that the customer has a happier, stress-free day.
• Providing amazing care for dogs. The joy and safety of dogs is paramount.  Joy Walkers must follow all standard operating procedures and ensure that their attention and care is always focused on the dogs they are visiting.
• Taking awesome photos of animals. We include at least four great photos of the dogs we walk during our adventures with them around the neighborhood—but we often include as many as 10 or more. Clients love photos!
• Driving safely to each client’s house. Joy Walkers are required to possess their own personal vehicle for transport to and from the dogs they are assigned.
• Maintaining the appearance of their personal vehicle. Because we care about our reputation as a professional service provider, staff are expected to keep their vehicles reasonably clean, inside and out, and free from excessive dirt, damage, and clutter.
• Managing their own schedules and being a self-leader. We don’t micromanage staff at Burton and Dogs / Making Happy Co. Everyone at the company is expected to have a great head on their shoulders and be able to make great decisions on their own around our central goal of making dogs and humans happy.
• Responding to communications from office staff promptly. Joy Walkers cannot be “bad at texting” as many like to say. All staff members are expected to respond to text-based communications from management and coaches promptly.

Availability: Joy Walkers are expected to be available to work from 7am to 11am (or between 5am and 9am during hotter months) Monday through Friday. We are also looking for Walkers to visit dogs between 11am to 3pm for our midday and afternoon potty break clients. Because we aim to provide the same, consistent caregiver for every dog each visit, we will not be able to consider those with availability on some weekdays but not others (except in rare cases). Monday through Friday availability in either one of the above time windows is generally a prerequisite for a successful application.

Pay: Joy Walkers are paid 50% of our advertised rates for each service they perform. Services range from $25 for 15-minute visits to up to $60 for 60-minute visits. Bonus opportunities available as well (see below). The effective hourly rate (including driving time) will always be over $20/hour with a range up to $25+/hr, depending on the type of service you are assigned, the frequency with which those visits are booked per week, and the distance between each of the homes on your route.

Disclosure: New hires will handle new client overflow and be assigned clients as they come in. Therefore you should not expect to have a full schedule at the start of employment with Burton and Dogs Inc / Making Happy Co. We will most likely be able to start you off with one or two weekly clients at first, but it is best to have another source of income (through a spouse or self-employment, for example) as this part time position will likely not be enough to support you by itself.

Expected hours: 2 – 6 hours per week to start, up to 20 hours per week within 6 months, depending on your availability and new client intake.

• A love for people and dogs alike
• An appreciation for the conscious experience of others and a commitment to providing excellent customer service to our clients
• An optimistic outlook about people, regardless of their differences from you, as well as about the possibility of doing good in the world by connecting with them in a positive way
• A strong sense of responsibility and professionalism
• Creativity and great writing ability
• Photography skills
• A high degree of physical fitness and ability to walk long distances
• A passion for exercise
• Excellent walking shoes

• Entrepreneurs who have another income source and want to start their day with some exercise (graphic designers, software developers, writers, etc.)
• Pet lovers working toward a career in animal care with consistent availability each weekday
• College students with an afternoon or evening class schedule
• Stay at home moms of older children
• Active retired people who love exercise
• Writers who enjoy being creative and want to write up amazing post-visit report cards
• Fitness enthusiasts looking to make some extra money while getting those steps in and contributing to a mission-driven business
• People who believe in Making Happy and want to make a positive impact in our community through increasing the joy of dogs and their humans

• We are motivated by a mission you can believe in
• Generous pay compared to industry average, plus bonuses
• A loyalty and performance bonus of up to $200 every six months
• Daily exercise and vitamin D
• Likely improvement in mood and overall well-being from exercise, morning sunlight, and time with dogs
• Quality time with dogs
• Rewarding relationships with amazing clients
• Flexible schedule most of the year
• A supportive management team that cares about YOUR happiness just as much as our customers—and won’t micro-manage you.
• Paid training
• Pay increases every year
• Workman’s Compensations Insurance
• We have a very low turnover rate because people love working with us, our wonderful clients, and their dogs
• We’re creating something meaningful in Arizona that is bigger than ourselves. We have BIG dreams as a company—and every step we take with a dog by our side is a brick laid in the cathedral we’re building. We are looking for someone who wants to be a part of that.
• And, again—we try to be generous with our compensation structure...

We believe in generous compensation and incentivising excellent care, company growth, and environmental sustainability. Here is a complete list of our current bonus opportunities.

• Up to $200 for every 6 months of employment, depending on attendance and punctuality
• $50 every time a client raves about you on social media or a review site (Google, etc.).
• $50 for every new regular dog walking client referred
• $25 for every new pet sitting client referred

We offer sign-on bonuses for nationally recognized, third-party training certifications (CPDT-KA/KSA, IAABC, KPA-CTP). A partial bonus is offered for reputable foundational programs such as ABC’s CCDT. We also offer a small bonus to candidates who are Pet CPR Certified. All certifications must be documented and verifiable at the time of hire.

$200 Sign-on if you have any of the following Dog Trainer Certifications

• CPDT-KA/CPDT-KSA (CCPDT)
• IAABC Certified Trainer or Behavior Consultant
• KPA-CTP
• Fear Free Certified

$100 Sign-on if you have one of the following Dog Trainer Certifications

• ABC-CCDT
• VSA-CDT
• CATCH

$25 Sign-on if you are already Pet CPR Certified

We offer a sign-on bonus to new hires who own and regularly drive a fully electric vehicle (EV). Eligible staff must provide proof of EV ownership and primarily use the EV for their assigned visits. Staff members who acquire an EV at a later date also qualify for this bonus

• $100 bonus if your personal vehicle is an EV (electric vehicle)

Excited about this opportunity? We’d love to meet you. Click here to apply directly on our website. Filling out the employment application on our website is a requirement for being considered. We ask that you include as part of your application a few sentences that shows you dove deep into this job description and that it resonates with you. If after receiving your application we decide that we’d like to schedule an interview with you, we will be in touch within five business days to do so. There will be a phone interview and an in-person interview. 

Good luck!