COVID 19

A message to our clients about COVID 19 – June 2020

First of all, we hope that you are healthy and safe, and getting through this pandemic day by day. We are so excited to begin opening back up and finding our way towards a new “normal’ – and we urgently want to keep everyone safe while doing so. At the bottom of this message, you can find the guidelines that we have given to our staff to help to ensure their health and safety as they return to work. We also have several requests to make of you, our wonderful clients, as we enter this new phase.

We ask that you cancel your visits if you are feeling unwell. This will help us to ensure the health and safety of our staff, as well as all of the other people (including other Wagamuffin clients) that they come into contact with.
If you have more than one leash available, we ask that you designate one of your leashes as the official “dog walker leash”, to try to minimize the possibility of germs spreading via leash handles. Some of our staff will be bringing their own leashes to work with them to help with this effort. We know that some dogs (particularly those that love to chew) have special leashes that must be used (no substitutions!). If your dog is in that category, and you are NOT comfortable with our walkers bringing and using their own leashes, please send us a message to let us know.
Our staff will be making regular use of hand sanitizer, but we also want them to wash them their hands frequently. We ask for your understanding if our staff members should need to wash their hands in your sink. They don’t have access to other hand washing options during the day, and this is a critical part of our efforts to prevent illness for both our staff and our clients.
We ask that you wear a mask if you are interacting directly with our staff members, and maintain social distance of at least 6 feet at all times. This will help us to keep all of our staff and clients safe and healthy.

Thank you for your patience, support, love and understanding throughout this difficult time. We are inexpressibly grateful for the kind words so many of you have sent us, as well as the financial support many of you have offered to our business and, especially, to our amazing staff members. Your support has been a life line, and has made us feel so loved, so humbled by your generosity, and so incredibly fortunate. Thank you, a thousand times <3

Tail Wags,
Carla, Susi and Sheena

STAFF SAFETY GUIDELINES

We have cloth masks available for all staff that would like one. If you have your own mask that you prefer to wear, of course, that is a-ok, but we do require that everyone wear a mask during work hours. This is for your safety, and for the safety of those around you, and it is in line with the recommendations of health organizations world wide.

We have hand sanitizer available for everyone. We have small bottles that you can carry with you, and larger jugs to refill those smaller bottles. When your bottle is running low, simply let us know, drop it off, and we’ll refill it for you. We ask that you sanitize your hands before entering and after exiting each house hold, to avoid bringing germs in or taking them out.

We have disposable gloves available for everyone. These are optional – please take and use them if you want them, but remember that the best way to prevent yourself and others from getting sick is to wear a mask, wash and sanitize your hands frequently, and to avoid touching your face.

Wash your hands frequently. Our clients know that we need to do this to protect ourselves and to protect them, and they know that we may need to use their sink to do so.

Avoid touching your face. This will help to prevent you from getting sick in the event that you do come into contact with the virus.

Bring your own leashes if you would like – and let us know if you would like us to help you secure leashes to use during work. We are also requesting that clients designate a particular leash for us to use, that only we use, if they are able to do so. This will help to protect both you and your clients.

Do not come to work sick. If you aren’t feeling well, PLEASE, let us know and we will make arrangements to either cover or cancel your walks. We are also asking that clients cancel their visits if they are feeling unwell. While it is true that being asymptomatic does *not* guarantee that a person is not infected/contagious, it is vitally important to self isolate if you are feeling sick.

We hope that these guidelines will help us to reopen safely and begin to find our new normal. It won’t be the same as the old normal, but together, we will all get through this <3 If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please let us know!