Dog Walking in Austin, TX

A dependable walking routine gives your dog exercise, mental stimulation, enrichment, companionship, and consistency while you’re at work or away from home. It can also help prevent boredom and some of the unwanted behaviors that come with having too much pent-up energy.

With Happy Tails, you also have the peace of mind of knowing your dog is being cared for by a trained, background-checked, insured and bonded professional pet-care team — not simply someone who happens to like dogs.

And perhaps most importantly, you don’t have to spend your workday worrying about whether your dog needs to go out. We’ve got them.

Dog daycare can be a great fit for social dogs who genuinely enjoy spending extended periods around other dogs. But not every dog enjoys — or needs — that much stimulation.

A professional dog walk allows your dog to stay comfortably at home and receive one-on-one attention, exercise, sniffing, enrichment, and a potty break before settling back into their normal environment.

For puppies, senior dogs, easily overstimulated dogs, dogs who prefer people to large groups of dogs, or pets who simply LOVE their couch, an individual dog walk may be the better fit.

We’re happy to help you determine what makes the most sense for your dog.

A dog’s exercise needs depend on their age, breed, health, energy level, personality, and normal routine. A young, high-energy dog may thrive with a purposeful Power Walk, while a senior dog may benefit more from a leisurely stroll with plenty of opportunities to sniff.

And don’t underestimate sniffing! Mental exercise matters too. Exploring the neighborhood through their nose can be incredibly enriching for dogs.

That’s why Happy Tails doesn’t believe every dog needs exactly the same kind of walk. We’ll help match the pace and style of the visit to the dog at the other end of the leash.

We work with healthcare professionals, surgeons, attorneys, executives, and other busy Austinites who may have long shifts, changing schedules, meetings that run late, or jobs they simply can’t step away from because their dog needs a potty break.

That’s one of the biggest benefits of working with a professional team rather than relying on a single dog walker. Your pet can have a primary Pet Care Specialist along with familiar backup team members who know their routine. If your regular walker isn’t available, your pet’s care doesn’t have to fall through the cracks.

We can accommodate both recurring schedules and changing schedules, based on availability, and we always do our best to help with last-minute requests.

Our goal is simple: while you’re taking care of your patients, clients, business, or career, you can feel confident that we’re taking care of your fur kid at home.

A midday visit breaks up a long day alone and provides human interaction, exercise, sniffing, play, enrichment, and a predictable routine.

For puppies and newly adopted or more sensitive dogs, we can also focus on creating calm, positive experiences with their Pet Care Specialists so they learn that having another trusted person enter the home can be a good thing.

A midday dog walk gives your dog an opportunity to go potty, move their body, sniff, explore, receive attention, and break up the hours spent waiting for you to come home.

For many dogs, that means a happier afternoon — and for their humans, it means coming home without the guilt of knowing their dog has been waiting all day for a bathroom break and some activity.

Depending on your dog’s needs, it might be a morning walk from you, 1 to 2 mid-day walks from us, and an evening and night walk from you. As I type this Labradors come to mind. Haha!

If there’s light or spotty rain, we’ll usually continue with the walk while staying reasonably close to home.

If there’s heavy rain, lightning, or unsafe weather, we’ll adjust the visit. We’ll make sure your dog gets a potty break and then use the remaining time for indoor play, enrichment, attention, and another potty opportunity when appropriate.

Your dog’s safety and comfort always come before completing a certain number of outdoor walking minutes.

Austin summers are no joke, and preventing overheating is extremely important to us.

During excessive heat, we may shorten outdoor exercise, choose shaded or grassy routes, avoid hot pavement, stay close to home, and closely monitor your dog for signs that they’re becoming too warm.

When conditions aren’t appropriate for a full outdoor walk, we’ll make sure your dog gets the potty break they need and spend the remaining visit safely indoors with attention, play, or enrichment. 

Austin summers are no joke, and preventing overheating is extremely important to us.

During excessive heat, we may shorten outdoor exercise, choose shaded or grassy routes, avoid hot pavement, stay close to home, and closely monitor your dog for signs that they’re becoming too warm.

When conditions aren’t appropriate for a full outdoor walk, we’ll make sure your dog gets the potty break they need and spend the remaining visit safely indoors with attention, play, or enrichment. 

We will never prioritize completing walking minutes over your dog’s safety.

We schedule visits within an agreed-upon service window rather than promising an exact arrival time.

Pets can occasionally need unexpected extra attention, and Austin traffic and weather don’t always cooperate!

Service windows allow our team enough flexibility to give each pet the care they need without rushing through another pet’s visit to stay on an exact minute-by-minute schedule.

If your pet has a time-sensitive medical or care need, please let us know so we can discuss what’s possible.

More dogs means additional leash handling, cleanup, feeding, and individual care, and we want to make sure enough time and attention are reserved to safely care for everyone.