We love our walkers at Windy City Paws, and this month we want to introduce to you to Brenton, who has been with us for almost a year!
Where are you from?
I grew up in Peoria, Illinois.
How did you end up in Chicago?
I moved to Chicago a little over a year ago for theater opportunities.
What is your favorite pastime?
One of my favorite memories is listening to my mom and sisters sing around the piano while I was growing up. I am the middle child. I have three older sisters and three younger sisters. My mom is a piano and vocal teacher, and she taught us to sing and play music.
What is your hidden talent?
My hidden talent is fire breathing and I play a mean Tom Waits cover on the piano.
Do you have pets? If so, what kind and what are their names? Tell us about their personalities.
My girlfriend and I have two pitbulls, Iris and Hank, both of which are rescues. Hank is eight years old. I adopted Hank when he was three, five years ago. Hank is a very sweet and playful dog with a HUGE food drive! Iris is a new member to our family. Claire adopted her three and a half months. Iris is two years old, and was born blind. She is extremely loving and prefers to sleep under the covers. Although Iris is blind, she gets around just fine with little assistance.
If you were a dog, what breed would you be and why?
If I were a dog, I feel that I would be a pitbull because of my loyalty, affection, strong will and sometimes clownish behavior.
If dogs could run for public office, which breed do you think would make the best president?
If feel that if dogs could run for office a Siberian Husky would make a great president. I feel this way because of Gypsy, the Siberian Husky I had as my childhood dog. She was such an amazing girl and also was very protective of the outdoor cats I had growing up. No matter what obstacles were in front of her, she could overcome them!
Why did you decide to become a dog walker?
I became a dog walker when I moved to Chicago because there is nothing better than hanging out with awesome animals and enjoying the outdoors, even when the weather is poor, interacting with the pups makes up for it!
What’s the weirdest thing about being a dog walker?
The weirdest thing about being a dog walker for me is that people passing by me on the side street often believe that the dog I am walking belongs to me and often because they are just passing by there isn’t enough time to explain that I am just the dog walker. Therefore, I accept the compliments as if the dog were mine. More or less, I feel very blessed with the dogs I get to walk on my route. All of which have such unique and wonderful personalities.
What would people never guess is part of your job as a dog walker?
When I talk to friends and family about my day walking dogs they are usually surprised about how big of a role scheduling and keeping track of time factors into it. To clarify, I often find myself having to explain the time windows for each dog, and how I have to keep track of my commute in order to make sure I will not be late for any of my walks.
What is your biggest pet peeve while walking dogs?
My biggest pet peeve as a dog walker is when people walk their dogs off leash. There was an incident where I was walking a couple of sibling dogs on my route that would become vocal when they saw other dogs. On our way back inside, the two sister dogs barked at an off leash dog, and the off leash dog came running at no fault of his own. Luckily, all the dogs behaved and nobody got hurt.The owner of the dog said that was unusual behavior and typically she would not have run over like she did. Nonetheless, I feel that it is a responsibility as a dog owner and a citizen to obey the laws. The laws are there to help us within a community to cohabitate safely. So please, dog owner to dog owner, even if you know that your dog is well behaved, professionally trained, and can handle being off leash, please obey the law. You never know what could happen.
What’s the best part about being a dog walker?
The best part about being a dog walker is getting to hang out and learn each dog’s personality, what they want, what they need and how to help them avoid the things that make them anxious, but most of all its being able to share the bond between a dog and a human. It doesn’t get much better than that. Just saying.
Thank you so much for all of your hard work, Brenton! If you would like to learn more about Brenton and our other fantastic dog walkers, visit our website!