Dog Walking & Letouts
Activity and human interaction is a key part of a dog’s wellbeing. We strive to give every home specialized care that meets the specific needs of you and your pet(s). Our attention is always on the pup(s) we are walking to ensure their safety and wellbeing are always met.
If you have a dog that doesn’t like to walk, we also provide letouts in the yard so your pets can get outside time, have a potty break, and have social interaction with us!
Potomac Paws is accepting all clients at this time, including morning and mid-day visits.
Pet Care Services
Whether you are gone for the day, or taking a week+ long trip, Potomac Paws provides the care for your pets as if they were ours. We work to make sure every family has visits for their pets that meet their needs. We have taken care of pets for as long as 28 continuous days.
We don’t charge anything extra for holiday visits, last-minute bookings, and are flexible if you need to extend your trip or are coming home early!
All pet care is subject to scheduling availability. Please contact us for more information!
Pricing
We do not charge extra for initial meet and greets or to administer medicine.
Single-Pet Rates for daily visits:
15-minute visit: $18
20-minute visit: $21
30-minute visit*: $28
Multi-Pet Rates for daily visits:
15-minute visit: $21
20-minute visit: $24
30-minute visit*: $31
*For visits longer than 20 minutes, please inquire as subject to scheduling availability.
Areas outside of coverage area are billed an $3 per visit in addition to visit rate and subject to availability.
Pet Sitting or for 3+ daily visits:
Any petsitting of less than 3 visits per day for dogs will REQUIRE dogs to have self access to the outside for potty breaks.
Pet sitting: 3 visits per day: Starting at $68+**
Pet sitting: 4 visits per day: Starting at $88+**
For 4 visits, we schedule early morning, late morning/early afternoon, evening, and a late-night visit.
Cat-only sitting:Cost varies and will be billed based on the above 15-minute increments and on the requested number of daily visits.
**If you have a preferred schedule or length of visits needed, please contact Potomac Paws directly about specific care plan needed and associated pricing.
Additional services such as watering plants or gardens can be done duirng visits, but will be subject to supplemental pricing should the visit run over the scheduled time.
Accepted Payments:
Cash, Venmo, Apple Pay, PayPal, Zelle, or Pay by check.
What’s Included
Potomac Paws customizes our care to meet the needs of each client and their pet(s).
Visits include:
– Outdoor activity with walks or backyard play for pets to go potty and have social time
– Feeding and treats as requested by client
– Water bowl check and refill
– Administer oral medication (as needed)
– Wash used food bowls and dishes
– Paws, paw pads, and body wiped down during inclement weather
– Obedience and command reinforcement (through positive approach)
– “Pupdate” sent at each visit to include photo(s) or video(s) of your pet(s)
– For cats, we check litter every visit and love to interact with our kitty clients! We also can administer meds, and will do feedings (wet or dry) at whatever frequency is requested.
We will also check mail, bring in packages, set out/bring in trash bins, clean up any pet messes, water plants (as requested) and any other small tasks asked.
Our Value
We strive to bring the best quality value to every Potomac Paws client.
Potomac Paws has cared for over 600 pets in our local area!
LICENSED, INSURED, AND BONDED
Our pets are our family. We understand how important your pets are and want to make sure our clients and their pets are protected. Becoming insured and bonded was not only essential to our business, but also for our clients’ peace of mind. We have clients who need to ensure that whether they have a new puppy, or a pet that is near end of life, that their pet will have the best possible care every single visit. We are dedicated to caring for your furry family members and strive to do all we can to ensure their safety.
INDIVIDUAL AND SPECIALIZED ATTENTION
Pets, like humans, are different in age, size, weight, build, and energy. We want each pet to have a custom experience, tailored to their needs and giving them the right care. We typically walk with dogs individually to ensure they get the proper care and promote safety throughout. Multiple dogs being walked are with the same family unless two clients specifically request interaction between their pets. This maximizes the dog’s opportunity to get the interaction and care needed at every visit.
FINDING WHAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU AND YOUR PET
During our free consultation visit, we want to get to know you and your pet. We adjust our approach based on your pet’s personality and temperament to ensure your pet is cared for as if it was our own. Exercising and human engagement with pets have many positive benefits:
curbing aggressive/disobedient behavior; reduces hyperactivity, fat, and weight; and improves overall health (including muscle, endurance, mental stability).
Our goal is simple; we want to make sure every client is getting the specific care they want and need for their pets, with an expectation that Potomac Paws will deliver that care each and every time.
COMMITMENT TO TRANSPARENCY
One issue with a service industry is knowing if people actually show up and do the work we commit to. Potomac Paws is unwaivering in our integriy and commitment to our clients and their pets. In 2021, we launched a customer portal and app for clients to receive updates after each visit and allows for direct communication with our clients! We provide details of each visit, documenting the service specific to your pet and photos of your pet from the visit. We want to ensure every pet owner has complete trust and peace of mind.
We also keep pricing simple. We don’t lock clients into contracts or have “gotcha” add-on pricing. Pricing is based on whether you are a single pet home or multi-pet home, and how long your vists are. We make our service agreement available to all clients in their client portal so all policies can be reviewed at any time!
FLEXIBLE SERVICES TO MEET YOUR NEEDS
Since all of our clients’ needs are different, we provide the specific level of service is needed and are often available for impromptu visits. Also, we don’t charge extra during visits to check mail, set out/bring in trash bins, feed, or administer oral medication.
Our cancellation policy is tiered to balance the flexibility that may be needed with clients, while also being mindful of our staff’s schedule and being availabile to support our clients.
TEAM MEMBERS WITHIN THE COMMUNITY
It can be extremely difficult to trust someone new to be responsible for your pets and your home. Potomac Paws hires within our service area to ensure our team members are also members of our community. Our team already knows the neighborhoods and community and allows our team to provide greater flexibility and continuity of care.
All team members use our client portal so you receive consistent communication.
Service Area
Our service area is the 22308 ZIP code:
At or south of Fort Hunt Road/Paul Spring Parkway
At or south of Ridgecrest Drive/Lyndale Drive.
Clients east of GW Parkway are out-of-area.Clients living North of Apple Hill Road are out-of-area.
Potomac Paws services the following communities and surrounding areas for dog walking and pet care:
Neighborhoods/Communities Supported:
ALL Fort Hunt-Stratford neighborhoods,
Collingwood/Collingwood Road,
Collingwood Springs,
Hollin Hall,
River Bend Estates,
Stratford Landing,
Stratford on the Potomac,
Tauxemont,
Waynewood,
Wellington,
Williamsburg Manor
Contact us
If you are interested in our services, have questions, or need additional information,
please complete the from below!
Please include all pertinent details so that we can best assist and get in contact with you.
If you have not received a reply from us within 2 days, please call or text us at 571-249-1997.
Effective 9/1/2024: Potomac Paws currently has a waitlist for new clients for both midday care and pet sitting. Please use the form below with your information and needs and we are working to staff up to be able to support prospective clients.
A little bit about Potomac Paws
How this whole thing started…
Potomac Paws owner Ryan Dempsey loves being around animals. As a kid, Ryan constantly interacted with his family’s dogs and worked on obedience and play.
Shortly after graduating college, Ryan and his wife Kerry adopted their first pet, a cat named Freckles. Because their cat has special needs that makes her quality of life best as a single pet, Ryan’s desire to adopt a dog was put on hold.
During his senior year of college, Ryan began his journey of what has become a passion for running (specifically, half-marathons). He has completed 16 total half-marathons, and has a personal goal of running a half-marathon in every state. Running also helped Ryan lose 74 pounds and gain confidence in life coaching.
In 2018, Ryan’s “puppy fever” was at an all-time high. Although he is still unable to adopt a dog of his own, Ryan realized that he could merge two passions into one dream, and thus Potomac Paws LLC was born…
Since October 2018, Ryan has provided care for more than 600 of the community’s four-legged family members, and he loves every one of his Potomac Paw Pals!
Our Team:Permanent Team Members
Sharon, former owner of Lucky Dog Walkers LLC, officially joined Potomac Paws in January 2022. Sharon had more than 7 years of experience prior to working for Potomac Paws, running her own successful dog walking business. I have known Sharon since 2007 and she was instrumental in mentoring me in creating Potomac Paws. What’s even better is that Sharon is my mother-in-law and is helping provide care to Potomac Paws customers along with spending time with her grandchildren!
Kerry is my incredibly supportive spouse that assists with pet visits on occasion to our clients. Without Kerry’s support of me to pursue my dream of building this company, Potomac Paws would have never blossomed to the company it has become. Kerry is particularly obsessed with kitties and big breed dogs.
Samantha is a George Mason graduate, earning a degree in events management. Sam was born and raised in the Fort Hunt community and has a pup of her own! She loves music festivals and being around four-legged furbabies!
Lydia is a graduate from UCSB with a degree in Sociology. She’s always considered the Ft. Hunt/Alexandria area her hometown, but as a member of a Foreign Service family she has lived in 6 countries! Lydia loves all dogs and cats and provides administrative support to Potomac Paws in addition to daily walking and pet care.
Amanda is a dog-mama of two beautiful rescue pups (both 65+ lbs). She appreciates that pups see the world through their noses & getting more steps in is always a bonus! Amanda has experience as a pet-sitter for most of her life, and provides support for our midday clients, as-needed clients, and pet sitting as available!
Ellen is a member of the Fort Hunt community and provides as-needed and pet sitting care for Potomac Paws!
Kim M. supports as-needed clients during the week as she is able!
Summer Staff
Abby (2nd year!), Carlye, Riley, and Thomas
Former Team Members:
Thank you to our former team members who provided love, support and care of the commuity’s furbabies!!
Alana H., Andrea P., David R., Katie S., Kim V., Lilly B., MacKenzie R., Michael F., Mollie S., Stephen F., Wrigley S.
Pictured center is our little angel Freckles (R.I.P.), flanked by my niece pups Fiona and Maggie.
