Are you suggesting that unless retired (or perhaps habitually unemployed), one should not own a dog, or that as soon as any circumstance changes one should give

Are you suggesting that unless retired (or perhaps habitually unemployed), one should not own a dog, or that as soon as any circumstance changes one should give up an already-owned dog? There are all kinds of reasons one may employ the services of a dog walker: reduced mobility of a previously healthy owner, impaired functioning of an elderly dog's bladder necessitating more frequent bathroom visits, travel, the arrival of a new child allowing less freedom to walk the dog, and about fifty more that spring to mind without even putting much effort into it. All that said, there is not a chance in hell that I would ever trust a dog to a "valley" startup employing (effectively) randoms vs a local company with prior approved knowledge of who will be performing the service.