The Prosper Together guide
The handbook our walkers train on, published free for anyone who walks dogs. Every empirical claim in it traces to a named source, and we invite corrections.
Most dog walking advice online is folklore repeated until it sounds like fact. We wanted something better for our own team, so we wrote it down properly: what the veterinary literature actually supports, where the evidence is thin, and what we do when it is. Then we decided there was no reason to keep it to ourselves.
The guide is written by a CPDT-KA certified trainer, not a veterinarian, and says so. It is practitioner guidance, not a systematic review.
| Protocol | Area | |
|---|---|---|
Hot weather walking Temperature-plus-humidity limits for normal, caution, and no-walk days, with stricter limits for flat-faced breeds and a pavement test before every summer walk. | Weather | |
Lightning and high wind The 30-minute rule after thunder, National Weather Service wind alert tiers, and how to handle a dog that panics in a storm. | Weather | |
Leash safety Two points of contact on every walk, the waist belt as a second backup, and why retractable leashes are not allowed. | Handling | |
Martingale collars The snag and strangulation risk, and when a martingale must come off. | Equipment | |
Hazardous plants on Staten Island Poison ivy, poison sumac, stinging nettle, wild onion and garlic, acorns, wild mushrooms, moldy nuts, and cocoa mulch, with what we left out and why. | Hazards | |
Dehydration The skin-tent and gum checks, and the limits of each. | First aid | |
Paw burns Recognizing severity, immediate care, and the home remedies that make burns worse. | First aid | |
Using AI tools on a walk When a chatbot answer is fine, when it isn't, and why an emergency always starts with a phone call. | Judgment | |
Weather and coat types Heat and cold risk by coat type, and why a double-coated dog is never shaved for summer. | Weather | |
Noise aversion and storms How common storm fear is, what triggers it before the first thunder, and the escape risk it creates. | Behavior | |
Warm weather guide for owners Planning a walk, spotting heat stress, and what to do in the first minutes of heatstroke. | Owners |
The full guide is a Google Doc, free to read. First aid and CPR are covered in a later edition, because those are the chapters where getting a number wrong matters most and we're still verifying them.