Work With Dogs. Learn to Read Them. Understand the Whole Dog.- A Walk in the Park™
Join Our Award-Winning Dog Daycare & Training Team!
Are you passionate about dog behavior and seeking a meaningful career in animal care? Join Toledo's award-winning dog daycare facility!
About Us
A Walk in the Park™ is Toledo's premier dog daycare, boarding, grooming, and training facility - voted "Best of Toledo" Dog Daycare 2024! We're not just another daycare; we're a next-level enrichment center where dogs thrive through our innovative monthly adventure programs and 24/7 care philosophy.
Now Hiring Daycare Counselors
A Walk in the Park is looking for steady, observant people who want to do serious, humane animal care.
Our Daycare Counselors supervise, clean, observe, move dogs safely through the building, support rest, prepare enrichment, follow handling systems, and make decisions based on the individual dogs in front of them.
This is active, physical, detailed work. If you are curious about dog behavior, willing to learn, comfortable with cleaning and repetition, and able to stay calm when dogs are excited, loud, tired, nervous, frustrated, or overwhelmed, this may be a good fit.
You do not need to arrive knowing how to understand every dog. You do need to be interested in learning.
Please read this page before applying.
Position Details:
Position: Daycare Counselor
Location: A Walk in the Park, Maumee, Ohio
Minimum age: 18
Education: High school diploma or GED required
Starting pay: $13 per hour
Training and Pay Progression:
New Daycare Counselors begin with a 90-day training and evaluation period.
Days 1–30: $13 per hour
During your first 30 days, you will begin learning our daily routines, cleaning standards, safety
procedures, dog-handling systems, and approach to observation and care.
After a successful 30-day evaluation: $14 per hour
At approximately 30 days, we will evaluate your progress. Employees who successfully meet
the requirements of this stage move to $14 per hour
After a successful 90-day evaluation: $15 per hour
At approximately 90 days, we will complete a second evaluation. Employees who successfully
complete the training and evaluation period move to $15 per hour.
The evaluations are not tests of whether you already know everything. We look at your
progress, reliability, safety, ability to follow systems, response to coaching, quality of work, and
development in the role.
We Value:
• Experience with dog behavior and group dynamics (preferred but not required for the right candidate)
• Background in animal care, training, or veterinary fields
• Strong observational and communication skills
• Ability to remain calm and focused in dynamic environments
• Commitment to positive reinforcement training methods
What Kind of Place Is A Walk in the Park?
A Walk in the Park provides dog daycare, boarding, training, grooming, and enrichment in
Maumee, Ohio.
Our approach to daycare is different from traditional all-day group play.
Dogs are not placed in one large group and expected to work things out on their own. Their day
includes movement, rest, enrichment, social time, training opportunities, feeding routines,
cleaning resets, and careful supervision.
We work with dogs as individuals.
One dog may benefit from social play. Another may need space. A dog who was playing well
earlier may be getting tired. An excited dog may need help slowing down before moving through
the building. A nervous dog may need more distance, quieter handling, or time to observe
before participating.
The same dog may need different things at different times.
Daycare Counselors learn to notice those differences and respond to what is actually
happening.
Our goal is not to keep dogs busy every second. We want to provide a day that works for the
individual dog, with enough structure, support, activity, rest, and choice to help that dog do well.
What the Work Actually Looks Like
A normal shift may include:
● supervising dogs in small groups
● moving dogs safely through hallways and shared spaces
● cleaning kennels, yards, floors, bowls, and equipment
● preparing enrichment setups
● feeding meals and giving Kongs
● doing laundry and washing dishes
● writing reports and observations
● resetting spaces for the next part of the day
You may help a dog slow down at a doorway. You may notice that a dog who looked playful ten minutes ago is now getting tired. You may separate dogs before excitement turns into conflict. You may help keep one loud, highly aroused dog from raising the energy of an entire room.
You may notice that a dog who usually joins a group is hanging back today. You may see that one dog becomes more confident when given time to investigate alone, while another settles better after movement.
Sometimes the most useful thing you can do is add an activity. Sometimes it is slowing things down, creating more distance, changing the environment, or giving a dog time to rest.
You will also clean.
You may clean the same area more than once. You may spend part of your shift washing bowls, changing bedding, picking up yards, doing laundry, or resetting a room so the next group of dogs can use it safely.
This work is physical, repetitive, and detail-oriented. It can be loud. It can be messy. It requires patience, timing, teamwork, and the ability to follow systems even when the day gets busy.
Affection is part of the job, but it is not the job.
What We Look For
We are looking for people who are calm, observant, reliable, curious, and willing to learn.
Dog experience can help, but it does not replace good judgment, patience, clear communication, or the ability to follow instructions.
Some people come in with years of experience but still need to learn a different way of thinking about dogs. Other people come in with less experience and become excellent because they pay attention, ask good questions, and take training seriously.
You may be a strong fit if you can:
● stay calm around barking, movement, and excitement
● notice small changes in behavior
● follow routines without cutting corners
● accept feedback without taking it personally
● clean thoroughly and consistently
● communicate clearly with coworkers
● move with purpose without rushing dogs
● care about safety as much as affection
● learn our handling system instead of improvising
● remain curious when a dog does something you do not understand
The right person does not need to know everything on day one. They do need to be honest, teachable, steady, and interested in doing the work well.
Learn to Read Dogs
The work begins with observation.
People often move quickly from seeing a behavior to deciding what it means. A dog is called stubborn, dominant, dramatic, aggressive, happy, jealous, or guilty before anyone has stopped to describe what the dog actually did.
We teach staff to slow that process down.
What happened first?
What did the dog actually do?
What changed?
Did the dog move closer or farther away?
Was the body loose or tense?
How quickly did the dog recover?
Was this a single event, or part of a pattern?
Daycare Counselors learn to pay attention to movement, posture, speed, distance, tension, recovery, choices, and changes over time.
This helps us communicate more clearly and make better decisions. It also keeps us from becoming too certain too quickly about what a dog is thinking or feeling.
Learning to read dogs is not about memorizing a chart of tail positions or deciding that one behavior always means one thing.
It is learning to observe carefully enough that the dog in front of you becomes harder to reduce to a label.
Understand the Whole Dog
The dog in front of us brings a body, a nervous system, prior learning, inherited tendencies, preferences, sensitivities, habits, relationships, and a history we may only partly know.
That dog is also responding to what is happening right now.
The environment matters. The other dogs matter. Noise matters. Fatigue matters. Physical comfort matters. Past experience matters. The amount of control a dog has over what happens next may matter.
As staff develop, they learn to ask broader questions.
What has this dog learned from previous experiences? What is happening in the environment? Are there parts of the situation the dog seeks out or avoids? Does this kind of activity appear to suit this particular dog? Could fatigue, discomfort, frustration, social pressure, fear, or high excitement be affecting what we are seeing?
We do not expect staff to diagnose dogs or pretend they can know exactly what a dog is thinking.
We expect them to remain curious, consider the larger picture, test their assumptions, and keep observing.
Over time, good Daycare Counselors begin to see patterns they might once have missed.
A dog may play well early in the day but struggle after several social sessions.
A dog who hangs back in a group may explore confidently when given time alone.
A dog who does well in one environment may struggle in another.
Behavior can change with noise, space, movement, predictability, fatigue, social pressure, and the presence of other dogs.
Understanding the whole dog means looking beyond a single behavior and asking what else may be contributing to what we see.
The work becomes more interesting as you learn to see more.
What You Can Learn Here
We do not expect new staff to arrive knowing all of this.
We expect them to learn.
Daycare Counselors are trained in:
● canine body language
● observation before interpretation
● safe movement through the building
● group supervision
● arousal and stress
● rest and recovery
● enrichment
● basic training principles
● report writing
● our evaluation system
They learn to watch individual dogs and groups. They learn how excitement spreads. They learn why rest is part of good care. They learn how the environment can make behavior easier or harder.
They also learn to describe what they see clearly enough that another staff member can use the information.
This is not a job where training ends after someone shows you how to clean a kennel and hold a leash. Learning about dogs is part of the work.
We take that seriously, and we expect staff to take it seriously too.
What Does Not Fit Here
This is probably not the right job for someone who mainly wants unstructured time with dogs.
Dogs do receive affection here, but the work also includes cleaning, structure, observation, movement, documentation, and careful decision-making.
It is also not the right environment for someone who believes dogs should be handled through intimidation, yelling, leash corrections, shock collars, prong collars, choke collars, or “showing them who is boss.”
Our handling is based on observation, prevention, reinforcement, management, clear routines, and trust. Staff are expected to follow that approach consistently.
Dogs in our care may be excited, nervous, tired, frustrated, playful, pushy, shy, or overstimulated. We slow down, change the setup, use management, reinforce useful behavior, create distance when needed, and look at what may be contributing to the problem.
Someone who wants to improvise their own handling methods instead of learning our system will not be a good fit here.
This work also requires people who take cleaning seriously, are willing to receive feedback, and understand that caring about dogs is only the beginning of becoming good at animal care.
Before You Apply
Please think honestly about whether this kind of work fits you.
This may be a good fit if you:
● want to become better at understanding dogs
● enjoy active, detailed work
● are comfortable cleaning
● can stay steady in a busy animal care environment
● can accept coaching
● pay attention to small details
● are willing to question your first interpretation
This may not be a good fit if you:
● want a casual job
● dislike repetitive cleaning
● prefer to work without feedback
● cut corners when things get busy
● mainly want unstructured time with dogs
We would rather be clear about the work now than bring someone into a job that does not suit them.
If you have read this page and the work still sounds meaningful to you, we would like to hear from you.
Apply to Become a Daycare Counselor
Please complete the application carefully and answer the questions honestly.
We are not looking for perfect answers. We are looking for people who understand the work, are willing to learn, and have thought seriously about whether this environment fits them.