What's a good way to keep your dog walker or pet sitter happy with their job? Keep them engaged...

Having a problem keeping your dog walkers and pet sitters happy and engaged in your company? I was, so what I did was try and involve their passions outside of the job into their daily lives on the job. If you're like me you have a lot of truly creative and talented people working for you. But most of them do not want to dog walk or pet sit for the rest of their lives and are pursuing careers in their free time. Why not combine their love for dog walking with their career pursuits? Here are some examples of how I've done just that:

* I had a photography enthusiast take wonderful pictures of all the dogs in our company. The project was extremely fun for the walker, put more money in their pocket and gave our company endless photos to use on our website.

* I had one of our walkers who wants to make movies shoot a promotional video for our company and the music was provided by a musician in our company. They loved the project and the video has been well received and has produced new clients.

* I've involved walkers who want to be dog trainers and vet techs in the training of my potential walkers. This added responsibility has kept these walkers intellectually stimulated here and they are able to practice their skills at teaching others. Having walkers who can help me train the prospective walkers has freed me up to do my own projects.

* I'm presently working with a walker who is a very talented comedian and writer on creating a viral marketing video for our company.

* I'm also working with a walker who wants to open their own daycare one day on a new bill keeping method she has developed herself on her Blackberry. We are going to simulate the idea for a few weeks and then once it's ready I'll have her teach all the other walkers how to do it on their phones.

These are just a few examples of side projects I have done with my walkers and highly recommend this approach, thanks!