Suspicious dog walker…or not?

I was coming to the end of my dog walk yesterday and met a man walking 6 dogs on leads. They were all having a wee in one spot then I’m sure I saw him let some of them off the lead. I walked on back to my car thinking nothing of it.

But while giving my dog water at my car, 2minutes later I saw the same man bring all 6 dogs to his van parked in front of me. He then opened the back and I saw one dog still in the van, then he sent the 6 in there too.
So my questions are, firstly, why did he leave one dog in the van in the sun on a very hot day, and secondly did he simply take the 6 dogs for a wee them put them back in the van within 5minutes? Rather than the 30-60min most walkers would walk for.

But maybe he had walked them for 30min and gave a few a last hurrah before getting back in the van. And maybe the dog left in the van was my imagination? There were so many dogs all crowded together after all.

I took a photo of the back of him and his car reg, but is there some reasonable explanation for this or do you think it warrants reporting?

I think it is illegal to walk more than six dogs. I am not claiming to be an expert. But I suspect that he is a professional dog walker and being paid by the dogs’ owners. Obviously, they think he is taking them to the park for a walk.

I’m not 100% but when I looked into dog walking around here a while ago I thought the permitted limit, locally anyway, was 4 dogs.

A dog should never ever be left in a car on a hot day like yesterday though.

I did not know there was a limit on how many dogs you could walk. Is there also a limit on how many cats you can walk?

A quick google took me to this which says:

The maximum number of dogs that can be walked at any one time should not exceed the number
stated in the walker’s insurance policy and comply with local authority requirements regarding the
number of dogs. It is recommended that no more than four dogs are walked at any one time.
ALL dogs under a dog walker’s care should be reliably under control at all times and transported
in accordance with the guidance in this document.

So maybe it’s a recommendation not a rule, I’m not sure but it’s the figure I remember seeing quoted multiple times.

Some places like Dulwich woods is 2 dogs, some is 4 dogs and some is 6 dogs. SO I’m assuming he left one in the van so he wasn’t over the limit.
But yes, way too hot to be in a vehicle for longer than a couple minutes without air conditioning.
Does it seems suspcicious?
Should I report it?

Well if they had 7 dogs and can \ were only walking 6 then yes, as that means 1 has to stay in the van (though you’d assume they would maybe just take that one out as well as that would be better walking 7 than leaving one in the van). So I’d say worrying if that was the case.

I think you could report it if a dog was left in the van in this heat as that can easily and quickly kill dogs, there is no excuse. Might be nothing in which case it can be explained away but seems odd.

I;m also considering posting it on social media as the 6 dogs he did take out of the van appeared to have 5 min walk which I’m pretty sure is not what clients are paying for.
But I also don’t want to ruin someone’s business if I got it wrong.

I wouldn’t post on social media as you don’t know the circumstances behind the 5 minute walk - maybe they had an emergency and it was a one-off and had to leave. Report if you want to, but I’d stick away from social media as you say it could ruin a business when maybe there is an explanation.

I think if you see an animal in a vehicle in hot weather you can/should report. Not sure about the rest of it.