How OnlyPaws works
The honest version of what happens on both sides, start to finish.
For dog owners
1. Add your dog properly. Name, breed, size and age are the easy bits. The parts that matter most to a walker are further down: energy level, how your dog is with other dogs and with strangers, whether they pull on the leash, and anything medical. A walker who knows your dog lunges at cyclists behaves very differently to one who finds out mid-walk.
2. Request a walk. Two ways to do it:
- Now. Your request goes out to vetted walkers who are online and physically nearby. This is the one that makes OnlyPaws different from a booking form.
- Scheduled. Pick a time, and walkers can claim it in advance. You choose from the ones who put their hand up, and you can see each of their ratings and reviews before deciding.
You pick a duration to suit the dog and the day: a quick potty break, a standard neighbourhood walk, or a longer hike.
3. Watch the walk. Once your walker starts, a live map shows you where your dog is. Not a message saying "we've set off". The real location, updating as they move.
4. Read the report. When the walk ends you get the route on a map, the distance covered, how long they were out, whether your dog peed and pooped, and any note the walker left.
5. Rate each other. You rate your walker, and they rate you. Ratings are visible when you're choosing between walkers, so they carry real weight.
Before your first walk you'll need a profile photo and a phone number on your account. Your walker is meeting a stranger at a stranger's home. Knowing who they are looking for, and having a number that works if something goes wrong, is the bare minimum on both sides.
For dog walkers
1. Apply. Sign up and start a walker application. You'll add a short bio and the suburbs you're willing to work in.
2. Verify your identity. This is the part that takes a couple of minutes and gets done once. You photograph your South African ID, either the green book or the Smart ID card, and take a short selfie. Behind the scenes three things happen: your ID is read and checked against the Home Affairs record, a liveness check confirms you're a real person in front of the camera rather than a photo of a photo, and your face is matched to the picture on your ID.
3. Prove where you live. Upload a recent utility bill, bank statement or lease showing your name and address. It gets reviewed by a person, not a machine.
4. Give two references. Two people who can vouch for you, with contact numbers.
5. Wait for approval. A person reviews every application. Your profile shows where you are in the process: applied, ID verified, references checked, approved, active.
6. Go online and take walks. Once you're active, flip yourself online whenever you're free. Nearby requests come to you. Accept the ones that suit you, start the walk in the app so the owner can follow along, and end it with a summary.
Why the vetting is worth your time: it's the reason an owner hands over their dog and their gate code to someone they've never met. A verified profile is what lets you charge properly instead of competing on being the cheapest.
Safety, and what we do about it
Trust is the whole business. Here is where the lines are drawn, including the ones we have not crossed yet.
What every walker goes through: an automated South African ID check against the Home Affairs record, a liveness check, a face match between that live selfie and the ID photo, proof of address, two references, and a review by a person before they can accept a single walk.
What we do not do yet: fingerprint-based criminal record checks. In South Africa a real criminal check legally requires fingerprints verified against SAPS, through an accredited bureau. It costs money for every applicant and takes days. At our current size that would leave us without enough walkers for on-demand to work at all. It is planned as we grow, and we would rather say so plainly than let you assume it is already happening.
Other things that help: contact stays inside the app, so nobody hands out a personal number. The live map means a walk is never a black box. A walker cannot go offline while a walk is still running, so they cannot quietly disappear halfway through. Either side can report a problem on any walk and it reaches an admin, and there is a support channel in the app for anything that is not about a specific walk.
The live map is checked automatically, not just watched. While a walk is running, the location data behind it is monitored in real time, for a route that stops being physically plausible, or for signs the location itself is being faked. This runs the whole time, not as something reviewed after the walk ends. If it flags anything, you and an admin are both alerted immediately, so it can be looked into while the walk is still happening.
Common questions
Where are you available? We're opening area by area across South Africa. On-demand only works when enough walkers are nearby, so we'd rather be genuinely good somewhere than spread thin everywhere. Join the waitlist with your suburb and it helps us decide where to open next.
What does it cost? Pricing isn't finalised. We'll publish it here before launch rather than surprising anyone.
How do walkers get paid? Payments are being set up now. The intent is that walkers are paid out quickly after a completed walk, not weeks later.
Is there an app? It's in development and not yet in the app stores. Waitlist members hear first.
Can I be both an owner and a walker? Yes. One account does both. Switch between owner and walker mode whenever you like. You only go through walker vetting if you want to take walks.
What if something goes wrong on a walk? Report it from the walk itself in the app. It reaches an admin, and anything raised while a walk is still in progress is flagged as urgent.