Any resident of Park Slope is familiar with dog walkers – they’re seen every morning on the streets, in Prospect Park, strolling along with a pack of seemingly disparate canine types, all somehow cooperating and getting along with each other. [If human beings could only learn from dogs.]

And, dog walking is traditionally a ‘catch-as-catch-can’ business. Individuals involved in more transient pursuits – acting, going to school, musicians, and the like – sometimes dog walk for extra cash.

Well, Geoff Lewit and Ryan DeLorge, college buddies, with their recently founded Brownstone Dog Walkers enterprise, are bringing professionalism to the world of dog-walking.

Every walker who works for them will be subject to a stern regimen: no yakking on cell phones when the dogs are being walked, no cigarette smoking, and no eating on the job, either.

This writer spoke to both about their business earlier in the week, and was quite impressed by their earnestness and commitment to the dog-walking occupation.

Each born and raised in Park Slope, Mssrs. Lewit and DeLorge right now have concentrated their efforts around our community. Needless to say, both profess a love for dogs, and each has experience walking dogs for pay. Mr. Lewit, in fact, worked for a dog-walking business that had up to 300 clients at one time!  Right now, as the business is launched, word of mouth and flyers get the word out, but they assure the writer that they’re “in for the long haul.”

Generally, the normal pattern of Brownstone is to walk the dogs between 10 am and 5 pm, after which people are home from work. But, Geoff and Ryan offer early- or late-walk options as well, and walks on weekends, too. Interesting fact: there’s more business in winter generally than in the summer, probably due to the more severe weather conditions.

As mentioned previously, Brownstone Dog Walkers has set up some ironclad rules: their dogs are never off the leash, a “safety issue,” according to Geoff; the dogs do not enter Prospect Park either. Again, that’s to protect the dogs [and handlers] from injury. They do offer, though, a “doggy fitness” package for customers who need their pet to run and jump a bit. Also, if the owner insists on his dog being walked alone, that can be accommodated as well.

When a potential customer contacts Brownstone, there’s an “interview” meeting in which the dog walker – now either Lewit or DeLorge – meets and interacts with the pet. Once that’s taken care of, the first walk is for no charge, another attempt to deepen a relationship between walker and canine. After an actual contract is struck, Brownstone will text to the owner what “business” occurred during the walk, a very intelligent offering by the co-owners.

Generally, the ‘package’ offered is for a 5-day week, Monday through Friday. If the contract to walk the dog is greater than 4 weeks, there’s a 10% price discount. So far, even though their ‘practice’ is mostly young dogs, with their often unruly, undisciplined behavior, Brownstone has not lost one customer.

Geoff and Ryan have thought of everything: for the interview leading to this article, both showed up in identical brightly-colored wind jackets. Why? They and any dog walkers that work for them will be easily identified as Brownstone Dog Walkers, a tiny, but well-conceived, detail once again. I think these gentlemen know what they’re doing.