(StatePoint) Americans don’t just love their dogs – they also love their dog walkers, with a whopping 85 percent of pet parents affording their dog walkers equal importance to their nanny or childcare provider, according to a recent survey by Wag!, the inventor of on-demand mobile dog walking.

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And pet parents show appreciation to their dog walkers, with four out of five dog owners who have hired a walker also having given them a gift, according to the survey of 2,000 pet parents, which was released on National Dog Walker Appreciation Day, celebrated by dog owners on September 13th.

But gifts aren’t the only perk of this side hustle. Since its 2015 launch, the dog walkers at Wag!, available at www.wagwalking.com, have taken more than 10 trillion steps and burned 719 million calories, and the dogs on those walks have taken more than four million potty breaks on Wag!’s watch.

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