[Upbeat Music]
Nadir: My favorite part of
dog walking is: dog hugs.
When you open the door and
dog just jumps up and he's
like, "what's up buddy.
How are you doing?"
It's the best feeling in
the world.
Nadir: I make films.
I make music.
I do all that kind of
creative stuff and with
dog walking, I'll come
home very physically
exhausted like my legs
don't work at the time,
but because the work hours
are really four hours a
day maybe five, I can be
way more creative with the
rest of the hours I have
in my day to do what I
want.
Nadir: My definition of
making it in life is doing
what you love for the
right reasons and still
supporting yourself and
the people in your life
that need to be supported.
It's as simple as that.
Nadir: My name is Nadir
and I'm a dog walker.
[Upbeat Music; Dogs
barking]
Nadir: Today we walked
Fresa in the am.
In the pm, we walked Carl,
Teddy, Ruby, Archie, and
Tucker.
SOT (Nadir picking up
Fresa): Hey, what's up
beautiful?
Let's put this on.
New collar.
Look at you!
You look like a million
bucks girl, come on.
[Dog barks]
SOT (Nadir at the dog
run): When I was younger,
I was terribly afraid of
dogs.
Couldn't stand them.
And basically, my best
friend had five of them,
so kind of getting to know
him and being at his
house, I really became to
get over my fear and then
came to really like dogs,
and now I love, love dogs.
This is really become a
dream come true.
I get to be outside
playing with animals, you
know, five days out of the
week.
[Street and subway ambient
sound]
Nadir: I moved to New York
in August of 2016.
And the reason that I
moved here was because I
got a couple of job offers
in the film industry and
that's what I got my
degree in.
So I figured it was time
to move.
Nadir: I live in Flatbush,
Brooklyn right now.
I have two roommates.
I live in a three-bedroom
apartment.
My rent is $700 per month.
Nadir: So when I was
working in the corporate
side of an insurance
company in Philadelphia I
was making about like
$50,000 a year.
Nadir: My checks range
from about, I would say,
the low end would be $600
and the high end would be
like $825 - $830.
So making $400 more a week
essentially walking dogs.
[Upbeat Music]
SOT (Nadir with Carl and
pack): Carl is a tripod:
he's a three-legged dog.
And has ten times as much
energy as half of the
four-legged dogs that we
walk.
SOT (Nadir with Carl): Do
your thing, Carl.
Doesn't even have to lift
a leg 'cause there is no
leg to lift!
Nadir: Everyone knows
Ruby.
Everyone has something to
say about Ruby and it's
great and adorable but it
can be a pain in the butt
sometimes.
Nadir: The biggest hurdle
for me as a dog walker is
the fact that we are in
Brooklyn -- specifically
Brooklyn Heights -- it's
almost entirely tourists.
I know that people's
reaction is to like make
kissy faces and all that
kind of stuff with the
dogs.
The problem is that by
definition you are
distracting him.
So if I have five dogs in
my hand and two of them
are looking at you they're
pulling away from the
pack.
SOT (Nadir with pack of
dogs): They're all super
nice.
Nadir: The other main
hurdle would be dogs that
like trash or birds that
kind of stuff.
We walk a dog called Katie
who may as well pulled my
arm out of my socket
because she dove at a
squirrel and a bird.
So she's like yank, yank.
Didn't feel good.
[Upbeat music]
Nadir: Paws and Rec is a
family owned business,
three brothers, their mom
and dad are involved.
It's a very tight knit
community that I really
enjoy being a part of.
Nadir: It's a little weird
because we're independent
contractors, so I'm not
going to get a tax return.
We have 1099s instead of
W2s.
Nadir: My salary right now
is covering all my
expenses.
I am saving.
Nadir: A lot of my friends
always joke around with me
like, "Oh man, like, if
you meet a girl out and
she ask you like what you
do you just say like
you're like a freelance
filmmaker or anything?"
And I say, "no."
I enjoy what I do.
Nadir MOS: Today, the
struggle was one: Carl and
Tucker are next to each
other.
I wish I had gotten Tucker
first instead of Carl,
just logistically.
SOT (Nadir picking up
Carl): Ugh, Carl!
What did you eat today?
Good lord!
Nadir MOS: And Teddy who
lives right over there,
bit through his leash for
I believe, the third time.
SOT (Nadir holding up
Teddy's leash): He likes
to eat his leashes like me
and you eat food.
[Upbeat music]
Nadir: I am extremely
proud to be a dog walker.
Not because of the kind of
job it is or is not but
because of the way that I
was raised and the way
that I believe the world
works.
If you are paying your
bills you could be
anything.
