Dreams Are Made Of

Text and images by Marina Felix Garcia.

While walking two dogs along the narrow streets of Astoria Boulevard in Queens, Matheus Weirich, 27, keeps his eyes fixed on the leashes, making sure they don’t overlap into an impossible knot.

The work is physically demanding – it’s hard on the knees, and it requires a constant, careful vigilance, along with a high level of responsibility. It’s not easy caring for someone else’s four-legged furry children..

Weirich’s work schedule starts at 8 a.m, scrolling through messages to make sure none of the day’s appointments have fallen through. He calls the dogs his real clients, and it shows. He saves the owner’s numbers under each dog’s name. 

The one-man operation currently has ten dogs in its rotation, all walked and trained by him. Weirich first learned the craft by taking online classes during the pandemic and practicing on his own dog, Zuzu, the namesake of his business.

“I pick up Sammy and Zuzu first,” Weirich explains. “They have to be together.”

He has a system so that the feisty personality of each dog won’t interfere with his walking schedule, and so that each one is not going to the opposite side of the street when walking together. 

He walks a few blocks before nearing the next pickup. As he approaches the third dog’s building, Weirich pulls out a keychain with several dozen keys. None of the keys are labeled. 

“I somehow managed to memorize all of them,” he says, trying to carefully find the one that will open the next client’s door.

At each stop, Weirich leaves the remaining pack outside the next client’s house, while he quickly heads inside to collect the next dog. He tries to keep the group from rushing in and creating chaos.

The disorder, however, is part of the charm. Each dog brings its own personality, energy and giddy excitement to the pack.

After he picks up a fifth dog, a woman remarks to him, “I’ve never seen a group of dogs so well behaved!”

Offering walks that range from 30 minutes to over an hour, Zuzu Pets NYC, which holds 12 five-star reviews on Google, came to life in 2024, after Weirich cycled through restaurant jobs — working as a busboy, waiter and bartender, following his move from Rio de Janeiro to New York City. 

He had unofficially started in 2020. Between restaurant shifts, a customer-turned-friend asked him a simple question: Could he walk their dog after hours? The random request soon pointed him toward what would become his calling.

After the pandemic, many New Yorkers saw themselves having to return to in-person office jobs and were forced to say goodbye to the remote 9 to 5’s, leaving their furry friends home alone. The timing felt perfect for Weirich, who decided to work full time as a dog walker for other pet care businesses. Four years later, he got the nerve to open up his own business. He has been working all by himself ever since. 

“I have a twin brother,” Weirich says. “He’s started helping me out a bit. But ultimately, I want my brand to grow and bring on other walkers to help me.”  

Even if the business grows, he has no plans to step away from everyday work. 

“I want co-workers to support me,” he adds., “but I don’t see myself ever stopping walking dogs. I have a very strong connection with each of them. I think it’s a healthy job to have.”

In the beginning stages of working as a solo dog walker, without an app service, and without being tied to a company, he was walking three dogs and making $390 per week. 

“I was struggling to get more dogs,” he says, “so I started catering on the side.” 

During this time, he was also taking night classes at LaGuardia Community College, but that became difficult to manage once the dog-walking gig became more than just a gig. 

“Most of my clients, I got through word of mouth or referrals,” he says. ”I printed business cards and went around handing them out at parks, at pet shops, putting up posters on the street, doing all sorts of things to get my business’s name out. I handed them to people with dogs. I’d strike up a conversation and tell them about my work.” 

He offers a free meet-and-greet to get a sense of both the dog’s and their person’s vibes, usually with other dogs in tow.

“I aim to do more work in group settings,” he says. “If a dog doesn’t feel safe around other dogs, it makes it harder for me to train them in that environment.”

There have only been a handful of early mornings, he says, when he’s questioned whether to pick up his scheduled dogs for the day, usually when the feels-like temperature hits the minus degrees, or when he is sick.

Even on those days, he has to be out the door by 7:00 am to walk his clients.

Weirich wants to be there for the dogs, whom he calls his kids, his friends. He thinks of them as something closer to joy than obligation.

“I have so much love and affection for them,” he says. “It makes my day.”