Please help with my dog walking questionnaire

Dog Ears

Dog Ears

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30 January 2015
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Hampshire, England
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I am currently in the process of setting up a dog walking service in the Southampton/ New Forest area of Hampshire and want to provide the best possible service. Therefore, I would really appreciate help with some basic market research from Horse & Hound members, who know about dogs.

There are only 10 questions!

www.surveymonkey.com/s/QCN32X8

Your contribution will help me to plan my service. Thank you in advance.

Thank you also to the admins for allowing me to post.
Read more at http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/foru...-day-but-have-a-dog/page3#o9F3H7mqUcygTHZP.99

NOTE: I moved this post from the 'People who work all day . . . ' thread, because it was getting buried amongst more specific comments.
 
Dunnit!

My main issue, on the odd occasion when I've used a dog-walking service, was that I was charged £15 for EACH dog that she walked. I had two dogs at the time and both dogs were at the same place, so it was easy for her basically, and she didn't need to use any more time to walk the two!!! So I felt that £30 to walk them, in total, was a bit pricey TBH.

If a dog walking service offered a discount say, for more than one dog walked at the same time, I'd find that really helpful.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
Dunnit!

My main issue, on the odd occasion when I've used a dog-walking service, was that I was charged £15 for EACH dog that she walked. I had two dogs at the time and both dogs were at the same place, so it was easy for her basically, and she didn't need to use any more time to walk the two!!! So I felt that £30 to walk them, in total, was a bit pricey TBH.

If a dog walking service offered a discount say, for more than one dog walked at the same time, I'd find that really helpful.
Click to expand...

Thanks very much, MiJodsR2BlinkinTite. A good dog walker should offer a discount for more than one dog. It is in their interest, as it would attract more customers. Next time you want one, look for Dog Walkers on Yell, which gives a link to their website (if they have got one and the Yell entry is up-to-date). They should advertise discounts for multiple dogs or walks, as well as take bookings, on their website.
 
RESULTS


After nearly one hundred responses in just under two weeks, I thought I would update everyone who has contributed with a brief analysis of the survey.

Q1. Almost half the respondents own one dog, ten percent less own two dogs, another ten percent less own three and so on.

Q2. Around half were not interested in a dog walking service, the remainder used one or were at least thinking about doing so.

Q3. The main reason for using a dog walking service was working, at nearly fifty percent, followed by illness or family commitments.

Q4. Most people, by far, paid £10 ($15) an hour or less. Some paid up to £20 ($30), but no-one paid more than this.

Q5. Contributors' thoughts regarding the fairness of prices matched their answers for Q4, with slightly more optng for £10 ($15), rather than for less.

Q6. The largest group by far, 85 percent, said they would use a service following a recommendation, followed by the internet at 40 percent. Flyers were next and a small proportion said they would rely on posters, cards in shop windows or newspaper adverts (around 5 percent each).

Q7. The factors judged very important in a service were, in order: (i) previous experience, (ii) being friendly and caring, and (iii) references from previous clients. Many felt flexible bookings were important. Offering other services had little significance.

Q8. Well over half of respondents thought the ideal duration for a dog walk was 30 minutes to an hour, with most of the remainder opting for more. About 5 percent thought less than half an hour.

Q9. The services that appealed most were, in order: (i) dog walked by the same person, (ii) emergency bookings, and (iii) one-to-one dog walking. The other services came close and were level with each other. The least appealing (less than 10 percent each) were taxi-to-vet, online booking and other. I expected online booking to be more popular.

Q10. The required patterns of walking were, once a day for five days a week, one-offs and more than five days a week. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the survey, to me, was that only ten percent expected twice a day for five days a week or less.

Thank you again, and the survey is still open: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QCN32X8
 
ty, interesting, I think it depends on the area, round here several dog walkers have tried, but given up, I think there are just not enough of right customers.
I have seen big dogs kept in a house all day, I don't know why people who work buy dogs and don t keep them properly.
 
I've tried to answer as though my dog was fit - she's too arthritic now to do more than 5/10 minutes a day so obviously wouldn't be an option for me at the moment but in the future I would certainly consider using a dog walker if I was unable to walk enough
 
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