Professional dog walkers

Paint it Lucky

Paint it Lucky

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19 March 2007
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Hi! Just wondering if anyone here walks dogs for an income or pays someone to walk their dog/s for them? I am thinking of doing this part time and just want a bit more info really! How much should I charge/would you be willing to pay. Was thinking of offering either pick the dofg up from it's home, take for a walk of roughly an hour then bring back. Or take the dog for the whole day (if owner at work/away etc). Also thinking of offering an alternative to kennels whereby I could look after the dog at home with me for a week (or however long), and it could go for lots of nice walks rather than being shut ina kennel for most of the time. :( I don't have any specific dog qualifications but have been around dogs all my life and have studied animal behaviour in detail (though I don't pretend to be a dog trainer and wouldn't be offering that as a service, purely walks and care!) Don't know if I am being realistic or not but it would nice if I could make this work. My other part time/day job is painting so this would fit in nicely around that. Any info/feedback/experiences greatly appreciated thankyou! :D
 
I have a dog walker a couple of times a week. She doesnt have any formal qualifications that I know of but she is great. She picks up my dog and walks him with other dogs and brings him back, she is gone 1.5 hours ish. I gave her the option of exercising him at home or taking him out but he likes to go out with her other dogs. She charges £10 and I really think its worth it.

I phoned a few people and some charged up to £16 and I got the feeling I would get my hour and that would be it. I like the fact I feel like I get a really personal service, and she seems to care about the dogs.

she also asked about things like if he could be off the lead, and always refills his water and gives him a treat!
 
First thing I would say is..... insurance!!! I only walk one dog now so it's not really practical for me to pay for the insurance but the owner is fully aware of this, but if you tell people this it gives them piece of mind. Anything could happen, even if you keep all dogs on a lead.
If you're getting insured you will need written permission from the owner for it to be off lead, and there is also a limit to how many dogs you can walk.
As for price - it varies! Where I am now, I generally charge £6.50 for about 45 mins/an hour (depending on travel) however my client now insists he pays me £10 :D and I only walk dogs one at a time.
I was looking into london charges the other day and it seems to begin at £8 for 45 mins - and they are walkers that take several out at a time.
I've only done "day care" once and that was living in someones house for two months looking after their dog... so not too sure about the ins and outs of that :)
 
I'd definitely ditto getting insurance - I walk/dog/house sit on occasion, mostly for friends (for free) but now I've got recommendations, so I'm branching out a bit! :) I've got public liability insurance - have a look on compare the market etc for quotes, there's a lot around!

When I'm house/dog-sitting I do whatever the owners usually do - if that means walking a mad JRT for 5 hours a day, then that's what I do! I only ever had other people's dogs staying with me when I knew them (and their dog) really really well - now I'm without my own dog, I can be a bit more flexible! When I've "hired" dog walkers in the past (they were always known to me beforehand) I'd pay £10 for a decent lunchtime walk - which was usually in woods near us and I made sure they were only walking my dog and using the commands I used (fussy, moi?! :p) All things to think about - but good luck!! :D
 
When I lived in London I paid £8 per hour for a walker. However this soon stopped when my builders told me the hour was spent in the lounge eating her lunch and my dogs exercise was a pee in the back garden. Essentially the £8 covered her opening the back door :(

Chose very carefully. I myself wouldn't care about the formalities of insurance etc if my dog loved his time out and the person was really caring.
 
Hi I used to home board until my pooch got sick, DEFINATELY insurance its not expensive. You also need to check with yor council if you need a licence - about £100/year. Its not scary, they just send a rep and a vet out to make sure your home is suitable, safe etc some councils want it, others dont. TBH its a another way of getting brass out of a niche industry as the Establishment Boarding Act (1966???) was set up for boarding kennels and catteries NOT home boarding, but heyhum! You will need to make sure dogs have YOUR contact details on their collars - remind owners that they NEED a collar on - you'd be surprised - you're liable if anything happens. Get vaccination certs, microchip ID's (if they have) vet details ALL contact numbers. - Common sense stuff really. Make them sign a disclaimer especially if they want dogs running off a lead (use your own judment on this) and to say they will pay any vet bills that may arise. Bitches - not in season if more than one dog around - entire males - your choice, I never had a problem with them. Let them stay over for 1 night to make sure they settle - you dont want a stressed squeaking dogs with you for a week! Again I've never had a problem. Remember YOU are in charge of the dogs:) Rules! My boarder is the best in the world EVER! but no settees, beds etc they stayed with another boarder once and I spent 2 months reminding my retriever that I sat on the sofa and he sat on the floor, I was really p***ed off, they didnt go back! Its brilliant fun, not enough around. Mine NEVER go to boarding kennels, and come back from their hols tired and happy. I charge £15/dog, reductions for more than 1 (from same family). I still have a few favourites that come back and we moved 70 mile away from where we started up:)
 
The OH's Brother pays £10 for an hours walk (Herefordshire area) or £15 for a days care- where she picks him up takes him to her home then drops him off at 5pm. I used to drop Tassy off at day kennels when I was working late- I would drop her off at 8am and they would look after her till 5pm - They would play with her ( I would often find her in the house playing when I came to pick her up) they charged £10 for the day- although most of the day is spent in a keenl- with an hours walk/play at some point in the day
 
I home board and my OH dog walks and trains dogs, he has 6 dogs on his dog walking team and charges £10 per walk, it should be an hour but he has them out longer then that, he takes them on varied walks, swimming, and lets them have a good hoon and returns them paggered, all his are off lead with permission as he trained half of them so the letting off is jsut like letting our won off, we have full liability for walking and home boarding, have a license for boarding and have a yearly inspection (although im sure te nitial quetion was dog walking) obs you need to make a price chart for people who may only call on your services once a week, as I would recommend you charge at a higher rate and give your lower rate to those using you most days, can explain better if you like, if you want any info just Pm me.
OH has behavioural qualification and is very exerienced with dogs but I dont think that should have any bearing on dog walking as you as you are confident around dogs and can handle a them ok, then an owner will be looking for a sensible person.
OH actually had a spenal op and had to give up his job hence the dog walking/training.
 
Great! Thanks for all the info guys :D I have been doing some more research and it does look like something I could do. Sounds like a dream job really to spend all day playing and walking with dogs! (Though I'm sure it's not that simple!) Will definately look into the insurance to see what I need. Read somewhere that you should be CRB checked? Not sure hwo you do this, do you just go to a police station and ask them? (Very naive sorry!) Also that I should insist the dogs are wormed regularly, flea treated and up to date with vaccines etc so they can't spread anything to the other dogs.

CAYLA, thanks I may pm you once I've done abit more research. :)
 
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