Starting up a dog walking business

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Mitchyden

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After 30 plus years, I'm totally fed up with working for someone else and have been considering starting up my own dog walking business. I was wondering whether people on here think there is much call for this.
 
You need to live in a city with lots of well off working couples if you want to make £20K per year [the average wage]
I would buy an ex police van with cages and ventilation. Being your own boss is fine till they run up a bill and scarper.
Any business which can be set up in a day with no specialist equipment or skill is doomed to failure as they can't compete with people on the dole.
 
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Read this yesterday:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...alkers-earn-64-000-year-trust-look-pooch.html

I personally wouldn't pay someone to walk my dog - it's a luxury that I indulge in myself, I love spending time with my dog and on days when I can't take her off our yard to walk her my OH lets her run around the track where we train the horses. The article suggests it's potentially a lucrative business though.
 
I'm not looking at making mega amounts of money and luckily my other half has a very good job so I just need the money to finance my horses. It's only a thought at the moment but I love being outside even in atrocious weather. I would also only walk a couple of dogs at a time unless they belong to the same family.
 
'I think you will not be able to make it pay, I have a paying hobby, it costs about £1500 a year to run, you really need to have a potential profit of around £12K otherwise just find a better job/
 
The dog walkers around my way are in such demand its unreal! I agree I like walking my own dog but when you both work full time you need some help midday. The reason we hadn't had a dog for years was because we wouldn't leave it all day on its own. Financially we couldn't really stretch the extra £50+ quid a week for a dog walker either so no dog.

Now we are in a better position we have a beautiful 10 month old collie type (I actually stopped job hunting for 3 months so we could get a puppy and be at home) and trying to find a walker for her was just impossible because they were all full up! I was in the process of getting a job closer to home so now I pop home at lunchtime to walk her but the businesses round our area are booming.

Do your research and if there is a demand then go for it :) If this job doesn't work out I know I will be giving it a go, lol! :)
 
Definitely in demand around here too! A woman lives down the road from me who I believe is a dog walker (if the business name on her van is anything to go by..!). That looks like an old police van and would assume she covers quite a large area.

Where I used to live in Berks there was also a high demand, though only knew people who covered local areas and would walk to people's houses or whatever - i.e., didn't have a van for transporting dogs.

I think it depends where you live. Cities/built up areas are always likely to have more demand.
 
We have a brilliant dog walker based in our nearest small town. You don't need a city, she is in huge demand and rarely has a free space these days.
She left school and did some sort of animal husbandry course and business management then advertised in the local paper as a pet sitter and dog walker. She started with a very small car and business has boomed and she has a bigger one now.
All the dogs love and respect her, she has built a great reputation for reliability and she uses her brain to make sure the dogs have water etc when she leaves them.
I have never needed a regular walker but she has come in to my dogs both looking after and walking them if I have had a long day out.
These days she has so many regulars that it is hard to get her just occasionally. I am about to try another girl who is just starting up, I hope she is as good.
 
A friend is a dog walker/trainer and employs two people plus her son works during school holidays. She had 20 odd dogs walked one day last week. They train as they walk, socialise, do separate training, keeps the dogs at her house during the day/overnight. She has a Defender for ferrying round the dogs. Lots of time is spent doing this. She has cages in the back yard, proper big ones. She has dogs to stay overnight. She lives in a semi rural area, very rich place.

She has a website and clever marketing. The business took a while to get going, but she's crazy busy now, plus five of her own dogs!
 
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It looks like it's a possibility then. Fresh air, exercise and canine company, what more could I want?! The idea really stems from the fact that I can't find anyone to walk my two at lunchtimes as no-one has any vacancies. This means I have to do a 20 mile round trip in my lunch break to get home and take them for a quick walk. Much as I love seeing them in the middle of the day, it does make lunchtimes stressful especially if there's a lot of traffic on the roads.
 
Absolutely Mitchyden. Our dog walker has quite a few teachers on her books who can't get back to their dogs in the middle of the day. This means in the school holidays she can fit in people like me who want an occasional awayday.
 
You have to build a descent round for it to be a good viable business, you have fuel costs/van/insurance. And you find some clients only want a few days where as some need you every day so this has to be balanced too. My OH started dog walking when he had to give up his job after spinal surgery, he was training dogs and began walking them as requested by owners. It has taken a few years to build up a good round and he now has 20 dog walking clients (obs the walks have to be split) if all 20 need walking on the same day, I can only help when im not on night shift but I help out a lot and its fab in the summer (I hide alot more in the winter lol). We also board dogs too which is ridiculously busy (we are constantly fully booked again though it is not as easy as people may think, its a huge responsibility to be entrusted with peoples dogs. If there is anything I can advise and help with just shout.
 
Also as above, all of our clients walk their own dogs for miles (before work) but feel they need extra exercise as all are pretty high energy breeds, owners include teachers, Solicitors, Dr's, Dentists, business owners and one lady who fosters children so like her dog to have a break and some fun and free up her time to spend with the kids. 1 owner just likes to keep their dog well socialised, so it's a mix.
 
Definitely a call for it. Friend ran same business and had 6 people working for her. She gave it up when she had a baby but the other 6 are still carrying with their clients in their own right.

People do however get peed off if you go away on holiday:p
 
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