How To Start A Dog Walking Business: Become A Dog Walker
Should you consider starting a dog walking business?
67% of US households have a pet. Pets are no longer a rarity in American homes and require the same care and dedication as every other family member.
However, unlike with children pets cannot be dropped at schools while their parents go out to work.
They need different kinds of exercise and attention. One such service is a dog walking business. Especially in busy metropolises, it can be easy to forgo a walk or two, which is where dog walkers come.
They ensure the parents get to spend time at work, while dogs get their much-needed exercise.
In this article, we look at how one can start a dog walking business.
1. Start As A Solopreneur
Starting your dog walking business as a solopreneur might just be beneficial. For starters, you will be involved with the actual task yourself.
Your full involvement will give your business that quality control and personal touch that many large businesses may lack.
From talking to clients to interacting with pets, a solopreneur does it all and it shows.
How? You build a reputation and brand for yourself, which in turn attracts full-time and part-time walkers towards your business.
After you’re done gaining experience, you’ll be aware of the dos and don’ts. You can forward that to your employees who’ll use these learnings to maintain the touch and quality that you brought to the business.
2. Observe Neighborhoods And Create A Route
Creating routes is step 0.5 for your dog walking business.
Why? Because identifying neighborhoods and routes with the most doggos can help you decide on your base of operations and your office location (if any).
Additionally, location scouting is a good way to see how much competition is present in the area. Unless you’re global or operating on a large scale, your dog walking business will be geographically restricted.
It helps to see if there are already a lot of walkers, and hence competition, in a particular area already.
3. Choose A Name As An Extension Of Your Brand Personality
Thinking of a name is step one of marketing yourself. A friendly business name with a great logo can go a long way.
Your name will also reflect your brand persona. How you post on social media, interact with your followers, and comment on other brands’ posts will partly be determined by your name.
Your name isn’t the deciding factor behind your brand personality (think ‘Netflix’ and fun), but can help ease the process.
For your business category, think of fun, energetic names, If you’re looking for a cue, try and incite an ‘awwww’ from your audience- you will have won the half naming battle, then.
Pro Tip: Think round shapes, bright colors, and happy faces.
4. Remember Names
Remember the names of your clients and their pets. This is very similar to running a daycare. You would make sure to remember your daycare kids’ names, right? The same applies here.
Forgetting a name isn’t the end of the world, it can just create a slightly negative perception around your brand.
Here are fun ways to remember names:
- Form associations between the doggos’ names and their physical traits. Just don’t be as offensive as Michael Scott.
- Create rhymes with the name and something related to the dogs.
- Repeat the name in your head when it is first given to you. Call the doggo by that name. If done repeatedly, you will have memorized the name in no time.
- Spell out the doggos’ names when they’ve given to you or write them down somewhere.
5. Hire Accordingly Or Be Trained In Handling Doggos
At the end of the day, every single client will want their dogs to be safe with you and your team. In order to make that happen, either hire dog walkers with experience or get a certificate in dog training, yourself.
Going into the dog walking business blind may not be the best approach. It might create a sticky situation if you don’t know what to do when a dog is agitated/ feeling uncomfortable.
6. Learn To Conduct First-Aid For Dogs
In an ideal scenario, first aid services may never be needed. However, being prepared for the unpredictable is always a good idea. And being certified to conduct first-aid is a major plus.
Organizations such as Red Cross have certifications for cat and dog first-aid. Look into them and get a certification for yourself and your employees.
Being first-aid certified is also a major plus with clients. Who wouldn’t want their pets in the safest hands?
Have a business name in mind? See if it’s available!
7. Add Value To Your Business… And Price Accordingly
Competitive pricing may be a problem if your area already has established businesses. The biggest business always wins when two companies start pricing lower and lower.
However, to be competitive, you can instead add additional value to your dog walking business.
How? You can:
- Provide additional training services
- Create a dog hostel- for dog parents who are traveling out of town.
- A daycare/ playpen for dogs to interact with one another.
- Provide consultation on dog nutrition, exercise, bonding, and training.
Each of these requires certification and/or investment from your end. However, these will definitely add value to your existing service and may lead dog parents to contact you more frequently than your competitors.
8. Create An Online Presence
An online presence can include:
- Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
- Google Business Page
- A Website
At the end of the day, most clients will probably look up ‘dog walkers near me’ on Google. Not being on the internet is an opportunity lost. The returns outweigh the costs, by far.
Pro Tip: Don’t simply create online profiles. Take happy pictures with dogs, show your logo, get testimonials. Build your online presence and be regular with it.
9. Promote Your Business Online
You can do it without harming the environment with printed paper! If you have an online presence, you can create adverts on social, for starters.
You can also look into Search Engine Optimisation and write content with words that can get you atop Google’s search results.
If you can’t do these things yourself, look into hiring a freelancer. Promoting online will get you the contacts, calls, emails, and requests you need.
It’s a crucial part of any business in the 2020s.
10. Look Into Insurance
Being prepared for the unpredictable never hurts. This applies doubly so for when your business involves working with living beings.
Having health and accident insurance policies for your business and your employees is only a plus. If nothing else, it gives your employees a sense of relief that they’re covered.
In Conclusion
A majority of American households have pets. This means that there is no dearth of demand for dog walkers. However, given the low barrier to entry, the business can get very competitive.
In order to stay ahead of the pack (pun intended), add value to your service and get certified in training dogs and providing first-aid.
The above ten steps will help you set up your business. However, one additional thing you can do is to simply have fun with it!
Dog walking is not only good for the dogs, but also for the walker. Few things compare to happy doggos walking around you!