Do you, or would you, use a dog walker?

[condor]

I've been walking an elderly neighbours dog for free for many years, and thought it would be a good idea to set up as an independant dog walker ( wanting to be paid). Does anyone here pay for a dog walker service?

From contacts through a village pub (about 5 miles away) they have said they'll advertise my services if I walk their dog each day - which I have done all this week. Payment was agreed at a large glass of wine and they'll promote my services. It being half-term, I've also been minding their children on the dog walks as well...today I took them in my car to a country park, 20 mile round trip and 4 hours in total, which we all enjoyed.

I've a vague notion that I'm not going to make a living out of this idea, and so wanted to get a view from the PH massive

Any opinions on dog walkers/ cat sitters/pet cares etc.?

[ali_kat]

My best mate uses a cat sitter

I would happily use one too

My local one comfycreatures is an ex vet nurse

I think a lot of people would prefer that someone comes to their house to walk/feed the dog/cat than put them in kennels

[DavesFlaps]

I use a dog walker.

She charges £7.50 per walk and takes him out(along with 4 or 5 others) for about 90 minutes.

I understand this is quite cheap.

Other dog walkers in my area charge up to £10 per walk.

I think you'll need quite a few dogs to make any money out of this. I think mine looks after about 20 all in all (not at the same time !)

£7.50 x 5(mon-fri) = £37.50 x 20 dogs = £750 = Not too bad.

There's also insurance to consider.

There's also the issue of mixing neutered and un-neutered ?

etc..

Good Luck.

[itsnotarace]

condor said:

From contacts through a village pub (about 5 miles away) they have said they'll advertise my services if I walk their dog each day - which I have done all this week. Payment was agreed at a large glass of wine and they'll promote my services.

Lets flip this around. Ask them to give you 1 hours worth of free booze each day. When anyone asks how you got sozzled you can give them the name of the village pub to advertise their services. I bet they don't take you up on it

Protip: they are taking advantage of you

[condor]

DavesFlaps said:

I use a dog walker.

She charges £7.50 per walk and takes him out(along with 4 or 5 others) for about 90 minutes.

I understand this is quite cheap.

Other dog walkers in my area charge up to £10 per walk.

I think you'll need quite a few dogs to make any money out of this. I think mine looks after about 20 all in all (not at the same time !)

£7.50 x 5(mon-fri) = £37.50 x 20 dogs = £750 = Not too bad.

There's also insurance to consider.

There's also the issue of mixing neutered and un-neutered ?

etc..

Good Luck.

She seems to be doing well then

I am going to get insurance sorted once I get a fee paying customer, at the moment I'm doing it for free or a glass of wine...which really wasn't the original plan.
I've got a website registered and being sorted and business cards are given out to likely prospects....there's a load in the pub. I'm going to get leaflets printed and do a leaflet drop round my village, hopefully in the next couple of weeks.
Really wanted to get the website right before I started heavily advertising...but the girl that's doing it hasn't stepped up to the mark.

[condor]

itsnotarace said:

condor said:

From contacts through a village pub (about 5 miles away) they have said they'll advertise my services if I walk their dog each day - which I have done all this week. Payment was agreed at a large glass of wine and they'll promote my services.

Protip: they are taking advantage of you

Yes, I know they are...but if I can get a few paying clients from their village then that would be OK.

[FamilyGuy]

There's one near me. They've a signwritten little van which I see parked nice and prominently out and about near public footpaths - good cheap publicity. According to their van they seem to offer a range of dog-related services like grooming, etc, as well.

[B3Svert]

I work from home when I'm not travelling but when I'm away or out for the day will use a dog walker. I tried a few around my area and the one I use now is actually the most expensive (£15ph) but 100% reliable and trustworthy which I could not say about the others. He does cat sitting as well and has over 100 appointments per week, average of £10 a pop.

[Mr Roper]

Typically how to you get the dogs? Do the owners give you their house keys or location of spare??

[Toyless]

I started using one early this year as I was unhappy with my two being home alone on a work day.

My two get a full hours walk on the week around lunchtime, and on Friday they get taken up to the kennels (about 5 mins from here) and have a huge run around in the free play pen with a gang of boarding dogs.

This costs me £12 4 or 5 times a week, which in our current financial position, I could well do without, but having started it and seen the difference in my dogs, and knowing they have the day broken up means Im unable to justify stopping it.

The other thing I like about it, for example - when we went to Fos, we left early am and returned late pm - the dogs had TWO visits that day, mid am and mid pm and were thus as tired as us on our return.

Our situation has changed since we first got our two (10 years ago) and I would not look to get a dog if I were dog free currently, due to amount of hours at work for both if us.

[Mrs Grumpy]

I know a few dog walkers and others that use them. I also know of some totally crap dog walkers that just pick up a load of dogs en masse, take them to a country park, let them out and then ignore the havoc that ensues.

I would want someone who has insurance and will give my dog what it needed, be that individual on lead walks or group off lead walks. I'd also want to know what their experience and training style was.

The other thing would be CRB checked if they were entering my house.

Good luck!

[Toyless]

Yeah, deffo check for CRB and also personal recommendations.

The Nat Assoc for Reg Pet sitters has a website, but they used to charge a tenner to give out details of local pet sitters which I thought was bizaare.

Its a balance really, I wasnt totally happy with letting a key for my house out of my sight, but you have to make the decision if you want the best for your animals I beleive.

[Jasandjules]

Mr Roper said:

Typically how to you get the dogs? Do the owners give you their house keys or location of spare??

A friend of mine is a dog walker. Mainly she works by word of mouth - the dog walking community is quite a small one !! But there is not a shortage of people asking for her service.

She takes each dog out individually for at least an hour at a time (it's a good way to get fit her her really!). Some owners give her a spare key, some owners drop the dogs off, some owners prefer that she comes to their house and they hand over the dog - sorry, that's not helpful but I think everyone is different....

Also, she tends to board dogs that she walks when the owners go on holiday..........

[renmure]

I used to use one. A chap from the village who cycled out to the house and took 2 Danes for a 45 min walk each weekday afternoon. Paid £30 each week but called a halt to it when it had become obvious that there were occasional days where there was no walking being done.

[Beardy10]

I use a dog walker every weekday...wife has two young children to deal with so walking the dog as well is not really an option. I do a walk before I go to work. We pay £15 for a two hour walk...that is the going rate in London. It's a lot of money but the hound is worth it.

Our previous dog walker who was brilliant and I think made really good money and also did dog sitting...£30 a day on your house. So the dog got two or three walks a day and the house was looked after too. She was exceptional though expat living in London as her husband had been posted here, doing something she loved. I think she walked an average of 10 dogs a day....£150 a day...£750 a week. £3000+ a month. Not bad with no overheads.

[parakitaMol.]

There are quite a few dog walkers and dog creche/day care services around here. I would investigate public liability insurance and dog walking licenses, CRB check etc and what else might be involved to set up doing this properly. Google for what other professional dog walking services list on their websites.

When I found my dog walker she had all sorts of stuff with her about her service and I had to fill out lots of paperwork about the dogs requirements. They provide a collection/drop off service during the day when you're out at work and charges depend on how long, how many dogs you want your dog to be walked with, specific health needs etc. My two are collected twice a week about 1 hr after I leave for work and dropped off an hour before I'm home, for which I pay £30 per day but they are very young and it gives me great peace of mind.

P.S. A month ago I read about a dog-walker who had 8 dogs (some pedigree) stolen along with her van. Something like that would be soul (and business) destroying.

[Galsia]

I didn't realise how expensive this could be. £15 per day is £300 per month if you have a person do it every weekday.

[NoNeed]

My daughter did this for a year or so to earn a little extra, she charged £3.50 to £6 depending on the size of the dog. She only ever took one at a time though but did make quite a bit some weeks, well for a 15/16 year old. It also helped her to get an animal management course at college which was out of our area.

[HalfMoon]

Mrs Grumpy said:

totally crap dog walkers that just pick up a load of dogs en masse, take them to a country park, let them out and then ignore the havoc that ensues.

There used to be a few of these round our way... Groups of 10+ dogs running riot while the "walkers" sat having a fag and not generally giving a st about what the pack was up to, with absolutely no control over them.

[Toyless]

Galsia said:

I didn't realise how expensive this could be. £15 per day is £300 per month if you have a person do it every weekday.

Don't have to tell me ....

Currently working 6 days a week to try and stand still...

Good job my dogs love me.