Dog walking services - what's needed?

[MartinOnline]

I have been looking for a business that I can start with relatively low start-up costs for a long while. One day I came up with the idea of dog walking as a service, which I can start in my local area before branching out to the wider population and maybe also extend my dog related services to grooming etc. Now, I understand this niche is somewhat overpopulated but I find it to be a large market - at least in my local area, most people have one or two dogs and the owners are either workers (and thus lack time to walk dogs) or are elderly (in which case are unable to walk dogs). I really feel there is a market here for the walking service and as far as I can tell there is relatively small start up costs. I intend to use this to earn money which I can save and then invest in one of my more profitable business ideas which would need more investment first though.

My question is, what sort of legalities need to be taken care of to make this service a reality? Is there different types of insurance I would need? (I presume pet insurance is a must, how much would this cost on average?), would I need a police background check? training?

I await responses from those more knowledgeable and thank any replies in advance.

 

[Bob]

Have a look at some of the posts by @BustersDogs May help you

 

[AllUpHere]

You can get public liability insurance for next to nothing. It might also be worth getting professional indemnity insurance if you are planning on giving advice to owners.

I wouldn't worry too much about it being a crowded market place. Dog walking and pet related services are incredibly easy to market. It would cost next to nothing to fill your diary, pretty much from day 1.

 

[jamesbaldock]

This isn't an answer to your question but I thought I'd jump in a make a suggestion.

I use a dog walking service in our area. They offer a 'school bus' service where they come round with a van and pick up all of the dogs in the morning, take them out for a run all day (lunch included) and drop them off again around 5p.m.

This is great and the dog loves it!

 

[Bob]

We use Cliverton for our therapy dog insurance and they have special cover for dog walking services

 

[LawHound]

Agree with the post above, its crowded but very easy to differentiate your services and make a massive impact. Its a growing market. Public liability and professional negligence (indemnity) insurance, good clearly written contracts. Also make sure your car or van insurance fully covers you for the business use and emergency use if a dog was hurt and needed emergency treatment when in your care so would need to be taken in your vehicle to the vets etc. Happy to chat this through with you.

 

[FirstClassVirtualOffice]

Try this:

petbusinessinsurance.co.uk

PBI now offer a specialist simplified insurance policy just for dog walkers, pet minders, boarders and sitters for just £68.80 for a whole year!
Key Facts

• Public Liability cover up to £1,000,000
• Care, Custody & Control cover up to £5,000
• Loss of Keys cover up to £1,000
• Loss of Money cover up to £250
• Dog Walkers, Pet Minders, Boarders & Sitters only
• No mid term adjustments
• Covers businesses with turnover under £10,000
• Covers businesses based in England, Scotland or Wales
• Covers one person
• Cost £68.80 for 12 months cover
• Covered by the PBI No Risk Money Back Guarantee

 

[AllUpHere]

Covers you for a whole year, but you need to turnover less than 10 grand. Lol.

 

[FirstClassVirtualOffice]

Its still cheap if you double it though

 

[BustersDogs]

Dog walking is not a low cost start up unless you are planning to walk the dogs one at a time, in which case you won't make a living from dog walking. You will need a reliable vehicle that you can safely load dogs into, which means crates. To get the best use of space in the vehicle, you can't use off the shelf crates - although many people start like that and then invest in custom built crates as they grow - you won't earn a living if you can't get enough dogs of different sizes into your van if you're restricted by crate sizes. That's going to cost minimum of £3000-5000 depending on how much you spend on a vehicle.

Insurance would be around £100-150 for specific pet sitting insurance (Cliverton, PBI or Pet Plan are the main ones). You don't need professional indemnity unless you are charging specifically for advice (ie a dog trainer). Giving general advice as part of your dog walking service doesn't require it as most of the pet sitting insurance companies will cover that without it. The insurance listed above I don't believe is enough, you need £3,000,000 public liability really, and you need your insurance to also cover more than one person - family members as standard for instance in case you need them to help you cover if you're off sick or on holiday.

Terms and conditions would be extremely sensible - I am not sure of the legality, but to take dogs off the lead you will need written permission for the insurance anyway. Mine were checked by both a solicitor and trading standards (TS were MUCH more picky!), and so a signed contract/agreement with the owner to agree to the T&C (or service agreement as TS called it) which needs them to nominate an emergency contact. Trading Standards recommend a DRB check (I got mine through Disclosure Scotland).

I'm not sure if you'll need to live off your dog walking income, but to make any real money at it you either need to be offering a niche product that you can charge a lot for, or have staff.

I don't think the market is crowded, although new people start up all the time so they get all the awkward and difficult dogs that established dog walkers won't walk anymore. That, with the slow burn to start up means a lot of them give up quickly, especially as a lot of them undercut the established dog walkers so are working hard and not really making very much profit.

Make sure you do your demographics properly before you start, to be sure there is a market for you, in the area you want, of the type of person you want. And check out your competition properly. You won't be able to groom dogs and walk dogs at the same time on your own, they are incompatible. It also takes a long time to train if you are going to do it properly.

Of course you will need training. Just give me a call.

 

[sirearl]

Lots of leads.

 

[MOIC]

A scoop and bags. Lots of them

 

[Simply Business]

Hi @MartinOnline, dog walking is actually one of the growth industries at the moment, with numbers continuing to rise - so you're absolutely right there is a market there for you! @BustersDogs has given you plenty of advice there and I'm sure you can make a great business of it!

Best of luck