How To Start Dog Walking Business (2023)

How to become a dog walker?

There are numerous ways through which you can become a dog walker. The easiest way to do gain experience is to volunteer yourself at local kennels and rescue centers. The specifics for becoming a dog walker is to be physically fit because the dog might give you some hard time. Other than this you might have to get certification for dog walking. An individual should also have strong interpersonal and communication skills which will be required to deal with pets. Last but not least, you have to be a dog lover!!

So these are the things you will need to have in your personality so that you can be a fit for a perfect dog walker.

That’s all about being a dog walker now let’s talk about starting a dog walker business!! Here are the things that you need to do in order to start your dog walker business.

How To Start Dog Walking Business

1. Get training and certification

• Although it might not be necessary, but it will surely increase your credibility. Because there are many pet owners who would like to invest their money in the best and someone who is qualified to take care of their pet. It will give you a professional look and may increase your demand as well.
• The certification or training may include animal first aid, animal behavior, and animal care. All these will help you to increase your client base.

2. Know the rules and regulations for walking dog

• This might be a crucial step to start the business. Because you can’t succeed at something for which you possess a little knowledge. There are many countries where you will find a comprehensive list of rules Ns regulation which you will need to follow if you want to start the dog walking business.

Some of the common rules and regulations are the following:-

• No more than four dogs can be walked at a time
• Dog walkers will have to meet the owner prior to the first meeting
• Takedown the record for your work
• Protect the client’s private information
• Every dog must be wearing a collar which states the name of the owner with the address
• Clearing up faces (it’s kinda an important one cause you can be fined for not doing the cleaning!)

Other guidelines may vary from one place to another so make sure you read them all and fully act on them.

3. Conduct your own research for the dog walking business

• It’s always good that you are aware of how the business runs in your locality. This will help you to understand the requirements of the business in a particular area that you live in. So start up a research and know-how things work out for the business in the area.

4. Plan your business

• This mini step can make a lot of difference. So before you take any measure steps (which we are listing below) to start the business, you should plan your business thoroughly. This will give you a clear idea about how you will start the business and run it afterward. Take a notebook and wrote down every step and estimate the financial requirements, the document requirements, and see what possible hurdles you can face during starting the business.

5. Estimate the startup cost and ongoing cost

• It’s another important step that you will have to take before you actually start the business. Although not much of financial capital is required. But you can still estimate the cost if you are opening a company where you are going to hire the dog walkers or the cost of marketing your business. See if you have the required amount and how much capital you will need!

6. Pick up a name for the business

• It would be good for the business if you have a catchy and playful name so that everyone will be attracted to the name when they hear it at first. Although don’t put so much pressure just make sure it’s appropriate and relevant for the business. Also, check if the name you chose is available for the .com domain as you would require to make a website for the business.

7. Register the business with the right entity

• So once you have chosen the name, you will be required to choose the business entity and decide the best business structure. The business entity will determine how you will conduct your business and the course of taxes.
• The major business entities are, sole proprietors where you conduct the business alone and your personal asset will be included in the business as well. Another is a partner where you work with a partner. There is also a complex entity where your professional and personal assets are different from each other. And there is LLC which is most appropriate and beneficial. You can see the internal difference between them and decide which one you liked the best. Of it’s getting difficult for you, you can also take the help of a lawyer.

8. Get the insurance

• Insurance is pretty important for any business and that stands true for dog walking business as well. You will be responsible for a lot of things and of anything goes wrong you can be sued or asked to pay hefty fines. So to protect yourself and others it’s important that you buy insurance.
• The most appropriate insurance for this business is public liability insurance. Apart from this, you can also consider insuring yourself and your business as well as disability and life insurance.

9. Decide the price charges

• There is no doubt that you are doing this for money so there is no scope of mistakes while deciding the charges of your service. Although this depends on so many things and you may need professional help. You can take help from a financial adviser and decide the price.
• The best way to come up with the price is to see what your competitors are getting and what kind of services they are providing. This will help you to come up with a fair service charge. Your price may also depend on the location where you live.

10. Market your business

• Now that you have got the insurance, and set the price for the services, its time that you get some clients.
• The first step for getting the clients is to decide your target market. You will have to know who will be your potential customers and what are their requirements. And only after that, you can come up with a good marketing plan to take up some new clients.
• Once you have decided on your market you will need to come up with a marketing strategy. There is no doubt that your marketing strategy should be on point. You can either choose a traditional method of marketing the business which consists of posters, giving ads in the local business and you can ask your friends and family to give referrals. And there is digital marketing which might be very effective. You can make a social media account and promote your business or you can ask the local social influencer to promote your business as well.

Conclusion:

So these are the steps that you need to take to start your own dog walker business. We have tried to include every step that would require to establish your business. Of course, some steps might vary from one location to others like registering your company name or the taxes.

We hope you found the article helpful so thank you for visiting us and keep coming for more such helpful articles!