I've just moved to Suffolk (at least as far as our temporary home until our hopeful purchase comes through) and I need to restart my dog grooming business. My other job in London was accounts admin but they seem few and far between so I am toying with the idea of trying to expand the dog business to include dog sitting and walking. Hubby doesn't think people will pay for dogwalking unless they live in posh parts of London like Canary Wharf, or at least won't pay enough for a proper job as opposed to a 'bit on the side' type pocket money. But I reckon there might be people round Bury St Edmunds / Stowmarket and the villages who work in London and would love someone to see to the dog during the day, what do people think? If I try it, how do I start? There's a registered group of dog walkers and / or dog sitters isn't there, so people know I am reputable? And what sort of prices does anyone on here that does this charge please? And how about insurance? Thanks!!

My view is that anywhere there are dog owners who have to work in order to be able to afford to keep their dogs there will be a market for dog walking.  My dog walker walks 5 dogs, her own is the youngest at 18 months and the others range from 6-14 so are a mature and easy to handle bunch.  I know that she is very cheap compared to others in the area and I pay £6 for a walk although I know others in the area charge up to £10 a walk.  I don't live in an affluent area and there is lots of demand here.

I would suggest that you ensure that any dog you take has it's own insurance and try to cluster your walks so you aren't travelling too much or you will spend lots of time and money on travel that you don't need to do.  I don't know about any registered groups but word of mouth and advertising in vets seems to be a good way to get customers.

I am a dog walker/ dog sitting in the east midlands. I have it sort of as a part time business as I am at uni, its very slow business and I don't earn alot of money. So far I am charging mates rates since all of my customers have been so far people who I have built up a rapport with through the dog park, I don't like to charge them full price which is a bit silly really, the training clubs and word of mouth. I would say to you get friendly with people at these places, then you will start getting business through word of mouth is the best way to get business. I had someone say to me not far back that she would have not trusted her dogs with anyone else, she had not been on holidays in previous years because she did not trust people to look after her babies, if you can get reviews like this you should be quids in :)
My prices are £8 first dog for an hour/ £2 subsequent dogs
My mates rates are considerably cheaper, I think the cheapest one I did was £50 for 5 days for three dogs walked twice a day, an hour each, fed and watered plus at least an hour playing at the house. So I guess that would be £8 for three dogs walked for two hours, £2 charge for feeding, watering and a hours additional excerise. It pays to be my friend:)
Good luck

Yes, word of mouth and the Yellow Pages were easily my best places for getting the grooming clients in my old London business. So once we've got into the permanent house and I do my new business cards, I can just add the dog walking service on, you don't have to be a member of any guild? Excellent! I also think I would keep clients dogs on extending leads at least until I'd got to know them enough to see if they'd recall, and probably always unless it was a really secure area, I can control 2 at once on extenders in a park as I sometimes have to with my own if there's food around to scavenge! And like you say, make sure the dogs are insured. And of course see if they're friendly if I'm going to walk dogs from 2 households!

Personally extending leads are my worse nightmare, there's no grip if you need to suddenly pull a dog back. Can I suggest a horses lunge rope? they are thicker and give you a really good grip, proabably have to attatch a double clip attatchment to it though as they are quite thick as you would only be able to carry one. I'm lucky as there is a secure area around near me to pop them on. I also carry a rucksack with me which contains treats, poo bags, balls, a frisbee (rubber one) and a squeaky toy, that way when you figure out what each individual dog recalls for you always have it on you. I recommend a rucksack since a bag on your shoulder will get in the way. Do you have Public liability and loss of keys coverage in your existing insurence as you will be needing them. Plus learn to love Halti's, try to promote your client's to put them on the dogs, it will save your arm and shoulders muscles if you walking 4+!!!

DiscipleOFdogs are you insured to do this ?

Yes I am fully insured and CRB checked for Dog walking and Dog sitting. Why?

Hi
I do dog walking etc in Ipswich (so just down the road from Bury / Stowmarket) i have in excess of 20 customers on the books (i have a couple of people working for me) i have had enquries from out toward Stowmarket which is out of my area so i would say it would be worth doing.  If you want to get in touch with me PM me and i'll send you my number for a chat :-)
Jessy

Yes I am fully insured and CRB checked for Dog walking and Dog sitting. Why?

Just asking :-)

I'd be worried about someone walking 4+ dogs if mine was wearing a Halti :( Surely 4+ is too many anyway in order to give attention to each dog ??

Daisy

The most dogs I have ever walked were 4 dogs in halti's, one of which was mine and the other three belonged to the same household.I have known the three dogs for a while, they are used to walking together and with my dog so no problem. I don't tend to walk dogs from different households together, the exception being my dog who gets to come out with us if she gets on with them . I don't think taking 4 dogs out that are non-aggressive and responsive to recall, that they are not recieving the right attention. Obviously if they were any behavioural problems it would not be a good idea to take a group of dogs out together like this because you would need hands free to deal with any problems that occur. I wouldn't be so keen to walk 4+ dogs even on halti's if I did not know the dogs before hand. I feel confident walking four-maybe five dogs (5 if they were small dogs), it all depends on the dogs really and what the client is happy with.

I offer a walking service but only on a one-to-one basis, alongside my grooming business. I charge £10 for 45 mins - 1 hour, or £8 for 30 mins. I will walk multiple dogs from the same household (at half the price of the 1st dog) but don't walk a strange group of dogs together. Also, my insurance will only cover dogs being off lead with written permission of the owner. I find the best way of advertising, other than word of mouth, is to have a website. The number of people I've had that have said "I found you on the internet and you're in the same village as me!" is quite unbelievable.

Thanks Jessy, I'll pm you as I don't yet have a landline until our move has gone through (we're with the in-laws in Hollesley until our hopeful move goes through). We will be halfway between Stowmarket and Bury so enquiries like you say are out of your area would be perfect for me!

OK, so I need public liability insurance, loss of keys insurance, and is CRB necessary or just desirable? I've got a web address for my dog grooming but haven't done much with it, so I can get hubby to update all that too once we've moved. :-)

How about the dog sitting? I'm sure there was some sort of union / association / group it was best to belong to for that?

CRB is not required just desirable, especially if your doing dog sitting etc. I personally would like to know whether anyone had any Criminal convictions before I gave them the key to my house :) but no u don't need to have CRB if you don't want.

I'm not part of a union/association/ group, I'm sure a quick google will bring up any associations/groups if you want to become part of one.

i once looked into dog walking along side my grooming. you can get the insurance added to your grooming insurance. i personally couldnt see me making much from it. dog walkers here are charging £6 phr, what about all your petrol?
what do you do in a thunderstorm? lol.
you must have to walk lots of dogs together to earn any money which i didnt like. i stuck with the grooming.

You can join NARP - www.dogsit.com or NARDS www.nards.co.uk. I beleive there are a few others out there. Just find the one that suits you best

Jackie

As the above post said, there are a number of websites that you can post your services on. http://www.dogwalkerscity.com is another one.