UKC

Toying with the idea of setting up a little "earner" by walking dogs. Does anyone do it?
Grateful for any info.

In reply to mypyrex: Don't forget to pick-up after them...

In reply to mypyrex:

Insurance is a good idea to protect both yourself and the dogs in your care.

In reply to mypyrex:

This is getting very popular in my neck of the woods. Over the last few years I have noticed four such businesses doing quite well and all exclusively female run.

You'll need ear plugs or ear protectors while driving as the dogs get excited in transit.

In reply to mypyrex: Is a new law not in the pipeline to limit the number of dogs that a 'pro' walker can walk at a time? I know some councils restrict things locally at the moment - 4 is a common limit. Also the insurance you can get will limit the number of dogs you can walk.

In reply to mypyrex:

Money for old rope i'd say but you'd need to be near somewhere where enough people have a lot of disposable income. I live in Maidenhead and there seems to be no shortage of dogwalkers just in the area where we walk our dog. Some of them must be making 100-200 quid a day easily.

In reply to mypyrex:

I find it perverse to own a dog you cannot take care of and then pay someone else to have it shit all over the place.

So if you decide to go for it, please be the first dog walker who actually picks up after his charges.

Otherwise, insurance will be essential, even if it were not required by law.

CB

In reply to mypyrex:

A person I know has a dog walker which she pays £10/hour and he comes Monday-Friday.

In reply to cb294:

I guess just like having kids then putting them in a nursery then

In reply to cb294:

My wife works 3 days a week and on those days pays someone to walk the dog at lunchtime. We could leave the dog in the house for 8 hours and just walk it in the evenings, but that would be a bit cruel don't you think ?

In reply to Chris the Tall:
We could leave the dog in the house for 8 hours and just walk it in the evenings, but that would be a bit cruel don't you think ?


Same here, hence no dog.

CB

In reply to cb294:

People's circumstances change, though, and if they can use a facility like this then it means they don't have to get rid of their dog. I work from home, but on the occasions when I have to go out to meetings we'll be using a dog walker. The idea of having to stay by the dog's side for the entirety of its life is as unrealistic for most people as spending every minute of the day with one's child until it's eighteen.

In reply to cb294:

Yawn.

In reply to candy_girl:

i'll come for half the price 24-7. i think mypyrex is onto somthing..

In reply to cb294:
Some people may want the companionship of a dog, but are too old or infirm to walk it.

With my wife, she does 80 to 90% of the walking, and pays someone else to cover the rest.

I do 80 to 90% of the bike maintenance work, and pay someone to do the rest. Should I only be allowed to have a bike if I do 100%.

Actually, this DIY attitude is bad for the economy. If you work full time, you should employ people to do stuff. Make the most of your free time and spread your money around, particularly amongst locals.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

Totally agree.


It would be nice, except that every other f*cker earns more money than me.

In reply to subalpine:

Lol, I meant to say he comes for one hour a day between Monday - Friday. She did want him to come on the weekends but he refused.

In reply to mypyrex:

My wife has ME (Chronic Fatigue) but usually walks our little cavalier on the beach 4 days a week.

I work away and walk the dog Friday evening, Sat and Sunday.

There is a woman down the road, who has athritis and I've offered to take her dog at the weekends if ever she can't do it, but I imagine that there are lots of people in our area who would be happy to pay for such a service.

The way to make decent money must be ecconomies of scale? If you actually managed to employ 'staff' at minimum wage, walking 4 dogs each per hour, at £10 an Hour, you could be making £25 per member of staff per hour. I guess that you'd be limited to say 10 til 3 as you need to be taking them in the middle of the day.

I also imagine that offering a grooming service on the side would add extra hours to the business. (they charge £££££'s where I live for a simple twice a year 'shave') (we give ours a number 3 all over)

As an aside, my sister who lives in Ohio, takes her dog to "doggie day care" if she's going out for the day and won't be back til late.

In reply to mypyrex:
seems a bit pointless having a dog if you cant walk it or at least give it some outdoor activity ,

In reply to New POD:

OTOH, there are likely to plenty of people looking for work between say 9.30 & 2.30 (ie whilst kids are at school) rather than "full time" hours, so it's unlikely to be hard to find staff to work those hours.

In reply to colina:

There've been at least three posts on here that say "we walk our dog lots, but sometimes we're not able to because of work, ill-health etc, so the best thing to do would seem to be to pay someone else to exercise it. Did you read them?

I'll let you into another thing - when we go on holiday we put our dog into kennels - no doubt you think "it's a bit pointless having a dog if you're not going to smuggle it in your luggage and take it to mallorca with you".

In reply to colina: What is this idea that people who employ dog walkers don't walk their dogs themselves? A few times a month OH and I both work the same long days. On those days, isn't it nice for the dogs to be taken out at lunchtime? We still walk them 3 times a day, but it breaks up the day for them.
It's like the idea that you can't work and have dogs, surely it's better for dogs to be in a good home, several walks a day, but left to laze on the sofa for a few hours with a break at lunchtime from a nice dog walker, than it is for them to be stuck in a rescue, or even a home where people are at home, but the dog just gets let in the garden for toileting and stimulation and then basically ignored.
PS most of the dog walkers by us take your dogs out on their own (not groups) and charge £7 to £8 for 1/2 hour.

In reply to ceri:

My mum's dog walker takes (friendly) dogs out in groups so they can have hurtling-around time together. Daisy loves it! I think she charges £7/hour for group walks, but that's per dog.

In reply to New POD:


I'm not sure I would use a dog walker who did this. I want my dogs walked by the same person (who I've met) and that person should have some kind of recognised training, as well as insurance. The dog walkers round here all seem to be qualified: a vet nurse, a college course in animal care, a behaviour qualification etc.
I would be worried about them farming it out to staff, inexperienced people taking out mixed groups of dogs is a recipe for something to go wrong: what if the dogs fight (with each other or another dog) or are off lead and run away? Minimum wage might mean high turn over of staff and no chance of building up a relationship between walker and dogs, same goes for walking large groups.

In reply to Tall Clare: Agree, good for some, my friends dog goes out like this and loves it, Beans would too (Rosie would hate it), but it seems less popular round here (maybe because rural the dogs live further apart so harder for them to do groups?)

In reply to New POD:

I can see you could make good money if you walk four dogs at once and fill your day up. But how do you arrange that if your customers are some distance apart? If the dogs get an hour walk in the park there could be another hour driving around picking up and dropping off the four dogs. In which case the four dogs turns into £20 an hour (compared with £10/hour for one dog) and you need a van with cages so the four dogs can't fight when your driving. If lots of customers ask for the same time of day that will limit the amount of hours per day a dog walker can work.

In reply to ceri:

Ah - this woman essentially just looks after (dog walking and selected home boarding) dogs from the village, which is tiny, so most of the dogs have met one another anyway.

In reply to cb294:


The same can surely be said about parents who have kids and then pack them off to boarding school?

In reply to Tall Clare: Sounds nice

In reply to mypyrex:

Most people with dogs would be reluctant to leave their animals in the care of somebody whose primary motivation was a 'little earner'. What's your background in caring for dogs? Do you have any dogs?

*I'm not insinuating you can't do this, and wouldn't do a great job, just pointing out the way you've positioned it doesn't sit well with many dog owners.

In reply to yorkshireman: Dog walking is a business. Businesses are there to make money.

In reply to Oceanrower:

I don't dispute that, but as a pet owner, whenever we've used a commercial third party to look after our cats or dog, we've been very selective and cost isn't the deciding factor, rather the quality of care.

There are plenty of people out there who care for animals as a sideline because they like animals, rather than because they see it as easy money (which I'm pretty sure it's not)

In reply to yorkshireman:

Agreed.

I've just dropped Lotta off at the cattery/kennels and the people there have said that they see themselves more as foster parents than anything - she's not very well at the moment so, because she's a puppy, they're keeping her in the house with her hot water bottle and Mrs Cow, her favourite toy, close at hand. That's the sort of care I like to know my pets are going to receive in the hands of third parties. This particular place also makes a note of which cats particularly like cuddles.

In reply to Tall Clare: Where d'you take them? I was slightly concerned when i heard our cats were to go to a "feline retreat"...

In reply to andy:

Springs at Eldwick. Brilliant place - cats can have an indoor space or an outdoor-facing one with a view, and the owners are just really nice kind people. The fuss they made of Lotta this evening made me wonder whether we'll get her back...

We made the mistake of taking Lotta to a place up on the moors near Pateley Bridge a couple of weeks ago, as it sounded great on the website, but she came back malnourished and ill.

In reply to aln:

by - aln on - 15:42 Sun
In reply to cb294:

Yawn.
..............

Sh*t loads of dogs get walked at Wyming Brook not very far below Redmires next to the track upto Stanage Pole by dog walkers who don't pick up after thier dogs have done thier business.

I've done volunteering doing conservation, and you never see them picking up after the dogs they're walking. You'll often see the dogs pooing though.

It's better than the people who throw the bags of poo over some of the walls there, but it's not always great for any kids or cyclist, or anybody petrol strimming there.

In reply to Timmd:

Is it classed as agricultural land? If so, if I remember rightly there isn't a legal obligation to pick up dog poo - though if it's a footpath then the rules get blurry.

n.b. I do pick up after my dog, even on agricultural land (one of the main dogwalking paths round here cuts straight through a field). Picking up diarrhoea is a challenge...

In reply to Tall Clare:

It's a nature reserve, not agricultural land at all. Public footpaths, and trees growing around the place, with the odd spot that's an SSSI. About as far from agricultural land as you can get really.

In reply to Timmd:

Ah right. That's just rubbish then. I like the setup at Ogden Water just outside Halifax, where instead of relying solely on poo bins (if I remember rightly), they have a special 'dog toilet' wooded area that's clearly marked.

In reply to Tall Clare: there's no requirement to pick up poo on:

Land used for agriculture or woodlands
Rural common land
Land that is predominantly marshland, moor or heath
Highways with a speed limit of 50mph or more

But we tend to, wherever it is.

Eldwick's a blimmin' long way to take your dawg - ours likes addingham and it's ten minutes away. It'll do.

In reply to andy:

Mr TC's kids are in Bingley half the time, and his mum's in Eldwick, so it works out okay - the woman who runs the place said people take cats there from south of Sheffield and Manchester!
What's the name of the Addingham kennels?

In reply to Tall Clare: Wharfedale Kennels. Cats go to somewhere up above Bradley, dog to Addingham - she loves it, but she'd love anywhere she gets food, running about with dogs and the freedom to bark at whatever she likes. She likes a good bark...