Business Description :

Dog walking services will be provided in the daytime to those pet-owners who do not have sufficient time to take care of their pet dogs, and/or do not have any person who would do the job for them.


Business Overview :

This is a great business for anyone who loves animal and has spare time. The main skill and qualification required for dog walking business is the love of animals and the ability to provide a secure, caring and stimulating environment for dogs.
Dog-walking services are aimed towards people, who are at work all day, or cannot personally take care of their pets for some reasons, like the elderly who might find handling pets exerting. The service should include free dog pick up from the residence of dog owners. Initially the service should be provided in the local area. Later on it can be extended to other areas depending on the increase in client base.
Key strategy would include caring for the dogs and making sure that they are not harmed in anyway. One can also differentiate the service based on the age of the dogs, like maintaining separate groups for young and old dogs.

Product Service Description :

Dog walking services would include picking up dogs from their residence, taking them to the walking spot and then dropping them back to their residence after the walk. People, who specialize in dog walking, usually provide general care like exercising, walking and playing with pets, and checking food and water levels. The service can be provided from Monday to Friday.
A 45 minutes walk is good enough for each dog or group of dogs. The ideal timing would be between 11 A.M to 4 P.M, since most dogs would require mid day let outs. The dogs can be taken out in a group or individually, according to requirements. The pricing needs to be competitive compared to other service providers in the same location. A reasonable rate would range from $12 to $15 per visit for a 45 minutes walk. At the time of walking, a walker needs to make sure that he or she carries essentials supplies like water, food and medicine. This would also differentiate the service from others. The following services need to be facilitated :

• Taking dogs for a walk from their residence at a scheduled time.
• Taking the utmost care of dogs while walking or traveling
•One can also offer breakfast for an additional cost.
• Each walking group should not have more than 5 dogs

Market Opportunity

Though there are no official figures available, according to industry experts, only 3 % of the households use a pet sitter or dog walker, which adds up to 50 to 60 million visits annually. The future of the dog walking business looks quite optimistic. In fact, the outlook for pet sitters and dog walkers has never been better.

Competitive Analysis

Our primary competition will be from locally established dog-walking services. It is an attractive area for small entrepreneurs, so new entrants may be common. The only thing which can distinguish us from the competition is the quality of service and various value additions one can offer.

Marketing Strategy

• Flyers would be the best way to convey your services to potential clients. Flyers can be printed very cheaply. They can be used as inserts in church and community bulletins, obedience schools, groomers, pet shops or pet food stores, and tacked up on message boards at pet stores.

• Press release can be used free of cost.

• One can also look for Community newspapers which are available weekly and are free to the readers. They would cost around $10/week.

• Getting a website to promote the service would be the best and cheapest mode. Expanding your pet services through affiliate program may also turn out to be beneficial.

•In addition to the above, word of mouth is the best form of advertisement and works well for good services.

Sales and Distribution Strategy

You should provide free pick-up and drop service for the dogs of yours clients and take care of the health and hygiene of the dogs.

Initially, when the business is operating within a small area, it may not need any vehicle, but after the service area is expanded, one may hire a vehicle for picking-up and dropping dogs to their destination.

Operations Strategy

The business could be started by an individual providing walking services personally. But with significant increase in client base, professional walkers may need to be hired.

The key focus should be on enhancing service quality and that would include providing security to the dogs, as it is one of the key concerns of the pet owners.

Clients should be asked for feedback, and improvements should be made in the services based upon the feedbacks.

Financial projections

Considering the average price for a 45 minutes dog walk to be $15, if one is able to acquire a client base of 15, and operates 260 days in a year then the revenue for the first year would work out to $58,500.

Category	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Comments
Revenue	$58,500	$97,500	$136,500
Cost of Goods sold
Gross profit	$58,500	$97,500	$136,500
Expenses : -
Payroll	$20,000	$30,000	$50,000	Part time walker Pay $200 per week per walker. There will be 5 dogs in a group.
Insurance	$500	$700	$900	Insurance for public liabilities due to uncertain misbehavior of dog
Advertising	$3,000	$2,000	$1,500
Telephone Expenses	$500	$600	$700
Miscellaneous	$1,000	$1,300	$1,700	This includes water expenses, fooding and medicine etc.
Total Expenses	$25,000	$34,600	$54,800
Net operating Income
Other Income
Net Income / (loss)	$33,500	$62,900	$81,700

 

Capital Needs Analysis

Asset	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Total
Equipment	$500	-	-
Staff	$8,000	$12000	$16000
Cash	$500	$550	$600
Maintenance	$1,000	$1,500	$2,000
Totals	$10,000	$14,050	$18,600	$42,650

Risks and Challenges

Key challenges would be

• Security of the dogs.
• Maintaining the environment according to guidelines.
• The key risk is the possibility of getting hurt due to undesirable behavior of a dog, which may turn out be costly.
• Making sure that the walker adheres to the guidelines provided by the respective states.

Exit Strategy

Though the dog walker business may turn out be profitable, once one strengthens the client base. It can also happen that one may like to exit from the business for any number of reasons. In such a case the service provider can phase-out of the business, by referring their clients to one of the competitors and getting some commission from it.

Tips for Success

• The walker must understand dog
  psychology
• Key focus must be on providing
  quality service.
• Before
  making an agreement with a client, you should make sure that the dog you are going
  to take care of falls under your business policies

Books

ISBN NO	Book Title	Author
0345439198	The Nature of Animal Healing	Martin Goldstein D.V.M.e
963544217	Healthy Dog Treat Recipes	Lori Mangold
1551435225	Dog Walker	Karen Spafford-fitz
1932531068	Start Your Own Pet-Sitting Business	Cheryl Kimball

Web Resources

Resource URL

http://www.petsitllc.com/

http://www.petsit.com/

http://www.petsitters.org/Insurance/insurance_index.htm

http://www.prodogwalker.com

http://www.sba.gov/hotlist/license.html

http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer