Career change - Dog walking

CLAWS

CLAWS

CLAWS

Associate
Joined
13 Jun 2005
Posts
1,416
Location
West Midlands
Hi folks,

After working the best part of 13 years in IT in various support roles, I am looking to change career and become a dog walker and eventually have my own dog walking business. I have no idea about business or anything like that but I absolutely love dogs (and cats).

Has anyone here made a similar career change or choice even? I've seen a number of courses that I can enrol for which propose to give you everything you need to set yourself up as a dog walker and then eventually have your business and I wanted to know if anyone has done such a course?

Any help is very very much appreciated :)
 
I thought only board house wifes did this for a little bit of extra pin money.

Although a mate sends their dog to some dog boarder who looks after dogs in her own home when they go on holiday, think they charge £35 a day and are licenced by the council or something.
 
lol, I guess it now includes "bored IT husbands"

On a serious note I have been bored with IT for quite some time now but figured I don't know anything else so may as well continue with it. The wife gave me the idea of dog walking and a dog walking business.
 
Yeah be prepared for the tards here to berate you for some reason, IT Elite and all that.

You can make decent money from it but it will take a while plus a lot of time...As naturally most people only want their dogs walking at lunch.

You'll need to get insurance for a start, potentially a website if going at it alone. There are a load of companies who employ you and you get a cut if it's their client or you get more if it's yours, so that may be somewhere to look at first. Also you'll need car insurance to cover the work, vans with crates are naturally better but not always affordable.
 
Delvis said:
Yeah be prepared for the tards here to berate you for some reason, IT Elite and all that.

You can make decent money from it but it will take a while plus a lot of time...As naturally most people only want their dogs walking at lunch.

You'll need to get insurance for a start, potentially a website if going at it alone. There are a load of companies who employ you and you get a cut if it's their client or you get more if it's yours, so that may be somewhere to look at first. Also you'll need car insurance to cover the work, vans with crates are naturally better but not always affordable.
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Its ok, I half expected it :p

I suspect I will be doing the dog walking on evenings and weekends since I wont be able to give up my current job until things pick up. Need the income from my current job to continue paying for my mortgage. Ill look into the companies as that seems like the best place to start to get some experience of the business.

Been looking at some courses online but I'm a little bit dubious about enrolling with online courses, unless anyone can point me in the right direction as to which institute to learn with?
 
Never heard of anything specifically, just find a business for now that's local and see if they need help. Many places will also do house sitting.
 
You can make a decent amount from this if you put the hours in. The dog walkers I've spoken to around me are charging £10 to £15 an hour and are booked up solidly. They can walk several dogs at the same time too. It's probably hard to break into, but once you have a good reputation people will flood in. Most seem to supplement the income with extra services such as house calls, over night boarding, cat feeding etc.
 
My cousin has a dog walker and they are minted! I thought it could have been all for show but Ive checked their accounts and they look very healthy indeed so either its really lucrative to walk dogs or they sell drugs while walking the dogs!
 
CLAWS said:
I have no idea about business or anything like that but I absolutely love dogs (and cats).
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Do you actually have dogs at all?
Are you happy around dogs?
Are dogs happy around you?
Do dogs take you seriously and do what you tell them?
Could you walk 20+ dogs a day, several at a time, remember all their names and remember all the different commands each different owner prefers to use?
Are you big and strong enough to hold a MASSIVE dog off from charging after a rabbit/car/child, while keeping several others in check?

LeeUK said:
I thought only board house wifes did this for a little bit of extra pin money.
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Mostly blokes round here, at least professionally. Given most of the dogs you see them walking, it's quite understandable!
One of them has five dogs on just the one hand, but dedicates the entire other hand to just this one, massive, ugly looking bear-horse of a thing. You can tell when it's been misbehaving, as you see him walk that one alone!

CLAWS said:
Been looking at some courses online but I'm a little bit dubious about enrolling with online courses, unless anyone can point me in the right direction as to which institute to learn with?
Click to expand...
No. No way. Get your training face-to-face, in person, with actual dogs.
I'd not trust anything online - Dogs don't surf!
 
We send our Dog to a local couple who dog sit/walk/holiday etc.

Our dog walker charges £6 per hour. Family rates, But walks about 6 at a time. However our dog is gone for 2 hours. 1 hour walking and the rest picking up and dropping off other dogs. I think he manages 3 maybe 4 sets of walks a day.

The couple who look after our dog when we are away charge £30 is per 24hrs. They start at 7am and are walking all day until dusk. They take it in turns. One goes out and collects all the dogs for walks whilst the other walks the first batch etc etc. That way they can have 12-14 on the go at once. Think they charge £8-£9 per hour for walks. They are doing ok for themselves but its tiresome and on the go all the time. You can't cry off because its cold and windy.
 
Not dog walking but a friend used to go check/feed clients cats when they were on holiday/business. Text them pictures/stories/updates of what the cat was doing. Made decent money
 
if you think you want to do this, why not just start, you essentially need nothing (some insurance) and just start finding a few dogs on the weekend and build it up.

As said you can certainly make extremely good money from this. Its not bad money for just one dog, but when you can walk several at a time. The hourly rate surpass good jobs. Just need enough customers.
 
ttaskmaster said:
Do you actually have dogs at all?
Are you happy around dogs?
Are dogs happy around you?
Do dogs take you seriously and do what you tell them?
Click to expand...

My family has a large staffie loves me like crazy and I love him back equally. Likewise most dogs I come into contact with are quite amenable towards me and likewise in return. Do they take me seriously? This is a difficult one to answer, some dogs I've been in contact with a very very obedient and willing to please and this includes some of the larger breeds even. But then I've come across some dogs that just wont listen and I've seen their owners struggle with them. To answer your question in a round-the-houses kind of way - yes and no.

ttaskmaster said:
Could you walk 20+ dogs a day, several at a time, remember all their names and remember all the different commands each different owner prefers to use?
Click to expand...

I'll be starting very small to build up some experience i.e. 1-2 dogs per weekend. Once I've built up a portfolio so to speak and some confidence only then will I look to increase my numbers. It may be a few years before I start talking double digits.

ttaskmaster said:
Are you big and strong enough to hold a MASSIVE dog off from charging after a rabbit/car/child, while keeping several others in check?
Click to expand...

Yes, power lifter here :)

ttaskmaster said:
No. No way. Get your training face-to-face, in person, with actual dogs.
I'd not trust anything online - Dogs don't surf!
Click to expand...



This seems to be the general vibe about the online courses. Just before I responded to you I was speaking to a dog walking service nearby me and they advised that face to face is what people tend to look for more often but that if I wanted to I could go away and learn more about different breeds of dogs to increase my understanding of their needs and personalities.
 
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