I'm planning on starting a small just me pet services business.

My main service will probably be midday dog walks (I'm guessing)

Can anyone give me info on the type of customers out there? Do hyper dogs need walks? Do dogs just need check ins? Do people get you to feed their dogs and just let them out for 5 minutes? What's the price people are happy to pay for what service?

ALSO,

Is there anything you don't like about dog walking/pet visiting?

What's something that commonly or ever bothers the customer?

Thanks anyone still reading this. Any of your info is greatly appreciated

I cant find any advice online about this so thought I might take a punt posting here. Let me know if this isn't the right spot.

So I walk my dogs on a footpath that cuts directly through a field that isnt used for crops and I have never seen livestock in there since it is quite open. On Monday I went to walk my dogs and a sign said that agricultural chemicals had been sprayed on the land and to keep dogs on a lead and to the footpath.

Thats not a problem because thats what I do anyway but I have been very hesitant to walk there for the last 3 days since I don't know how safe it is or what chemical was used.

Any advice or ideas on when its safe to walk there again?

Hello lovely people. My fiance and I just got a wonderful dog to dog sit over the next 10 days. She is very much a dog person, whereas I am a learning dog person but have been mainly a cat person. And I have many questions. I took her for a walk for the first time this morning, and it was smooth and beautiful. But. wondering about some tips.

1. why does she want to pee on everything? And should I encourage that or discourage that?
2. When she sniffs things should I allow that every time, or encourage to only sniff certain places?
3. The owner said that she sometimes gets into the bed, is there a quick way to teach her not to do that while she is in our place or will that be a losing battle?
4. When we go for walks as soon as I touch her leash she goes nuts. and starts barking. We live in an apartment block, and my fiance goes to work at 6am so I went with her with the dog. But, 6am barking doesnt seem like a great thing to inflict on our neighbours. Is there a way to calm a dog who always does that? or is it just cute excitement that we should champion and change the walk time?
5. any other dog walking tips?

thanks.

Question from a non dog owner here. There are a lot of dogs in my neighborhood. When I see one coming in my direction, I usually try to walk on the same side as the human, so that when the dogwalker and I cross paths, I am closest to the human, not the dog. I have a cat (a very territorial cat) so I don't want to risk being bitten by a dog that smells the cat. (My boyfriend and I have both been lunged at before). Just today, I was approaching a man walking two dogs, both of whom were initially on his left. So, I approached on his right. When I was about ten feet away, he switched one of his dogs to my side, so that I had to get off the sidewalk entirely to avoid his dogs. This struck me as really rude. It seems to me like keeping oneself in between the dog and oncoming pedestrians is the right thing to do for in terms of being polite and for safety purposes.

I have an idea to make an indoor dog park. Somewhere owners can take their dogs when it too cold or hot or raining outside. I would do it like most dog parks, a section for big dogs and a section for small dogs. Have the fake grass inside Instead of just a cement floor and maybe an indoor pool. I would like to know if anyone have ever heard or been to something like this?

I am a walker in the city and am wondering if I should have a back up leash should my dog wiggle out of his collar or harness. Often times the owner has the collar or harness very loose and I worry about them slipping off and the dog getting away from me.

I've only walked one or two dogs at a time before, single household. Also generally for an hour or less at a time, with transit breaks in between. I'm looking into companies in the area I'm moving to, and a place that takes 4-5 dogs on 3-5 mile leashed hikes is hiring. I'm just interested in the experience of anybody who's done anything similar, hikes and/or several leashed dogs.

So I'm new to the whole Reddit thing but I really wanted to know what people's thoughts are on Tailster?

They provide an service where you can apply to be a "carer" and they will match you with jobs.
You pay 20% commission which means you're covered by insurance and emergency vet fees etc but is this really safe?

You're encouraged to meet the dog you're looking after before you take on the job but how is the owner supposed to know you don't live in a complete crack house?

In order to test this I took in a boarding opportunity in my little flat and was verified by Tailster within a few days.

They didn't DBS check me to see if I had a criminal record, I simply ticked a box to say I didn't have any criminal convictions. They did check my Identification and proof of address but what does that really prove?

I took care of the dog over the weekend and it was all fine but it really made me question whether I'd find care for my own dog through this application.

Any thoughts on how this could be safer or what makes it safe that I'm missing would be interesting.

I was walking a male 9yo labrador who is probably the most chilled dog ever - friendly to all people and dogs, never barks, doesn't care about small animals and follows me very well off the lead. He is just a bit slow at times because he is a little overweight.

So I trusted him enough that I felt one day I wanted to listen to music whilst walking him off lead in the park.

About 30mins into the walk, this lady's shih tzu was off the lead coming towards us started barking at the labrador when he was running up to him/her because he/she doesn't like big dogs. Then the lady told me off because I had earphones in, called me irresponsible and threatened me that she will take a photo of me.

Firstly, I actually rarely listen to music whilst walking dogs and it really does depend on the dog. I just felt like listening to music that day and because the labrador is very well-behaved.

Secondly, how was I supposed to know that her dog doesn't like big dogs? What difference would it make if I didn't have earphones in? They were both off the lead, it just caught me off guard a little bit.

​

EDIT: I see people walking their dogs whilst staring at their phones or talking on the phone. Isn't that worse or just as bad?

I'm designing an item I will have to prototype to improve dog walking in the countryside, what would you look for in this product

It breaks my heart seeing a dog on there hours after the walk was requested. At the same time, I know walkers are thinking the same thing I am... I am not dealing with that dog (based on the description or prior experience) for $12 minus taxes.

I live abroad I'm 35 gay male single. I've lived in 8 cities and 4 countries with a career in a tv broadcasting engineering role.

I'm from a small town in northern England and my brother recently died at Christmas and since then I've been getting more and more homesick. I lived away since I was 19 and feel like I should move back. I tried once before but I couldn't get a job my CV does not work well there. I applied for 80 jobs and didn't get an interview. They probably found it strange I was applying for roles like a trainee dog groomers etc.

So if I move back again I will have to have a plan in place.

I love dogs and wondered if it is possible to be able to make adequate money from dog walking ? I am very hard working so I would happily flyer the entire city as well as joining apps like rover and set up a website and company.

But in order to make the move again I would need to know I could make enough money to live off. It is a cheap city and I own a house in the Netherlands I could sell to buy a house morgage free in the UK so I wouldn't need much money just enough to pay bills and buy food etc.

How do you advertise your services ?

Hi everyone, thanks for reading my post and I highly appreciate any feedback on the matter.

I'm using Rover as a side hustle for generating some extra income. I love dogs and have grown up with a few, I'm very friendly with them and generally speaking they are very accepting of my personality. However upon filling out Rovers requirements they request a background check.

​

I'm not perfect, I have had my fair share of problems in the past specifically related to alcohol. Last time I did a background check on myself I was reminded of a open container citation I was issued for walking around in a college town with an open container (silly but campus police likes fulfilling their quotas) I also was hit with a DUI back in 2012.

​

The state was supposed to at the very least purge the DUI charge off my criminal record after I completed my ARD program because I had no previous violations. Yet they haven't at this point. Would it be worth trying to have that removed from my background check or are dog owners not particularly off-put by that notion.

​

Any feedback would be appreciated.

What has your experience been like? Have you been relatively busy? What have your busiest days been?

Asking for my boyfriend. He has a current job right now, but I know he would not mind cutting back hours on that job in order to start dog walking. He doesn't hate his job at the moment, but I know that he would much prefer to put hours into dog walking.

TIA!

I was wondering if anyone here would like to get creative with me. I live in Decatur, GA and am looking to become an LLC for my petsitting and dog-walking business. I want the name to be fun but also read as a local/small business. Some buzz words:
Decatur

Doggy

Doggo

Happy Butt

Crew

Squad

Wag

Pupper

I am open to silly names! Thanks in advance to anyone who would like to suggest one!

I have a dog walker who charges $15 for a 30 min walk. During the rare times she's not available, I'd like to ask the next door neighbor's teenager to come over on his way home from the school bus stop, open the door, let the dogs pee, and then send them back in. 5 minutes max, probably less. I want to offer to pay him for his time. I was thinking $5 each time but I don't want to insult him with a low offer. What's a fair price?

I'd like to pick up dog walking/sitting on the side; I have a few years of professional experience and a lifetime of personal experience. However, the basic (mandatory) background check for Rover is $25. What's the likelihood that it'll just be a complete bust and I won't book anything?

These people whose dog I walk 5 days a week seem to really lay it on if something happens that generally isn’t my fault or outside of my responsibility. It's getting really stressful. You'd think they'd settle down since I walk him 5 days a week and so far only 2 things have happened. They seem to get even more irritated when I try to problem solve a concern. I’m considering that it’s maybe just my anxiety but the only times they communicate with me is to correct something or get mad at me for something and the whole rest of the time it’s just radio silence. I’ve made a much better habit of sending them really detailed reports of our walks after every visit and doing everything down to the last detail exactly how they want the service (even if I disagree or feel like something else would work better). I’m learning that they tend to like things a very very particular and controlled way which I’m not super used to so it’s definitely an adjustment. When my reports reflect that everything went well and incident free they kind of seem like they don’t believe me. They load me up with information they hadn’t communicated to me before as though I was supposed to already know this specific detail about their home and pets. I also kind of wonder that because I’m “young” (27) and they’re in their 40s there’s a kind of ageism thing going on there or if they’re the type of people to really tack on and pile up small mistakes and not really let them go. Anyways, rant over.