A dog walking business is one of the simplest businesses you can start. All you have to do is walk pets and get paid. You really don’t need a lot of starting capital.

Pet walking and pet sitting is an excellent starter job for a young person starting out.   It develops a sense of responsibility and teaches the importance of living creatures relying on you to do your job.    Pet sitting and walking can also be lucrative enough to be a full-time career.   People love their pets and there is great money in this industry.    Please consult local laws to see if any specific licensing is required.   As a general rule of thumb, professional sitters/walkers who take their business seriously by making the investment into setting up an LLC, and getting bonded and insured are paid more.    

LLCs are great as they shield you from incurring personal liabilities for things that may go wrong in your dog walking business. For further protection, you should also ensure that you get the appropriate insurance cover to help when the pet causes some damage while under your watch.

To make more than the average person makes pet walking, you will have to do more than the average person does. Here’s how you should go about with your pet walking business…

Learning How to Market a Local Business

Your pet walking business is basically a small local business. You will be serving a particular geographical location.

You will have to learn how local businesses are marketed so you are able to secure a consistent stream of clients for your business.

If you choose to market online, you can choose to get leads organically or buy them through PPC ads or banners placed on websites read by people from your area.

Positioning Your Dog Walking Services

Product positioning is one of the most important concepts you will learn in marketing. Your product or service can’t be everything to all people. You have to choose a specific need to serve and then you have to clearly define your offer so the prospective client knows exactly what they are getting.

To stand out as a pet walker, you will need to differentiate yourself from your competitors. This can be done by offering more services than they currently offer or just offering the same services but positioning your business as a more credible and trustworthy entity.

Charging a Premium

Most dog walking services are competing on price and strive to be the person offering the lowest price possible. It is a race to the bottom and you don’t want to participate in it.  

With proper positioning, you can charge more as long as the value you bring to the table is worth the premium price tag. You will be surprised how much people love their pets and won’t have any trouble paying a premium to see them under the best care they can afford.

Needless to say, if you are going to charge a premium, you have to worth the price tag. There are several services you can offer besides just walking pets. Some of the services you can offer include:

• Making recommendations to pet owners about best pet products such as pet food, treats, toys, pet care products and training.
• Washing the pet’s bowl when you come to pick them up.
• Actually playing with the pet.
• Being trained in and have the ability to administer medications while the owner is away.
• Pet grooming services 
• Nail Trimming Services. 
• Bringing the pet owners the day’s newspapers when you come to pick their pet.
• Watering the garden.
• Pet Sitting Insurance
• Pet Products
• Pet Food

As you can see, you can do more than just walking a pet or being a dogsitter.