A pet sitting business is one in which clients pay you to watch and care for their pets while they are away. You may be caring for dogs, cats, fish, birds, and reptiles. This will include walking, feeding, and cleaning up after them. There may also be other tasks that need to be done such as administering medication, giving dogs baths, and playtime.
Their owners may need your help if they are going away for the weekend and unable to bring their pets with them or if they are going to be away for a longer time period such as on a vacation.
To be successful with your pet-sitting business
To do well in this business you will need to love pets. You will also need to be physically able to walk, lift and clean up after them. This can include cleaning up after their dogs in the yard, litter boxes, and bird cages.
If you have several clients you are pet-sitting for in a week this could mean that you could be outside in all weather conditions including rain and snow. It is very important that you are comfortable with this and dress appropriately.
One of the keys to running a successful pet-sitting business is keeping as many of your clients in a small geographic area. If you live in a large city, you may be able to get enough clients just within a couple condo buildings while if you have more suburban areas where you live you may be able to focus on just one or two neighborhoods. Having all your clients within just a few miles of each other means that you don’t have to spend a lot of your time driving from one house to another and can instead, focus on more clients per day.
Permits, Licensing, and Insurance for your pet-sitting business
Another part of your dog walking and pet sitting business that depends on where you are living is what type of licensing or permits you may need. Some cities or towns may want you to have a specific permit to be able to care for pets professionally while other places may be happy with just a business license on its own.
One thing you must get if you are serious about starting a pet-sitting business is pet insurance. This will help protect you if something happens while the pets are in your care. These could be anything from the dog needing medical attention because it stepped on some glass while being walking, becoming sick and needing to go to the vet while you were looking after it or even if the dog got off the leash and ran into traffic or bit someone. All these are things that insurance can help protect you against personal liability.
Check in the description for more information on insurance coverage for dog walkers and pet sitters.
It is always important to prepare for emergencies. When you first meet your potential client, provide them with a form to fill out which will list emergency contact numbers, vet info, and a medication list. They should also include home access information such as alarm codes and contact info for the monitoring company in case you accidentally set it off when entering or leaving their property.
Once the homeowner fills out this info it would be a good idea to give them a business card with ways for them to reach you including phone numbers and email addresses. They can keep this in their wallet just in case they need to make contact with you.
Another good idea that may or may not is required depending on where you are doing business is to get an official criminal background check so that you can show your clients that you don’t have a criminal record which helps to add to your professional appearance as a business owner.
Dog Walking or Pet sitting business
A dog walking or pet sitting business is one in which clients will pay you to either take their pets for a walk or look after them for a specified amount of time during the day while they are at work or otherwise unable to care for them for long periods of time.
To do well in this business you must love dogs and enjoy looking after them, you must be physically able to walk for many hours every day and you must be comfortable with entering other people’s homes several times a day. These are all things you will do every day in your business.
Dog walking as opposed to pet sitting is a physical job. When busy, you will be walking several different dogs throughout the day, some even at the same time. This includes all weather conditions like rain and snow. The sun can’t always be shining.
As a quick overview, when starting any business, you do want to begin with a good business plan so you know where you are going with the venture and you want to be sure that it is the right business for you before spending more money and time than you would want to.
Another thing to remember is that laws and regulations about starting and running businesses are different depending on where you are located so always check with your local registrars for more information.
once you’re sure of that, we can move on to…
Starting a dog walking and pet sitting business.
One of the keys to running a successful dog walking business is keeping as many of your clients in a small geographic area. If you live in a large city, you may be able to get enough clients just within a couple condo buildings while if you have more suburban areas where you live you may be able to focus on just one or two neighborhoods. Having all your dogs within just a mile of each other means that you don’t have to spend a lot of your time driving from one client to another and can instead, focus on more dogs per day.
Choosing the best type of business to start.
Choosing the type of business you start such as a corporation like an LLC or sole proprietorship or “Doing Business As” type of business can depend on either your local regulations or personal preferences.
As you could be watching this video from just about anywhere in the world, the laws determining what type of business license you need may differ greatly depending on where you are.
In general, if you start a sole proprietorship, partnership, or doing business as a company, the cost is very low but any problems that may arise can generally fall directly onto the business owner.
if you start an LLC or Corporation, the cost is a bit more and there are some general business practices that must be followed but if something were to happen, the owner will have a little more separation.
If you have a local business help center in your area they may be able to help in your decision on the best type to start.
Naming your business
When naming your business, many people will want to name it something cute like “Fluffy’s Dog Walkers” or “Little Paws Pet Sitting”. But these names really don’t give all the information that people need when looking up a reliable dog-walking service.
We feel that two of the most important features you can have in any service-based business name is both where your service area is and what you do.
For example. Delaware Dog Walkers or Pennsylvania Pet Sitters gets your business idea and location across in just your name.