How to Start A Dog Sitting Business

How to Start A Dog Sitting Business

Starting a dog sitting business means you need to have a passion for taking care of and spending time with all types of dogs. As a dog lover or someone who regularly visits our blog I think that you likely qualify in the passion department.

You also need to possess the knowledge and skills to be sure they are safe and happy while they are in your care. What does that mean? Well take some time and figure out if your house is dog safe. A good starting place would be our post on Pet Safety – Household Safety where we talk about hidden and not so hidden dangers around your house. Even if you have a dog or dogs right now it a good idea to look through the list and really take a good look at your house. Your dogs might ignore something dangerous while a stressed out visitor or over excited visitor might make a bee-line straight for it. It is also a good idea to make sure you don’t have any food around that could be dangerous for a dog. Hide the chocolate dish, use a child lock on the onion and potatoes under you get the idea. Be hyper vigilant so that you don’t wind up at the emergency vet on your first official day as a dog sitter.

Take a class in pet CPR that is located in your area. This course will teach you how to care for pets should an emergency occur. Here is a video that will give you an idea of the things you need to know. And a Step by Step Pet CPR Guide From the American Animal Hospital Association you might want to print out and put up on your refrigerator or some other place in the house where you know it is in case of emergency.

It is a good idea to become bonded Purchase general liability insurance. This insurance is designed to protect your business in the event of litigation. If you are using your home as part of your business, you should check with your homeowners insurance to see if you will need any kind of additional insurance to have a home-based business. Should you rent a house or apartment, you will need to inquire with your leasing office to see if you can run your business on the property.

Make a list of services that you are interested in providing to the dog owners. You will most likely be dog sitting while your clients are on vacation or at work. Services that you can provide include walking the dog, feeding them, giving them a bath or even grooming them, as well as taking them to their vet appointments. Figure out how much you want to charge for each service that you provide. Special needs dogs that need medication might require more work and an additional fee the same thing with dogs that are recovering from an illness or surgery. While you might love all dogs equally extremely large dogs might require more time especially if you need to keep them brushed o a daily basis or a very petite dog might require more one on one because they are used to it at home. Make sure you have a compensation plan in place for yourself that allows you to make money even though you get to spend your days playing with dogs. Those bills still need to get paid on time.

This is just the beginning on how to start a dog sitting business. You don’t even have your first client yet. So while it seems simple to offer your urvices to friends and family things become much more complicated when making your side hobby into a real business.