What do you think a person earns if they do home dog boarding?

[Dogs223]

Interested to know what people think. I got made redundant and started to do this. What do you think I earn in a month?

Likely that you'd be licenced for a maximum 6 dogs. If you work on £40 per day / night, and 220 days per year to allow you holidays, you'd gross about £52k. Then insurance, vehicle, wear and tear (you can forget having decent grass), etc.

Around here, 40 per night is cheap, so you could improve on that depending on your qualifications. You need dog first aid as a minimum, and the ones who charge the highest fees are also trainers.

@Icehockeyflowers I've never provided food.
OP there's two different things: commercial type kennels with multiple runs with the dogs separate from each other, or having a few dogs in your home. I take it you are thinking of the latter? Google what the going rate in your area is, check about licensing and insurance, think about how much you will piss off your neighbours if you get barky dogs. Do you have good parks nearby? I believe there are restrictions on how many dogs can be walked at the same time so are you prepared for multiple outings? You will not be able to leave them to go out and about much either, depending on the dogs. Your house might smell too.

@Dogs223 How tall am I?

Even dog walking (and the occasional overnight is moneys money)

Our walkers (husband and wife)

6 dogs each per walk and 3 walks a day all at £10 per dog ( they are completely full )

So £120 per walk

£480 per day

They only seem to close 2/3weeks over the whole year

See I think most people think like this, which is weird, because you’re not doing the maths! She is likely full ALL the time. I know that I am. I have also turned away over 100 people in the last year, because I’m full.

My best month I’ve earned over £6k. My lowest about £2k. My overheads are very low. Licence is £120, insurance is the same. Owners provide all the food. I have no commuting costs as I wfh.

A customer made a comment about me doing this for pocket money, hence me wondering if that’s what most people think!

Take a look at the Barking Mad franchise model.

@Dogs223.
I was wondering about this as a side hustle but for cats instead.

How often do you need the licence renewed?

How many can you take in op and what do you charge for.

There's an advert near me for an additional dog walker for a local company, the stated salary is £500 a week.

Does not surprise me one bit.

I know a couple who do this (as their main source of income) and they rake it in.

Licence is renewed annually. I have no idea about cat care though! I usually have 6-8 dogs a day and I charge £30.

But in winter it’s less busy, but you actually need that or you’d burn out!

wow, that is massive! I have in the past wondered about cats too

Why do you use an agency? Set up a website and advertise in places like Facebook.

It's not worth it. No amount of money is worth some of the issues of poorly toilet trained dogs, etc.

I think it should be illegal to walk more than 3 dogs per person when they are, or include, paying customers dogs. Even controlling, and picking up 3 dogs faeces per walk could prove very difficult...

If I were using doggy day care, I wouldn't want my dog walked with more than one other dog, although I do understand that I would have to pay more for such a service.

Crazy to use an agency. I take all of the money and work for myself. You say up front to people, that if a dog isn’t toilet trained then they can’t stay. I also do a one night trial with new dogs, and if there are any issues then they are rejected.

One night trial is a good idea. There were advantages to sub-contracting for an agency but they do take a good cut.

How can you properly look after 6-8 dogs at a time?

It’s super easy! I mainly take small dogs. You feed them in different rooms then walk 3, then walk the next 3. They have regular access to the garden. They mostly sleep all day.

It sounds like a decent income on paper OP, but surely you can't go out leaving the dogs at home? Also if anything happened during the night you'd have to be be available? Them barking loudly in distress etc. of course it rarely happens, but if it does, you have to be available, so you'd need to factor it into your labour costs

Another employee even on minimum wage would eat into that considerably.

It's rude for people to call it 'pocket money' IMO, I'd find customers like that a red flag as they don't value what you do as a professional. But I wouldn't call this a particularly high income. It's enough to do as a FT job if you couldn't earn more elsewhere. It's OK if you're a couple and can tag team!

Edit : forgot to post my guess, it would've been around 1-2K pure profit Including you 'hourly wage' at £15 and hour not to mention NI etc.

The licence that I have permits me to leave dogs alone for up to 3 hours. I presume to allow people to do a food shop or a medical appointment etc. I don’t ever do this though. It’s half an hour whilst I walk the other half of the dogs that are in, iyswim.

I don’t employ anyone, so I have no labour costs. My overheads are minimal (licence and insurance costs me £240 per annum). I don’t supply any of the food, that comes from the owners. So basically what I make, I keep (apart from tax and NI).

In my lowest months I still clear £2k and in the summer months it is often double. I think that’s a good income for a job with zero stress.

Yes, if a dog was barking at night I’d have to get up. Had teething problems at the start with stuff like this, but never had those dogs back. The ones I have now are all perfect and I can’t remember the last time anyone woke in the night.

If I were using doggy day care, I wouldn't want my dog walked with more than one other dog, although I do understand that I would have to pay more for such a service.

Ir doesn’t sound like you use daycare. The only way you’d get someone to walk your dog regularly on its own or with one other dog is to pay a teenager to take the dog out a few times a day. Personally I’d prefer someone older used to dogs, to take my dog out with a few others.
I have seen a local teenager on a hoverboard being pulled along by two big dogs. I find that terrifying as the teen has absolutely no control if one or both of the dogs decide to run.

Younger dogs can copy older dogs and be better behaved as well. And the three dog caters/walkers I know make an effort to bring the dogs out for decent walks to different locations instead of just trotting around the local park.

@Icehockeyflowers lots of professional, adult walkers do solo walks or small groups - I'm one of them

@Dogs223 do you use or accept dogs that use cages for overnight ?