To wonder how much you’d pay for dog home boarding?

[Deargentlereader12]

Hello 👋🏻
Wondering how much you would expect to pay for this service
Cage free / kennel free home boarding
Council licensed
Insured
Large secure garden
24/7 cctv
2 acres private woodland suitable for dogs that can go off lead
2 walks a day 20 minutes each
first aid trained
CPD course in canine communication
8 years experience
USP - We only board one families dog at a time!
I just got my license yesterday now I’m trying to figure out a price per day. What are people’s thoughts?

it is fully enclosed and secure?

you are also leaving the boarded dog to walk your own dogs and to walk your dog walking dogs.

I pay £50 per day. Dog stays with boarder and her dog.

1 long walk a day 2hrs ish and a large secure garden to run around in.
boarder only has 1 dog and our dog is treated like family.

But surely the "point" of offering boarding to one dog only is so that dog is a solo dog? Do you have the means to keep them totally separate if needed?

Yes if needs be but I won’t be accepting any dogs that are reactive if that’s what you mean

You may think taking only one dog makes it special, but you already have your own dogs so unfortunately it's not really.

I get what you're saying about Rover but it's good to get an idea of local rates, if you think your offering is better then charge more. I wouldn't let our dog go to kennels, but the ceiling for overnight would be around £40 absolute max for me - more than that and it would impact our holiday budget. Other people may be less price sensitive, you just need to find out by trying it.

Also have a look on Rover in your local area OP. Although do also take it with a pinch of salt as there will always be some people offering ridiculously low prices (e.g. students doing 24-hour sits for £20) and of course many doing boarding will take on as many dogs as they can

It is suitable for dogs that have good recall it’s fully fenced off but we get a lot of foxes digging under the fence so I wouldn’t trust it to be 100% secure but we have another area that is 100% secure I’d trust any dog in. On reflection of comments here I will be changing so I offer 1 x 1 hour and 1 x 20 minute walk these walks will also be my dogs walks so they won’t be left alone whilst I do that

You cannot know how your dogs will react with strange dogs repeatedly coming into their house. It's not about their dogs being reactive, it's about yours. No one in their right mind will want their dog boarding in a house with resident dogs. One resident dog, maybe, but not multiple.

Everyone always says 'my dogs are fine.' Yeah. Until they aren't. Strange dogs coming and going from their house - in the same rooms as them etc - is incredibly stressful.

Quite frankly, I wouldn't want you walking my dog or boarding my dog as I don't think you have any sort of understanding of dog dynamics, behaviour and the risks involved in your plan. That, and the fact you thought 2x 20 minutes a day was okay until someone said it wasn't, just tells me you really don't know much about dogs.

I guess I'm just wondering how you can have a "USP" of only offering boarding to one household when you have your own dogs and they'll be mingling together in the house.

In my experience, the people who want their dogs to be the "only" dogs won't want them around resident dogs.

Understand what you’re saying with that but with all the other boarders in the area they will take 4/5/6 one lady even 12 clients dogs PLUS there own dogs so I do believe me only accepting one family at a time is a USP as no one else in our area offers this (as far as I’m aware)

I pay 35 a night. Stays in her home with her and her own dogs who he knows as he walks with her 3x weekly. This would include 2 long walks a day during week and if hes there over weekend 1 long walk and a short one. I would honestly pay whatever she asked as I trust her implicitly with my dog and hes happy with her.

no help but sounds fab- put our dog in a kennels last year and he returned a shadow of his former self and stayed that way for weeks. Lost weight while there, miserable and they didn’t tell us. Hope it flies for you op x

I would pay £35/40 a night for this. I’d expect a longer walk if not taking other dogs as my boy loves being social. I would not want you to let him off lead, his recall is bombproof with me but in a strange environment with a strange person he could panic. As a vet I’ve seen some awful accidents in similar scenarios.

As far as I’m aware no one else in my area offers boarding for just one family at a time therefore this makes my business unique in that sense. From my research all other boarders accept 4-6 other dogs at a time one lady even 12 PLUS there own dogs. I’ll only accept 1 at a time therefore it’s a USP of my business as that is not the done thing in my area

Thank you 🙏🏻 that would be totally fine I ask clients to sign if they agree for dogs to be off lead or not and even then I would only let them off at my own discretion

It may be something other people aren't offering, but as you have your own dogs, it's not necessarily something people will care about, if that makes sense.

If I was sending my dog to a home boarder who had other dogs that would be fine, but I wouldn't pay extra just because he was going to be only paying dog in the house. I would pay extra if he was going to be the only dog in the home, though.

Oh bless him!! Well if you need a home boarder I’m in Cheshire haha

I pay £25 per 24 hours but I think my dog boarder is undercharging and I'd be happy to pay more. Maybe up to £40

Thank you for the feedback! X

@Deargentlereader12 - yes trusted housesitters stay in your house. So for cat or dog they get less disruption and can continue doing whatever normal routine or walks they have. Sitters are reviewed, and many have done so for years. Obviously we only have a cat so it’s a really easy sit, they just feed and give attention.

But our neighbour has 3 large dogs and he uses also, and he pays the same. He had a guy stay 6 weeks last year whilst he was away, and the dogs had someone home most the day and dedicated just to their needs.

I actually dog sat for someone whose dog became incredibly anxious and reactive after she started airbnb-ing her spare rooms.

Not a criticism of you OP, but perhaps something you might want to consider as it could be anxiety-provoking for your dogs to continually have new dogs in their home. It’s different to just socialising on a walk.

It's just something you need to think about if you advertise it as your USP, that's all.

Lots of people would love a home boarder with no other dogs in the home and would likely pay extra for it - but they wouldn't be willing to be pay extra if you also had your own dogs - because it's no different to sending them to a home boarder with other paying dogs, if that makes sense.

I suppose at least if they went back or went regularly they would all know each other already

My dogs have grown up surrounded by hundreds of different dogs since they were puppies. It’s not a case of someone messages me and then the dog just turns up for their holiday. There is a meet and greet first of all where I assess the dog and they will meet with my dogs. If I am happy with this the dog is then invited for an over night trial, if I am happy with this only then will the dog be invited to stay. During the over night trial the dog is closely monitored and I have 2 pages of forms I fill out assessing every aspect of the dogs behaviour. The dog will either fail the trial, pass it or come back for a second trial. Very very few home boarders will not have other dogs in the house whether this is resident dogs or other clients dogs and those that do not have any other dogs at all will be charging a premium for it

But again, no different to using a home boarder with multiple paying dogs who all walk together in the week.

If you're offering a USP of "the only dog/household boarding at a time" then having your own dogs sharing that space kind of defeats the point, lol.

I think that’s absolutely fine then! 99.9999% of the time he’d be fine but I just wouldn’t want the risk. I know others feel the risk is worth taking as they need an off lead run. My Goldie isn’t 2 yet but he’s a couch potato