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?

as far as I know Rover absolutely doesn’t insist on any kind of licencing! None of the people I have used are licenced, but I have to be honest here - I couldn’t care less as they are excellent and I 100% trust them.

people I’ve used from Rover, I mean

If your dog gets hurt or injured, your unlicensed boarder will not be insured. Your dogs can also be taken off then if they're operating without a license and someone from the council catches them.

I know about the insurance situation but I don’t think this would have any practical application for me. I have my own very good insurance for my dog’s medical bills and public liability (which covers us when dog is out of my care) and she is my last dog :( so no ‘replacement costs’ :( . My dog is the very least likely dog ever to attack either another dog or a human.

A dog warden isn’t going to destroy my dog in the wholly unlikely event the boarder is relieved of my dog. She’s chipped and they would contact me.

Honestly, I think licensing (at current costs) is a total swizz.

There is also the legal anomaly that anyone operating as a dog walker or looking after dogs in a client’s home does not need to be licenced.

The one licenced boarder I used in an emergency was absolutely terrible, a craven money-making empathy bypass of a woman with some absolutely outdated beliefs about dog welfare and training (I was in hospital). Being licenced is a guarantee of nothing. See also “licenced dog breeders ”. Normally I’m all in favour of regulation, but in this case all I see is $$$ signs for the council and for insurance companies.

@Undrugged you may find your own insurance doesn't cover you for injuries that occur while in the care of an unlicensed boarder.

They may not destroy your dog but they will take them into a pound and you may not get them back right away - look at what happened to those dogs who were involved when that poor dog walker was killed, for example.

I agree with you that the licensing process is severely flawed in many ways but I would hate people to be unaware of the risks of using an unlicensed boarder.

I have left my dog at two different boarders. At one he was the only dog boarded and no resident dogs. He was never left alone as she lived with her elderly father so he was there if she went shopping and also sometimes was feeding cats but she didn't do dog walking. She was flexible to keep to our routine and would walk him for as long and often as we wanted, about an hour in the morning and half hour in the afternoon. I am not sure why you need to stipulate how long walks will be if you are offering a personal service to one dog. I paid £40 a night for this 5 years ago.
Previously I had used a dog boarder with 3 resident dogs all labs and mines a retriever with a very large safe garden probably around an acre. He was young and enjoyed a lot of rough and tumble with her dogs. However when visiting, although I was told he'd be treated as her own I was only ever shown the kitchen and garden and he stayed twice. So I wasn't really convinced he actually had the run of the house which I was expecting. It would be good as a boarder if you show your prospective clients where the dogs will be allowed. Just remembered I used another one once but felt she had too many dogs boarded. I'm not sure how many are allowed but she seemed to have about 6 including one of her own but I did see them in different rooms and the garden.
I did pay more for the boarder that only boarded mine and I am sure she will be a lot more now.

@biscuitsandbooks on what grounds were the dogs in the Caterham tragedy held? I’ve never been clear on that. If it was because they couldn’t establish which dog killed the poor walker then licensing is neither here nor there.

I stress again I’m generally in favour of regulation, but the costs asociated with dog care are silly. For comparison, I could set myself up as a childminder for around one eighth of the cost of being a dog carer. For actual human beings. That’s not proportionate.

I think in Cheshire you can name your price, especially with the service you’re providing. Sounds great, good luck with your business

Realising how lucky we are....
We pay £20 per 24hr period, recently gone up from £17. They can have up to 3 dogs at a time, and also run a doggy day care, so a little different but there's loads of stimulation.
She comes back a little smelly from all the doggies sometimes! but absolutely loves it

Thanks everyone this has been very helpful

@Undrugged yes, that probably wasn't the right example - but if your unlicensed boarder is reported and investigated, any dogs in their care may be seized and taken off to police kennels. While you'd obviously get your dog back eventually, it's not really something you'd want to happen, surely?

While I don't agree with all the restrictions around licensing, I've never understood why anyone would leave their dog with someone unlicensed and openly breaking the law. The risks to the dogs are, IMO, far too great. It's not hard to get a boarding licensed - if they can't even be bothered to do that, what else are they skimping out on?

Your USP isn’t a USP as you already have your own dogs.

If you advertised that you only have one dog at a time, then I turned up for a meet and greet to find you already have your own dogs, you’d have wasted my time and yours.

We needed someone that truly does have only one dog at a time, our dog minders are a lovely young-retired couple who charge £48 per 24 hours.

My advert states I only board one families dog at a time but is clear I hve 2 dogs of my own

I don’t think you can claim to have a USP which implies that what your boarding offers which others don’t is individual attention on the client’s dog, though. You’re a boarder who has several dogs in their care at any one time, who they belong to doesn’t matter.

And I’ll be honest: I probably wouldn’t trust a dog boarder who said “I’m also a dog walker and have my own dogs but all the dogs will be kept totally separate and I won’t be walking your dog when I walk any of the other dogs, your dog will get completely individual walks on its own.” I’d assume they were just going to take all the dogs out together and have them mixing at home to make life easier for themselves assuming I’m never going to find out about it. I’d ditch the “USP” idea and advertise as a small, home boarder who doesn’t use kennels.

Ours charges £45 per 24 hours. She has her own dog and takes 2 other dogs max at a time. Access to a tiny courtyard only but dogs get two long walks, or as many as they’re used to, and they’re are not left alone. Ddog loves her and she’s very popular.

Ok thank you that’s interesting, what would make you trust a dog boarder then?

Our dog walker charged £12 for a 1 hr off lead walk and an extra £14 for 24hr/overnight boarding (this was two years ago, we sadly don't have a dog now)

It will vary a lot depending on area.

It was a husband/wife/sister setup, I have no idea how they managed it, ran two fully fitted air conditioned vans on it and made a decent living.

I do wonder about the logistics.

If you also do dog-walking and can only leave your boarding dogs for three hours a day - how will you fit it all in? Or do you have another family member at home with the boarding dogs while you walk? My dog-walking alone takes me six hours a day, I couldn't fit that in with boarding unless the boarding dogs joined me for most of the walks - which in turn would mean taking on fewer "walking dogs".

I only do dog walking part time so I have 2 walks Monday, Wednesday and Thursday one walk Tuesday and don’t work Friday. My husband does 4 on 4 off and we also have my retired in laws who are on board to help

Ditching the USP which actually isn’t: it gives the impression that you might be well-meaning, but don’t really understand what it is your clients want and that you may have misconstrued other things. And having realistic logistics: the logistics of suggesting you’re going to be doing up to six separate dog walks a day (a walk each morning and evening for your own dogs and then for the boarded dog/s, plus the one or two walks you take the dog walking dogs on) and never mixing any dogs just don’t appear feasible or sustainable - you’re suggesting you’re going to be out on walks for most of the day. From the outside, it just seems to me like there are going to be times you’re busy or have other plans or timings go awry etc and you just say “fuck it” and end up taking your dogs, boarded dogs, and walking dogs all out at once for ease.

I assume all your boarding dogs will meet everyone in the family before you accept them for boarding?

This just sounds worse, OP. People boarding their dog want their dog to have a consistent relationship with somebody both dog and owner trusts. They don’t want to think that your retired in laws and possibly however many other relatives who might be very nice but who they have no idea about dip in here and there to help out.

clients will be aware so of course if they don’t like this set up then will choose someone else. Many home boarders have staff it’s no different

This is kind of what I'm getting at too.

If you can't leave your boarding dogs for longer than three hours, but you have to walk your own dogs separately (twice a day) and walk two lots of "walking" dogs a day, and then walk the boarding dogs twice a day, then realistically the boarding dogs are going to spend a lot of time in your home without you present.

And if that's the case, are they actually going to be in a "home from home" environment or are they going to be separated from your own dogs in the interests of safety?

Every single boarder I know takes their "boarding" dogs out on their group walks during the day, or offers a daycare service where the dogs are at home with them all day (and charges appropriately). The logistics of trying to do both walking and boarding without combining the two groups of dogs doesn't seem feasible to me long-term.

Having trained staff is very different to just randomly using family members. Does the person who issued your license know you're planning to rope in your in-laws to help?