Would you hire a small dog field

[BetterCallSaull]

My nearest dog field (enclosed, you hire by the hour) is a good 30 min drive away.

I'm thinking of fencing some of my land to make a secure enclosure approx 0.5 acres in size. I'd get the relevant insurance and permissions etc, all above board. No neighbours to worry about.

The other fields 30 mins away charge £12 an hour for 5 acres.

Would you 1) hire 0.5 acres for your dog 2) pay £5 an hour?

Charge more than £5.00.

Dont underestimate the costs you will have.

Secure fencing and that will need to be checked and repaired regularly

Poo bags supplies

Endless soil and sand to fill in holes that are dug

Cost of disposing of the poo

Insurance

Mowing the grass I guess you already have a ride on mower but fuel costs etc

If using agility equipment - it is mega expensive - if using home made equipment loads of legal implications so look into that in detail - more cost

Good luck with the planning permission some councils are really anti dog so worth speaking to other who have got it already and what worked for them

Don't undersell yourself - Try also to get an inhouse trainer on board who can use the field in set times so you can get a regular income.

You can promote the size as an advantage if you market it correctly

Good luck

I pay £12/h for 2.5acres, which I find a good size for what I need. O.5 acres might be too small.

Should say it's £12 for 3 dogs, £10/h for 1

Yes - we have two near by and they are very hard to book frequently as they are so popular

Please have a fixed water bowl so when people forget the bowl but remember the water, they don't have to trek home 😄

They are no frills, picnic bench, small shelter, bit of agility equipment and that's all. One requests bring your own poo bags, other has them there.

One is £6 per half hour, the other is £10 per hour

No but then I wouldn't hire a field, ddog needs to have variety eg woods, water, shrubs etc. He is very trustworthy so can go off lead as long as there's no livestock or horrible other dogs (he has had surgery and gets picked on since at least it seems that way)

I hire a field 2 or 3 times a week. 2 acres £10 for 55 mins

It's on the small side, so you'll want to reduce prices accordingly.

Consider 25 and 55 min slots.

Poo bins are a noble idea, but you'll need to pay for commercial bin collections so check the costs. Plenty by us have no bin facilities.

Don't offer toys, they'll disappear in a few days. People bring their own things. If you're staffing it, you could offer poo bags and tennis balls for sale on site.

Fences will need to be at least 6ft high. You'll want to check the perimeters daily for digging by both dogs and wildlife to prevent escapes.... Consider fitting the fence well below the level of the grass. Your target client base will be people with untrained, reactive or escapee mutts (as well as elderly, in season, injured owners who can't walk far etc) so you'll need to assume they will be houdinis and a secure field needs to be actually secure.

Will you make it a drive in field? Much better for the dogs and security if it is. Consider hard standing for that.

Water - if you're providing it, will you need to pay commercial rates for it? Does it need to be tested for bugs or anything?

Neighbours - got any? Do you need permission for change of use for the land or anything?

Not 0.5 acres - that's very small. Our local one is 3.5 acres and we pay £7 an hour for that.

£7 for half an hour, sorry!

No - half an acre is too small really unless the hire price is going to be low in order to reflect that.

I personally wouldn't but I know a lot of people that would and think in the right area it would do really well!

Be perfect for recall practise and to allow little dogs to bound around till their hearts content. I'd book it for a fiver an hour.

Yes, I would. My dog can't be off lead unless in a secure field. I like to vary the fields we hire so the more the merrier for us. Sometimes you just need a run around that's local. I think 0.5 acres is just over a quarter of a football pitch - that'd do us every other day or so.

If it's really fully secure, so that other dogs cannot get in, then those with dogs in season might want to use it a lot, but only for a few weeks (and then only once or twice in the dog's lifetime, depending on recommended age of spay)

This is a brilliant idea for urban areas. I wish I'd had something like this when I had my rescue Boxer who couldn't be off lead as was reactive to other dogs and a bully. She's passed away now sadly, but I may be rescuing another at some point.
Does anyone know any places like this to hire out around south London/Surrey area?

Dog fields in the UK

You could consider linking up with a local dog walker - they may want a secure space to use for walks on a regular basis.

I walk a few dogs who can't be off-lead for various reasons (poor recall, reactivity) so it would be nice to occasionally have use of a private secure space.

I think they would. We needed it to turn a piece of field into a parking space.

Please consider the possibility of people misusing agility equipment, for example puppies should not have access to anything that involves climbing or jumping.

You could join the Dog Walking Fields directory :-) They are a decade old now and the most widely used site https://www.dfordog.co.uk/blog/enclosed-dog-field-directory.html

We have lots of dog walking fields near where I live - the smallest is 1 1/2 acres but is lovely as there is a grassy track round the perimeter and woodland in the middle so you can criss cross from one to the other and it gives shade from the sun. The drawback for me is you have to walk the dogs down to it and as I’m recovering from surgery I find that too difficult.
Another one fairly close is probably only an acre but they have lots of agility equipment and they also do all sorts of training including scent work and hoopers. One of mine loved the agility equipment and my boy who is ball obsessed found a ball pit and lost his tiny mind!
A new one we went to yesterday was lovely, really large field with a shelter and several picnic benches and you could drive into the secure area. They had composting buckets for dog poo which I hadn’t seen before and I chose to bag mine and take it home as I’ve always done at any dog field.
i know the lady who owns the smaller field had issues with the council and planning - she’s only allowed one car at a time and I think it’s restricted in the hours she can be open whereas some are open dawn to dark.
Also decide whether you’ll allow xl bullies, may need to check your insurance. Some of the local ones do but most seem not to

I would. I don’t really want to have to hire a huge field - a smaller space would work far better for my guys. Unfortunately all the dog parks near me are huge.

Does the person that hires the field pick up the dog poo?

Yes, just like anywhere else.