Would you pay this for a dog walker?

[albapunk]

I work full time condensed into 3 days per week. I'd like to fill my time walking dogs but without the commitments of set days/times each week. There seems to be a gap locally for people who only want one-off walks or as and when they need them. They have been turned away by othe businesses for not garunteeing set walks each week.

There is also a gap for 1-2-1 dog walks. From my research a 1hr walk (group) is often £15-18. I'd like to offer 1-2-1 dog walking but at £20 for a 1hr slot. This is what would be fair to cover outgoings and also reflect the fact that clients don't need to agree to set days/times.

Is this reasonable? A service you would use? I will be insured, and happy to do a qualification. I am a VERY experienced dog owner.

Yeah, I'm assuming PP pays for a group walk too.

You say there's a gap for 1-2-1 walks but is that because not many people want them? Or only want them at lunchtime, for example?

Lunchtimes are the most popular times and if you're only walking solos, you're incredibly limited. You could maybe do two solos over lunch a day, but that's it.

so much depends on the dog.
We used to have a spaniel. he was lovely. Our friends had a black lab. She was lovely. The two dogs were best friends.
Taking the two of them out on a walk was fun, and they chased each other in circles, played together and generally had a ball.

I would have let anyone who could hold a lead take them out. (before you all pile in, that is an exaggeration) I know they would have been easy and no trouble. I would not have paid high prices for the walks, becuase it did not require any experience or training. He could have tagged onto a group walk of 6 other dogs and you wouldn't have noticed.

Our current dog I would only let out with an experienced walker, and only after I had seen how they would deal with him reacting to another dog.
I would be willing to pay much more for a 1-2-1 walk for this dog.

Presuming from the replies people don’t have dogs or dog walkers.

Getting one off, or sporadic dog walks is highly sought after and most if not I suspect ALL dog walking businesses won’t accept you as a client. Obviously, because they’d lose business. They want set days and set times often months in advance. I’d be happy to pay £20 for that service provided you had insurance and first aid training and a DBS.

I’ve done it, it was harder than I imagined. I was only doing it for exercise and had a few dogs, one of which was a XL bully. Often the dogs are strong and not well trained! Just because your dog is fine, doesn’t mean other dogs or indeed people are.

Solo dog walks, picking up the dog, driving the dog to a location. One hour walk. Driving dog back, cleaning up the dog, sometimes feeding/refreshing the water, that all takes time and time is money.

Solo dog walks, picking up the dog, driving the dog to a location. One hour walk. Driving dog back, cleaning up the dog, sometimes feeding/refreshing the water, that all takes time and time is money.

what is interesting to me about this is that you do this and then charge £20 for a one hour walk.

My dog walker charges for all the time she is with my dog. She actually walks from my house, no driving, but hosing down/drying off time and giving him breakfast are all timed. So in the scenario above, she is with the dog for eg 1.5 hours of which 1 hour is walking, she would charge 1.5 hours, which I think is reasonable.
So it is either one hour (but it takes 1.5) at £20. Or 1.5 hours at a lower rate eg £15. It is the same.

I sometimes use a walker who charges £13 for a one-to-one, hour long walk. My dog would be fine in group walks but the walker has a long term injury which means she can’t/won’t walk more than one at a time.

No. I pay the sitter less for walking the child.

Getting one off, or sporadic dog walks is highly sought after and most if not I suspect ALL dog walking businesses won’t accept you as a client.

That's certainly not the case for me. I have loads of ad-hoc customers who use me on a very sporadic basis.

It would be the case if someone only did groups and all their walks were full all the time, but I genuinely don't know any walkers who never, ever have a space for an ad-hoc occasionally.

Whether they can be bothered with it or not is another matter though

A family member runs a business like this. It’s very successful and she is fully booked. She only works with dogs within a 15 minute driving radius. She walks dogs that can’t be walked in group. So 1:1 or if two dogs 2:1. Small to medium dogs and she does home visits and the occasional dog sitting in peoples homes. As I said she is fully books. And able to charge a little more because it’s a specialize and personalize service.

@albapunk I pay £13 to £15 for 1:1 walks from a qualified, insured dog walker. This could be with other dogs, but there is no additional charge for 1:1.

The only additional cost is for weekends, but it's only £2 extra.

As an aside, the NMW does not apply to self employed people.

As an aside, the NMW does not apply to self employed people.

True, but it would be a very silly person indeed to willingly work for less!

You often don't have a choice when running your own business. That said, there is no shortage of demand for dog walkers, so I would be surprised if any needed to go below.

I'd argue that if you don't have a choice, your business isn't viable to begin with.

Here is S London a solo walk is £20 per hour, group walk £17.

I can see why you would think that, but it isn't always as cut and dried.

I suspect the vast, vast majority of people simply couldn't survive if they didn't at least earn the minimum wage. If you're just starting up, have savings or maybe support from a partner, that's different.

I would have paid £20 for my very reactive (now departed) dog to be walked solo for an hour, back in the day. A break would have been nice!

Back down in Portsmouth I found a doggy day care where the guy would collect my (new, sweet tempered) dog at 8.30am, take him back to his house to play with all his mates in their garden, then take them for a 1-2 hour off lead walk as a small pack. He dropped him back to me at 2pm, all for £12.

Now I'm in Lincolnshire I can't find anything at all. I'm too far from anyone, nobody collects, and anyway they're all fully booked with no spaces. Same for dog-sitting - my 2 don't travel well but although I've used the Rover app to find reliable sitters when we go away, 2 nights/2 days for 2 dogs is over £150. In my own house.

I know it wouldn't be sustainable long term, but it all depends on circumstances. If you are building a new business, or are into the trap of not being able to refuse work and hoping it averages out. Also, there are different tax advantages to being self employed which counter the actual wage.

For example, self employed people could potentially have their vehicle paid for by their company, and a percentage of their home bills, which could mitigate the actual wage they take home as their outgoings are lower. There are tons of different permutations to that.

I would expect to if it was just my dog, but not for a group, no.