How would you like to own a dog walking business? One of the most creative ways to make money fast for kids and adults is walking dogs for cash. How fast can you make money dog walking? Well, if you keep reading, you will learn how to make money in one hour. Below and throughout this site we’ve compiled hundreds of hours of research to help you start making money quickly. All you need is to be serious about starting this kind of micro-business.
Begin by putting the information below to work for you right away. Don’t forget to come back to tell us your experience. Share your questions with us here.
Who Might Be Interested In A Dog Walking Business?
Maybe you want to learn how to make quick money in one day. Or you’re after something more serious and long-term-oriented to get out of unemployment or underemployment. Perhaps you’re after a practical idea to start a non-intrusive side business to complement your regular income.
Maybe you’re looking to get your computer game-addicted teenager to become active outdoors, exercising, listening to educational material about preparing for the future and making money fast today to save for tomorrow, even help you with the home budget now. If you want all this at the same time for your child, then this site is for you.
Here you can help your child or yourself learn the new skills needed to get the extra cash that you want to improve your current and future situations by organizing yourself behind your own dog walking business. So, what specifically can you possibly gain from starting a dog walking venture?
Top 10 Benefits Of Becoming A Dog Walker And Owning A Dog Walking Business
-
- Pure cash payments on the spot.
- New identity as a solo entrepreneur. No need for associates.
- Earn several hundred dollars a week with only a few clients, and the potential to earn thousands more as your confidence, credibility and client base grows.
- Regular repeat business if you market yourself well.
- Low learning curve, low startup costs, low barriers to entry, manageable competition, once you spot your niche.
- Up and running in a single day, if not just a few hours.
- Easily and quickly expandable to other profitable pet and animal care services.
- Sound way to acquire practical knowledge about animals before considering an academic veterinary degree.
- Flexible schedule, good for your health. You pick the days, the hours, the weeks and the weather. You enjoy the fresh air and the muscular stimulus while your pockets are getting full of cash.
- Can be cashed-out at any time by selling or transferring it to someone else who you train.
Who This Dog Walking Business Benefits Most
-
- The outdoors type
- The physically fit
- The animal enthusiast
- The effective communicator
- The amiable
- The punctual
Who Will Succeed At Dog Walking
-
- Those who can tolerate the unpredictability and physical exertion of dealing with animals.
- Those eager to get outside and walk for several miles possibly daily.
- Those patient enough to stick with training dogs that aren’t willing to obey to start with.
- Those driven to satisfy a dog owner’s expectation to make a dog happy.
- Those docile enough to learn from mistakes and persevering enough to overcome them.
- Those who are honest, reliable, and punctual in tracking time and work progress.
- Those determined not to be irresponsible with the life of others, ever.
Why Are Dog Walking Jobs Not Going Away?
Dog walking jobs are everywhere because dogs needing walks are also everywhere. But dog walking businesses are not mushrooming all over. Although the pet industry has grown enormously over the last 15 years, and it continues to increase, people who want dog walking jobs don’t think entrepreneurially. They want somebody else to open a dog walking business in order to offer the jobs. However, the opportunity for profits are so good, that it has opened many ways to make quick money to those who learn the basics of how to offer dog walking services to their own friends and neighbors. Dogs have become the beloved possession of over 40% of all households in the USA. They’re family members, often practically the equivalent of a single child in a couple’s home or an only child in a single’s home.
In some urban centers, pets outnumber children. For example, according to San Francisco’s Animal Care and Control department, the city is host to over 120,000 dogs versus less than 112,000 children, who represent 13% of the city’s population of 864,000 as minors.
Dog owners are more than willing to pay for services that they find beneficial to their pets. Dog walking is one of these profitable services. And a dog walking business is extremely easy to setup, manage and specialize in, because of the large variety of pet owners and breeds available to you around your neighborhood, town or city.
Your Dog Walking Business And Economic Times
In good times and in bad times, dog walking makes money fast. Of all the services provided to dog owners in the USA, dog walking has proven to be the most recession-proof. Dog grooming, dog sitting, and dog day care centers see declines in business with every recession, yet dog walking has continued steadily and even picked up in certain parts of the country. Why?
During demanding times, dog owners spend more time away from home working to pay their bills. They leave their dogs unattended in the house for many hours in the day.
Since affectionate dog owners cannot bear the thought of their precious pooches being cooped up like prisoners all day, nor the sight of returning to a house that smells and looks like a kennel gone wild, they look to the only alternative available. And it isn’t to get rid of their pet. No, most dog owners are heavily invested emotionally and financially in their animals.
They want someone to visit periodically and take their beloved canines out for a well needed walk. But nobody is knocking on their doors. Few people know how to brand and advertise themselves as dog walkers. In a market like this, it’s not difficult to draw clients to yourself when you know what you’re doing.
Why Is Sporty Dog Walker Good For Your Dog Walking Business
Showing you how to get your dog walking business going is what Sporty Dog Walker is here for! Dog walking jobs are waiting for you everywhere. All you need to know is whose door to knock on, digitally and physically. A dog walking business is a very straight-forward venture that you quickly start and modify to meet your particular lifestyle with only a little bit of structure and sound guidance. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.
Keep considering that due to the increasing amount of money spent on pets, dog walking service expectations are rising in urban and suburban areas. Dog walking has become a very viable and respectable way to make quick money if you follow a few simple steps. In what remains of this article and through the links that connect you to the rest of this site, you are going to find the precise directions to build your own dog walking business, by safely and intelligently fulfilling specific dog walking jobs available around you to make money fast today.
The Dog Walking Business Step-by-Step
What are the basic dog walking business requirements that you need to understand upfront, to level-set your expectations about successfully running a dog walking venture? The first one is to know why you’re walking dogs. Here are several reasons that you’ll need to keep in mind because you will have to share some of them with the dog owners who you will be serving.
Why Are You Dog Walking?
- To give dog owners the satisfaction of knowing that their dogs are getting a healthy release of energy to keep them from becoming despondent, sickly or destructive indoors.
- To improve the welfare and extend the life of dogs by exercise.
- To remove the guilt from dog owner who are not able adequately to care for their dogs.
- To gain the experience of being an entrepreneur who can serve a wider segment of your local community.
- To have a substantial cash flow coming in each week to improve your financial condition.
- To have fun with dogs because you love ‘em.
Know what’s expected of a professional dog walker and the dog walking business:
-
- Punctuality
- Trustworthiness
- Acute attention to the welfare of someone else’s pet
- Consistency
- Foresight
- On-going training
How To Prepare To Practice Dog Walking On Your Own At First
If you’ve not walked dogs before, you’ll want to find out what you can handle and get some basic experience. So, step out and do some practice runs. It’s not complicated at all and it will give you the confidence that you need to become responsible with a paying customer’s property.
Volunteer for dog walking duty at a local animal shelter. In some cases, you might have to go through some basic animal shelter training before you’d be able to take a dog out. This is a terrific way to make friends in the right places. Tell the shelter that you need the practice because you’re starting a dog walking business. They will show you how to walk their dogs. Once you’ve gotten the OK to start taking abandoned dogs for walks, the experience that you gain with those pooches will be invaluable.
Dog Walking Singles Or Multiples
Walk at least two dogs every day for 30 minutes each. Practice with them what you learn at Sporty Dog Walker. By the end of a week, you’d have walked at least 10 dogs in the space of less than 3 hours, and you’d have gained a sound idea of the physical requirements that owning a dog walking service will place on you.
Expand your dog walking horizons by testing the easy-going dogs in the shelter first. Move into the trickier canines next.
Ask the experienced volunteers at the shelter questions like:
- How do you control a dog that wants to lead?
- How do you calm an overly excited dog?
- How do you handle dogs that are confronting each other?
- What is the best method to walking several dogs all at once?
- How often do other volunteers come to take dogs for walks?
- Do you receive inquiries from dog owners looking for available dog walkers?
Once you’ve gained sufficient confidence in controlling dogs at the shelter, walk your neighbors or friends’ dogs in exchange for referrals. Tell them:
“I’m starting a dog walking business. People are too busy to take them out themselves and feel bad about it. So, there’s demand for dog walking in this area. I’m looking to gain some additional experience. I’ve been walking several dogs for some time at the animal shelter. But I’m now wondering if you wouldn’t mind me walking your dog for free for a couple of days. If you like my work, could I use you as a reference?”
What if you own your own dog?
Well, if you own your own dog, then walk your pet one hour every day for a week and practice leadership skills with it. Learn to train your own dog first because you can use it as a show piece to demonstrate to future customers that not only do you know how to walk but also how to obedience train dogs. This commands greater respect and a higher fee. It makes you look like a serious dog walking business owner.
If you have several dogs, alternate each on different days. Know your capacity. After you’ve gone through a few days’ worth of walks, ask yourself the following:
-
- What size dog can I confidently handle?
- What type of personality dog can I walk? Aggressive? Easy-going? Big? Small? Old? Puppy? Rambunctious? Sluggish? Leader of the pack? Sickly?
- How much time can I spend walking in a day?
- How many days am I willing to walk per week?
- How far am I willing to travel per walk?
- How will I get to my starting point?
- How will I get the dog back to its owner?
Learning Basic Dog Obedience Training Skills
We humans tend to spoil our dogs. As a result, they grow up often to be disobedient and unruly. Dogs can be spoiled brats! This is one of the biggest challenges you will face as a sporty dog walker. Most dog owners don’t own well-behaved dogs.
A dog that does not respect your leadership and struggles at the leash results in a very uncomfortable even dangerous walk, threatening the safety of pedestrians or other dogs that they find in their way. Yet while the dog is under your care, you are the one responsible for whatever it does and whatever happens to it as well.
It’s essential that you show a dog what responsibility looks like by showing it that you and no one else play the lead.
By training a dog to be a follower, you’ll end up with a compliant animal. This allows for that safe, healthy and enjoyable walk that owners expect and are willing to pay you for again and again. The reason they pay involves the benefits that you bring to their lives. You will return not only a healthier but also a better-behaved pet to them. This can make you invaluable to the owner, if the pet has been a bit of a behavioral nightmare before your arrival.
It’s not difficult to train a dog while walking it. It just takes a lot of patience and dedication. But you’re spending time with the animal and getting paid for it anyway. So, take advantage of the moment and train the dog.
Training A Dog To Follow You
Here are five essential points to know about teaching a dog to follow you while walking. If you want a more in-depth explanation about gaining control over a dog under your responsibility, then read Sporty Dog Walker’s free “Dog Obedience Training for Expert Dog Walking: Your Complete Guide To Safe Outings And Amazingly Enjoyable Strolls”.
Always Act the Leader
Dogs are animals that instinctively live in packs. They naturally look to a leader. If you aren’t going to be the leader, then the dog knows you are its follower. It matters not the size of the animal. Even a Chihuahua will take an attitude with you – and a big one! – if it sees you as a follower and not its leader.
Being a leader does not necessarily mean that you must be ferocious and mean with an animal. It does mean that you must be firm and confident, calm and assertive, generous yet unswerving. You must sensible yet sensitive – a human who can take rightful dominion over the dog and do well by it.
Remember: You’re dealing with an animal, not a person. You cannot explicate to a dog. They’re not people, regardless of how much we may want to anthropomorphize them. (That’s a fancy word that means we want to turn them into humans because they appear to mirror some human-like behaviors.) But dogs do not rationalize.
Dogs respond to stimulus on instinct, not by deducing cause from effect. This means that you alone are the one who knows why something should be done. The dog only knows whether it should or should not be done. But it knows it based not on purpose but on its instinct, that indicates to the dog that doing it might be gratifying or irritating, whatever the cause. This is what controls dog behavior. This is what enables you to operate him almost like a machine. And this is what you need to work on to have dominion and empower the dog to do what is right always while under your direction and care.
Keep The Dog At Your Side While Walking
Part of being the leader is to have the dog follow you. This means that the dog must be either at your side or behind you always while you are walking. This is called heeling. A dog that does not heel and walks ahead of you is instinctively conveying to you that it is your leader and expects you to follow wherever it chooses to go. Keep the dog at your side so it can see where it is that you are leading, and where it must follow.
Correct Negative Behavior Immediately
If you delay correction for unruly behavior, the dog will not be able to associate the correction with its actions. Dogs learn by association. They imprint through repetition. Remember that correction does not equate to use of brute force. It can involve an action as simple as you stopping when the dog begins to walk ahead of you. Or it could involve a quick yet strong word or a corrective sound, like PSSSST! when the dog begins to wander away from you.
Occasionally Reward The Dog For Good Behavior
Rewards are important for dogs. They’re a tool of positive reinforcement. But you should give them occasionally, because it’s better to train a dog to behave well because you require its obedience, rather than have a dog behave well because it expects a reward every time it behaves as required.
A reward doesn’t have to be a food treat. You can reward a dog by allowing it to sniff around and explore after you had it heel at your side. A sound of praise, a friendly touch are also rewards. Learn to keep measure of your rewards as much as of your corrections. Learn a little bit about clicker training.
Be Consistent
It will take time to alter a dog’s behavior, especially if it knows itself to be powerful and fears nothing or no one. But if you are consistent with the dog, it will eventually understand that it cannot get its way with you and it will surrender to your leadership. A dog will not learn to do something unless it is imprinted in its mind through repetition. Even old dogs learn new tricks. They just take long repetition. So, understand that to be an effective sporty dog walker, you’re going to have to develop patience through persistence. Dog walking will mature you as a person.
Three Don’t-Pull-On-Leash Methods To Achieve The Same Dog Walking Goal
Here are some helpful videos to give you a visual perception of 3 apparently conflicting methods for training a dog to walk on a leash. Again, if you want to learn more in detail about this subject, please peruse our comprehensive guide on dog obedience training. It’s one of the most fundamental skills that you will need before taking on the more commercial responsibilities for running your own dog walking business.
How To Train Your Dog Not To Pull On A Leash Using Positive Reinforcement
How To Train Your Dog Not To Pull On A Leash Using Negative Reinforcement
There’s a ton of information online about training dogs, some free, some for pay. But the following is a concise list of helpful topics to understand intimately in order to act as a leader to your dogs before you take them out for a walk. Never forget that leadership is fundamental to successful dog walking, whether you’re dealing with a Pekinese or a Rottweiler. If your dog walking business is to grow, you will need the confidence to deal with a variety of dogs and canine temperaments.
- Why Dogs Must Be Followers
- How To Be A Leader To Your Dog
- How To Walk A Dog Effectively According to Temperament
- Training Your Dog To Walk On A Leash. What Collar To Use?
Sporty Dog Walker highly recommends that you continue to learn about dog psychology, dog behavior, dog training methods and equipment, especially if you walk dogs that tend to pull or dog needing socialization, because the more you learn about dogs, the more effective you will be not only as a dog walker but as someone who can train another person to deal with dogs. This will lead to other opportunities to expand your business in other areas of animal handling. Keep visiting the site to gain greater insight as we continue to publish more information to help you succeed.
Aiming To Make The Biggest Bucks As Fast As Possible
The next video shows you what a dog walking master can do. This is not for beginners. This is called group dog walking. It takes a great deal of expertise to draw attention to the leader for all dogs in a group.
You can make money fast today, much of it in cash, in just 2 hours a day walking 10 dogs (or more) all at once. In a city like New York, you can get up to $50 per dog for a 2-hour walk. If you walked 10 dogs, you’d make $500 in the time that it takes to watch a movie. Do that 3 times a week and you’re making $1,500 for 6 hours of work before you get to your weekend. That’s a $75,000 income if you could keep it up for 50 weeks of a year.
Where To Set Your Eyes Next If You Want To Start Your Dog Walking Business
Realize the potential there is in developing a dog walking business, literally step-by-step. It’s one of the best ways to make quick money. Keep reading our site specifically to gain insight into how to launch, run and expand your own dog walking business. And please leave us your comments and suggestions, revealing to us how you would like to be better served by the information that we gather and provide for you. We’re here to help you reach your goal to use dog walking and your love of dogs as one of the best ways to make quick money and improve your life and that of your family, friends and neighbors around you succeeding as a confident sporty dog walker.