Dog Walking Benefits By Nayanthara & Nalaka Daundaratne
1. Money Matters
Dog walking is a financially rewarding career as many other if you do it right and with a dedication. According to National Job Bank data, a pet sitter can earn from average 15.5CAD/hr to 26CAD per hour. Hourly income varies among provinces and where you live. For example, the same national data shows that in some provinces high end of hourly pay is 32.38 as of 2022, meaning 62,000$ per annum if you will only work standard 8hr/day. Your earning potential is way higher as these values are only based on basic services a one will provide. Typically, pet sitting services include many tasks that been charged at different rates based on individual needs. So, in experience and how the current market flows, you can easily work towards an average of 55-65K $ per annum. Now, this is you working alone providing limited services. Let’s say you expand your business with few more employees and invest more on building a steady market, as any other successful business, you can earn 6 figures per year.
Nayanthara & Nalaka Daundaratne
2. No Academic Requirements
There is no entry level educational standards required for the profession. If you are in the legal age to work and have the passion for the job, better judgment, sense of responsibility, expected knowledge or willingness to learn and be committed to follow good practices, then you are good to go. However, it is highly recommended that you work on following a training program of your choice in-person or online. If not, make sure to self-study from any valid resources you can find. There are many areas including dog behavioral science, dog training and first-aid skills you can focus to be better at what you are doing. Refer to ‘Useful Education and Training post’ by Nalaka Pravitha Daundaratne for a better understanding of the benefits.
3. You are The Boss
Dog walking and being your own boss comes with the ability to have flexibility around your freedom to manage how your daily life should be and when you want to dedicate time over anything. This is a luxury only very few can get. Imagine being able to go on a vacation on a month that you can plan your schedules ahead and arrange free time. In addition, as an owner you get the complete right to name the wage or price for your services. This is truly a great privilege that only few able to get. Anyhow, this doesn’t mean that you should ask for unrealistically high charges. Always make sure to do a proper market analysis around where you work and offer services at a reasonable rate. Don’t worry, we are going to talk more about pricing later in this series to give you an insight and guidance about everything you need to know at the beginning. However, remember that while your own business offers you flexibility, there are lot of responsibilities that you have for your committed clients as well as for the business itself to keep it sustainable and stable. So, always make sure how to maintain a proper balance between work and freedom that we are talking about. Pravitha Nalaka Daundaratne.
4. Keeps You Healthy & Fit
Health is in fact known to be the best wealth no matter how financially rich we may get. Working as a dog walker or a pet sitter requires lot of activities as walking, running, jogging, weightlifting and functions using physical force against resistance. All these are daily free workouts that you are going to get throughout your career while you are working in the field. As we all know being regularly fit has numerous health benefits from decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke and many other including certain cancers. Ultimately, it can help you to increase the life expectancy in so many contributing ways which would make dog walking a life enhancing activity or a career. So, compared to an 8-hour desk job with limited time to work out or due to frequent gym closures due to modern COVID 19 Pandemic reality, being a dog walker comes with a valuable integrated natural gym benefit. In addition, being a pet sitter helps your mental health in significant proportions. Being with animals and loving what you do makes it triggers endorphins that would in return make us happy. It lowers the risk of depression and helps to control anxiety. Also, interacting with dogs and pets makes us absent of the feeling of loneliness which not only help to improve our mental health but also our self-confidence coupled with all other psychological, physical, financial, and social benefits pet sitting profession is packed with. Simply, who doesn’t like to be happy, confident, and financially stable, right? By Nalaka Daundaratne
5. An expandable Business
Dog walking business or pet sitting is not a profession only limited to what the designations say. You can provide numerous services other than just simply walking a dog or watching pets for few hours at homes or outside or at your location. With skills and knowledge, you can expand your business by adding number of services as pet grooming, medication administration, cleaning pet messes, selling accessories, taking to veterinary appointments, pet daycare services, etc. So, you are about get into a highly expandable business where you can clearly earn way more than the National average income that we talked about before.
6. Being with Nature and Dogs
Something I personally like about this job is being outside most of the time I work doing a thing I love and being with dogs. No matter how tired you are going to get nature and your animal clients will make you feel relax and counteract the physical and mental strains. After all, who gets to walk in beautiful parks for a living and earn as great as owning a successful dog walking business.
7. Great Service to Community
Whether the world accepts it or not, set service providers are also an essential industry providing a great service for our communities and their wellbeing by allowing the people the freedom to engage in their life sustaining work by taking care of their continuous responsibilities of pets. So, you are being part of a service provider that you can really be proud of the contribution to community and world. Therefore, we always tell our new recruits to be proud of what you are about to start as we all are part of something big. No matter you are doing it for few weeks or planning to make dog walking your main career, know that you are needed by the world. By Nayanthara & Nalaka Daundaratne
Disadvantages of Dog Walking Business
Like many other businesses you might challenges as difficulty to find and maintain clients regularly due to many reasons not having many who needs continuous service, poor marketing, and business skills or similar. Also. there can be times with unexpected events like the pandemic or an accident that will have to stop working due to injury which neither of have any control over. All such situations can affect the flow of your steady income. However, proper planning and readiness can fight this modifiable disadvantage of dog walking. So, what can we do? Try to look for work around an area with lot of potential customers. Do your research well. Ask anyone that you might know who dog walkers about best areas are to focus your marketing which is also close to where you live. Improve your marketing and interpersonal skills that you need to approach and broaden your clientele. Refer to our 'Marketing For Success' section by Pravitha Nalaka Daundaratne to learn how to approach and retain many clients assuring the stability of your dog walking business. Further, the key is, always anticipate the risks and be ready by saving some money for difficult periods that might face.