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Dog Day Care Business Plan

How to Start a Dog Day Care

Simple and effective; that’s all your dog day care business plan needs to be to make money, as you start your dog day care business.

Let’s not make a mountain out of a mole hill.

Essentially, what you want to know is

1. Every thing you can about your competitors

2. What services to offer

3. How to effectively market your services

Dog Day Care BIZ Plan
Q & A

Recently, I called Traci, from Sparks, Nevada. Her experiences in starting a dog daycare 11-months ago fit right in to the circumstance you may find yourself in now.

Here’s the essence of our interview.

Thanks Traci for sharing your efforts in how to start a dog day care service. How did you decide this was the right business for you?

"I live about a half mile from town with my 3 dogs on about 1/2 acre. I guess I started thinking about beginning a dog day care as a result of my participation in our local dog rescue network.

I work part time in a casino. The hours are flexible. I have a large vegetable garden, so that helps a lot.

For a long time I thought about having some kind of dog business. I think I decided on starting a dog daycare because I have available land, I didn’t need to spend a lot of money and, of course, I just love dogs."

How much money did you have to invest in this venture?

"I didn't have much, maybe $230 or so to get started. I was very nervous to say the least."

Did you write a dog day care business plan when you began?

"Well, yes and no.

I didn’t write a formal plan. I just made notes from my visits to all the dog daycare centers in the greater Las Vegas area. I wanted to find out:

What facilities did each have and the number of dogs they could care for
What services they provided and the price charged

What activities they planned each day to interact with their customer’s dogs.

What literature they give to prospective customers

How they market their services

Did they have a website and was it on the 1st page of Google.

It was no big deal to do this. This took me less than 2-weeks to complete. I learned a lot."

Speaking about learning, did you rely on any particular person or some thing you may have read to get you started in the right direction?

"One of my friends from the rescue dog network suggested I get Kristin Morrison's Pet Sitting Start Up Kit. While I pondered for some time if I should spend what little money I have on this start up business road map, I finally decided to jump and buy it.

Kristin, I found out, is kind of like the Bible guru on starting and operating successfully, a dog daycare service."

What services did you decide to offer? How did you decide on them?

"Obviously, I needed to make money from each service I offered.

In doing my informal dog day care business plan, I saw that only one competitor offered to train their customer’s pet.

I have a neighbor who has a large SUV, which he uses to pick up and deliver ($37) my customer’s pet. He gives me $12. That’s easy money. Besides no one else around does this.

I’m now considering having dog sleepovers ($35) because they are so happy to play with each other."

Lastly, how do you get customers?

"In the beginning I relied on my friends to refer customers. Now I have a full-color brochure that I give a couple of high school students to pass out to shoppers in front of places like Petsmart, pet stores, supermarkets, etc.

I also am a speaker at service clubs like Rotary and Kiwanis and leave my stuff with them.

In fact, I attempt to leave a few brochures every place I can like the dry cleaners, restaurants, hardware stores, etc.; really any independent retailer. They like to help."