Pricing Your Dog Walking Services
Even if you got your dog walking experience by volunteering, you're probably not starting
a dog walking business as a non-profit. You need to earn a living. Here's what it takes to earn $2,500 a month walking dogs.
I've made some assumptions here: $45 an hour for each dog walk in cities/metro areas, and $35 for suburban or rural areas.
I'm also assuming you're never going to be walking more than 4 dogs at a time (most dog walkers draw the line at 5 dogs as a
manageable pack). I'm also assuming that you're offering a free-first-walk promotion, and that you offer a package deal of 5 one hour walks a week
for a 20% discount. That's a lot of assumptions, and your business is sure to be very different, but here's a rough idea what your schedule is
going to look like. Minimizing your travel time is definitely the way to earn more per hour.
$2,500 a Month in the City
at $45 an hour = 55.5 hours of dog walking a month
Assume you have 3 five-days-a-week dog walking clients that get a 20% discount. You'll earn $540 a week from these clients, or 3
clients times five days time $45 each day times the 20% discount. With four weeks a month, you've earned $2,060 from just
those 3 clients. To get to your $2,500 a month, you'll need to schedule just ten more one hour dog walks a month.
If there's no overlap on those daily walks (you'll be walking just one dog) and there's a 20 minute transportation time each way,
you'll spend 2 hours a day going from dog to dog, plus about 7 hours transporation to your clients that aren't daily walks. That means
you'll be walking your "daily" dogs 45 hours a month, and your non-daily dogs ten hours a month. You'll spend 47 hours going from dog to
dog. Between dog walking and transportation you'll be working 92 hours a month or 23 hours a week at $27.17 an hour. That's
before taxes, before transportation costs, and before your business's overhead costs.
$2,500 a Month in the Suburbs
at $35 an hour = 71.5 hours of dog walking a month
Assume you have 3 five-days-a-week dog walking clients that get a 20% discount. You'll earn $420 a week from these 3 clients, or $1680 a month.
You'll need to schedule 24 more one hour walks - 6 walks a week - to earn the extra $820 to get to $2500.
Assuming it takes you 30 minutes
each way to get to each dog, and there's no overlap during dog walks, it will take you 15 hours to get to and from your "daily" dogs each week, and an
additional six hours a week to get to your non-daily dogs. It probably won't take that long, but this is the worst-case scenario. That's 21 hours a week of transportation plus 21 hours of walking, or 42 hours total
work a week. You'll make $17.50 an hour even before you pay for all that gas to get around.
MORE DOG WALKING ARTICLES:
How to Start a Dog Walking Business
Dog Walking for Children and Teens
Dog Walking Services: Dogs' Day Out
Be the Best Dog Walker in Your Town
How to Handle Aggressive Dogs
How to Get a Dog Walking Job
Dog Walking Franchises
Additional Dog Services to Offer
Walking Puppies
How to Advertise and Promote a Dog Walking Business
How to Get Insurance for Your Dog Walking Business
How to Get Experience with Dog Walking and Dog Training
Pricing Your Dog Walking Services
Would You Make a Good Dog Walker? 5 Questions to Ask Yourself to Find Out
How To Interview Clients: The Owners and Their Dogs
Dog Training Basics Every Dog Walker Must Know: Dog Walkers' Obedience Training
Dog Walking Safety Tips
Dog Walking Etiquette