Actually, there was a time not too long ago when I was seriously considering starting my own pet day care business. Aside from the fact I couldn't find an affordable or appropriate location, I quickly became aware of the HUGE investment of time, if not money.
Owning and operating a pet day care business requires LOADS of hours.
Remember, most people will be dropping off their precious pets before work and picking them up on the way home. That means you have to be there BEFORE people head off to work as well as AFTER they come home.
If I haven't talked you out of it yet, well, then maybe you do have the "Right Stuff.
Here's some additional information and resources to help you decide and then open and operate your own successful pet day care business.
If you're seriously thinking about starting your own pet day care business, commonly referred to as "Doggie Daycare", than this informative DVD is a "must see" first stop.
This is a well-produced DVD that takes an inside look at several doggie daycare facilities that are up and running in various towns and cities around the country. Interviews with the owners and useful checklists will give you an unblemished and un-hyped view of this potentially lucrative and fast-growing business. The owners discuss their varied backgrounds before getting into doggie daycare, what attracted them to the business and some of the pitfalls they encountered along the way as well as their success stories.
PLEASE NOTE: This DVD is a great eye-opener to help you visualize yourself in this business. But it does not come with the detailed documentation and step-by-step information that you would actually need to open a pet day care business. That information would better come from more detailed books and literature. But the less-than $50 investment is totally worth it as a critical first step.
More Pet Day Care Business DVD Details Here
LEARN TO MANAGE A DOG PACK
If you're seriously considering opening your own doggie day care business you'll need to know how to manage a pack. Knowing the signals to look for can prevent fights from breaking out. It's much better to stop fights from happening in the first place than to have to break them up.
The Humane Society offers an online course that you can take at your own pace. The course summary says "Learn to interpret the meaning of a wide variety of animal signals to improve and increase the safety of your animal handling skills." And for only $35, this is another proverbial no-brainer.
Interpreting Animal Behavior for Safe Handling
CONSULTING SERVICES
If you need professional help getting started, hiring a professional consultant can help. One consultant group, a husband and wife team, is Pet Lodges of America. Pet Lodges of America offers a comprehensive launch package as well as personalized one-on-one, on-location consulting. We found their fee structure to be extremely reasonable with a lot of value-added support thrown in for now extra charge.
Find Pet Lodges of America HERE
Barbra Waldare is the founder of California-based Doggie View Daycare. Having successfully established her own pet day care business that uses an innovative webcam approach, Barbra now offers a range of consulting services that she markets as "How-To" packages that cost anywhere from $499 for a detailed operational manual to more extensive packages that cost $5,500 and include a complete business plan and 7 days of on-site training.
Want on-site help for up to 3 weeks? Barbara offers an extensive consulting package called "Affiliate Programs" that cost $12,500 and also includes researching zoning regulations and property lease negotiations.
Barbra has amassed an impressive amount of TV and newspaper publicity surrounding her business and the links to her many successful "students" are all available as references should you want to contact them first.
VISIT DOGGIE VIEW CONSULTING HERE
Dog Day Afternoon is a Florida-based pet day care business owned and operated by Emily Schlansky since 1999. Granted, you're not going to get the breath and depth of the Doggie View consulting package (above) but for $39.95, this doggie day care primer is written by a knowledgable insider who knows the ropes from the inside out. In fact, on their own website they go on to say this regarding their own consulting plan: "It is not a turn-key, franchise packet (that's why it's only $39.95!) but it will aid you in the development of your own successful doggie daycare enterprise."
I would agree.
VISIT DOG DAY AFTERNOON FOR MORE DETAILS
CENTRAL BARK DOGGIE DAY CARE FRANCHISE
Central Bark Doggie Day Care is based in Wisconsin with six franchises there and one in Florida.
A franchise might make a lot of sense because you won't have to reinvent the wheel. But it's not cheap: Central Bark charges a $35,000 franchise fee just to teach you the ropes. Plan on spending an additional $90,000 to over $180,000 to get setup with ongoing royalties and advertising fees for the life of your business.
CENTRAL BARK DOGGIE DAYCARE FRANCHISE
GULLIVER'S DOGGIE DAYCARE FRANCHISE
For an initial franchise fee of $20,000 per location and ongoing royalty fees of five percent of gross sales and an additional two percent of gross sales contributed to an advertising pool, Gulliver's Doggie Daycare refers to themselves as "Strategic Partners", rather than mere franchisees.
Based in Vermont and primarily focused on growing their business in the Northeast, the company has no other franchises as of this writing (Summer 06). While they've been in business as a doggie daycare facility for over 10 years they've only been selling franchises since the end of 2005. Not sure why they haven't sold any yet. Maybe you can be the first!
GULLIVERS'S DOGGIE DAYCARE
CAMP BOW WOW
An investment in a Camp Bow Wow doggie daycare franchise will generally range from $60,000 to $80,000. Start-up costs will range from $250,000 to $500,000 (including your initial investment). The franchise fee, all of your equipment, deposits, training, supplies, initial marketing, advertising, and working capital for your first year of operation are included in your Camp start-up costs.
One great feature about this franchise opportunity is the use of webcams to allow dog owners to login and watch their dogs over the Internet anytime they want.
CAMP BOW WOW
