Pet parents have their own struggles with their work schedules and urgent engagement and no one to care for their pets. Pet Care during the pandemic has been especially poor due to readjusted priorities and a special emphasis on social distancing.
However, the APPA (American pet products Association) suggests improved Petcare in the post-pandemic scenario. So, starting a dog daycare can be a good business venture this year.
How to Start a Dog Daycare
You can have specific questions about how exactly to start a dog daycare business. With different sophisticated approaches for pet care prevalent now along with even changing technologies for modern pet care, dog daycare is no longer what it used to be a decade ago. Check out some things you can keep in mind to get started.
1. Survey Dog Boarding Specifics
Before beginning any business, you need to do proper research. Collect relevant information related to your business for both local and general trends. Try to interpret surveys from within your target audience to gain knowledge and clarity about your niche.
Similarly, before starting with a Dog Daycare business, try to understand in detail all things necessary for dog boarding at your desired scale. The first thing you must research is the kinds of breeds available and what each needs for suitable care.
The second is to find characteristics of a particular breed, like eating habits, drooling potentiality, affection, and reaction within the surrounding. You must know about the medical history of dogs, like Canine first-aid, Canine CPR, etc. To understand these things, you need layered research. You can frame such questions and share them with the pet owners for better understanding.
Later, you can go through every response and form a chart with a particular breed/dog and its characteristics. Interacting with the customers might happen at a later stage, but you can get started by familiarizing yourself with dog care and its requirements.
2. Decide a Suitable Location
For any successful business, the location matters a lot. Why? Because the business grows only if its customers are satisfied. Customers can explore your business only if it’s feasible to reach or easily accessible. For a Dog Daycare, the location should be near residential places or apartments. It will be easier for the Dog’s owner to drop their pet at your Daycare centers.
Once the location is finalized, the next thing is to build infrastructure. The infrastructure could include a green garden with fencing and other equipment for dog care. It should be spacious enough for dogs to get enough room to play games and be taken care of for long hours.
A good location and setup will also attract the canines more and help them to adapt to the surroundings. Therefore, if you are looking to start a Dog Daycare, then location, setup, and infrastructure surely matter a lot for your business.
3. Draft your Dog Daycare Business Plan
The next step is drafting a business plan. Why for a dog daycare? Well, it’s pretty clear that a lot of different aspects and departments within your business would have to work in sync for your successful pet or dog daycare business. Having a structured plan for everyone to reflect on is the perfect measure for planning for the long term.
Your plan will also serve as a great reference doc for any funding/investment requirements that you have. Hiring roles, building infrastructure, and planning your finances – everything becomes easier with a structured business plan. Check out our Dog Daycare Business Plan Template to get started with planning.
4. Invest in Supplies
Several Dog Daycare centers are standing today in the market, and maybe multiple in your target locality itself. This means you need some distinct features to present your daycare as a unique one. To bring such uniqueness, you need a bit of investment. For instance, pet owners don’t want their canines to rest all day in kennels.
Instead, they are looking to see some positive changes in their pet dogs. These could be fitness or mindfulness for dogs. You must focus on the behavior of the dogs, and their food taste and try to understand their sensitive nature. Training and supplies for these areas are where a good chunk of investment can go.
Some owners instruct about their pet’s food preferences, so accordingly, you need to maintain a care system. You also need to invest in toys, some fun activities, and some enjoyment to tackle boredom. It is also necessary to invest a bit in inventory items like food, and med. Managing dogs, along with checking on supplies, can be a bit hectic.
So it’s better to handle inventory using dog daycare software or some mobile app. It will make your job easy and decrease the workload. Sort out these avenues for investment for your business.
5. Hire some Well-Qualified Trainers
Of course, you can’t think of running a proper dog daycare without well-qualified trainers. The trainer(s) will address some pets so that you can take a break from training if you are planning to be actively involved. Hiring an adept trainer is also a time-consuming process, so you should start with your search at the earliest.
You cannot hire any person if they are not up to the job. Firstly, the trainer should be friendly, professional, and well-qualified for dog care. Someone with the skills to train pets with good behavior, discipline, and fun tricks could be even better. Most importantly, the trainer must have experience with training dogs in large numbers. Someone on board to help handle the situation will be a blessing on overbooked days!
6. Start a Business Legally
To start any business, you must be compliant with the rules and regulations applicable to your location. As per government rules, you will require several legal documents and licenses to run your dog daycare smoothly. Firstly, your business must have a valid soft license.
Every state has different government specifications for this. Accordingly, you need to register for your license, tax registration, and other mandatory permits.
You need to open a Bank Account for business-related transactions like credit card processing or payrolls, etc. It is essential to pay taxes and update permits as per local and state laws. Accordingly, find which tax bracket your business would fall under on the basis of the entity you register as. For any disputes or legal obstacles, make a set of all the crucial commercial documents, business plans, etc., that are evidence for your business to be legit.
7. Fun and Entertainment
Think of adding more features to your pet daycare, like some fun activities, musical games, etc. Most modern dog daycares adopt a cage-free policy. They believe dogs must have the freedom to move around the ground and play. A Kennel facility is reserved for only when the Daycare staff feeds the dogs.
As the dogs are free to roam around, they can actively participate in other activities or games. Another feature that can make your business distinct is having air conditioning installed. This feature can be great for owners who’d prefer to keep their pets more comfortable.
You could also install a CCTV surveillance system that protects your daycare from any threat. Additionally, you can try to fit in webcams for dog owners to keep a check on the day-to-day activities of their dogs. Near every spot, you must arrange for water for the dogs.
If the dogs get hydrated after playing, they can stop at a point to have some water. Small things like these can not only be fun for the pets but also make your daycare stand out in front of owners. This clearly translates to better business.
Summing Up
Thus, setting up a dog daycare can be quite the process. But, if you’re a pet lover and enjoy caring for them, this can be a gratifying business to invest in. With the right team and plan, you can make good money with your pet care venture.
With an intermediate investment cost and really great profits for a well-run business, dog daycare can work satisfaction clubbed with great gross profits. At Upmetrics, you can find different business plan templates to fine-tune each aspect of planning. Get started with planning at the earliest to kick start a great dog daycare venture.
