‘Help! I need a dog walker!’ I often get phone calls like this from frantic owners who have changed jobs or had a change of circumstance and now find themselves in need of some help with their dog. (or dogs) We can’t help everyone though so I thought it would be a good idea to give your some advice that will help you find someone you can trust to look after your precious pooch. Finding a dog walker isn’t easy and can be quite stressful, some of my clients hadn’t had a holiday for years until they found someone they could trust. After all you can’t leave your dog with just anyone can you ..read more

Well, you did it! After years of prevaricating and promising yourself that one day you would quit that crappy job and pursue your dream career of working with dogs, you finally did it. You set yourself up as a dog walker. That was big brave step and not everyone was behind you. Even some members of your family rolled their eyes when you told them you were going to start a dog walking business. But you love dogs and you knew you could make it work, so you pulled on your big girl pants and you did it anyway. You saved up for a van and you invested in a website. You got your fliers pr ..read more

I know what you are thinking. This guy clearly knows nothing about dogs Dogs have to be walked. Dogs need to be walked. Dogs live to be walked, right? Absolutely they do. One of the best things about owning a dog is walking him. We look forward to it before we even collect our dog from the breeder or rescue centre. We dream about what it will be like to walk our very own dog. No more will you crawl in from work and just slouch on the couch. Instead you will mooch with your pooch in the park or the beach or the woods. Every day will be a new adventure. Life will be aweso ..read more

‘I don’t have time to market my dog business!’ This is the most common answer I get when I am talking to a pet business owner about their marketing. Often it’s a bit of a smokescreen as the honest answer should be something like; ‘Apart from pissing around on Facebook I really don’t have a plan to market my business at all’. I can understand this predicament too. I wasted years (and no small amount of cash either) trying all manner of ways to ‘put myself out there’ on social media so I could ‘build my brand’. Sadly, this strategy didn’t work. Marketing like Coca Cola and Budw ..read more

You’ve done all the courses. You’ve got the knowledge and the skills. You LOVE dogs and you are passionate about helping people with their doggy problems. But if you are honest, you know nothing about marketing. So how do you go about using social media to grow your dog training business? There are many bright shiny social media platforms to choose from, so which one is right for you? Should you Snapchat or Instagram it? Will Twitter trump Pinterest or is it Facebook all the way? What platform will provide the most effective use of the limited time you are going to set aside ..read more