Starting Up A Dog Boarding Business

[JozMan]

Hey guys, firstly it's a very nice forum you have set up here and I'm sorry if this isn't the right spot to put it. The names Josh, I'm in year twelve, a huge animal lover and strongly looking into the idea of becoming a pet boarder, for as long as i can remember i have been a huge animal lover. I'm at the stage in my life where i need to decide my future and what it is i want to do with my life. After a lot of research and contacting excising pet boarding business i think creating my own pet boarding business is really for me. Yes i know it will take a lot of hard work and a load of my time but is there really a better job than doing something you love doing and been in that type of environment?

Been just 18 and still currently in school I have basically no money to my name so i can't go buy somewhere to build the company or have space at my own home to be able to set it up, i was just wondering if anyone would be willing to share some advice with me or has any experience in this area.

Thanks guys and i look forward to reading your responses.:)

[Ben and Jerry]

Have you looked into volunteering or seeking a job at any of your local kennels? If you want to run your own business have you studied any business or animal related subjects or have any plans too? As you said setting up a business will take a lot of work and time, something to consider would be do you want to run your own at home pet minding business, how would you go about setting up a reputation within your community too let clients know you can be trusted in their home. I imagine getting quality references could help you out here. If you were to set up your own kennel facility have you sat down and worked out the costs? On going staff costs, facilities, feeding costs, insurance and I imagine your going to need permits or something dependent on the amount of dogs that will be in boarding.

I think your best bet will be getting out there and gaining hands on experiences in an already set up business then going from there. Good luck with it all.

[Sheridan]

You sound very determined! My suggestion also is to get loads of work experience in working in boarding kennels. It probably won't pay much to start with. You should also look into what courses you could do that would help. Business qualifications, accounting, law, marketing, and importantly, animal care, grooming, etc. I imagine the set up would be very expensive so maybe have a savings plan, too, because you'd want a fair amount of capital behind you. I would also start looking at researching where there is a need for boarding kennel businesses.

[Tralee]

There was a story recently about a woman who set up an dog rescue/shelter/kennel type thing, for the street dogs in Bali.

This might be your sort of thing.

I should imagine there would be a different type of funding/cost arrangements for this type of charity/social service.

You could also look at going into rescue, here.

[Sheridan]

1344033511[/url]' post='5919381']

There was a story recently about a woman who set up an dog rescue/shelter/kennel type thing, for the street dogs in Bali.

This might be your sort of thing.

I should imagine there would be a different type of funding/cost arrangements for this type of charity/social service.

You could also look at going into rescue, here.

I think he wants to have his own business. There is no money in rescue.

[Tralee]

There was a story recently about a woman who set up an dog rescue/shelter/kennel type thing, for the street dogs in Bali.

This might be your sort of thing.

I should imagine there would be a different type of funding/cost arrangements for this type of charity/social service.

You could also look at going into rescue, here.

I think he wants to have his own business.

There is no money in rescue.

Good luck with that.

Life:: There's no money in it.

Edited August 3, 2012 by Tralee

[JozMan]

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and opinions, after I finish school I am planning on doing some volunteering work at my local RSPCA shelter and doing certificate IV in animal care I think I may need to just work for a year or two and save up enough money to start up the business because I won't have the money to and the bank won't give out a loan to a 18 year old kid straight out of school.

[GoldenGirl85]

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and opinions, after I finish school I am planning on doing some volunteering work at my local RSPCA shelter and doing certificate IV in animal care I think I may need to just work for a year or two and save up enough money to start up the business because I won't have the money to and the bank won't give out a loan to a 18 year old kid straight out of school.

Take the opportunity to do some business and commerce courses at tafe, you might have all the best ideas in the world, but if you don't know how to run a business efficiently you will run into trouble very early on

[sandgrubber]

I started a kennel from scratch in 2004.

I'd suggest touring all the kennels you can to decide what to aim for and how to get there. Things to consider include (1) which style of kenneling you like (ie, group exercise vs complete separation of dogs, commercial scale vs more homey; full service with grooming and pet product sales, training, etc. vs simply boarding); (2) which seems to be working best as a business; and (3) which of the local kennel owners you feel you could get along with.

Then go for a position in a kennel that fits your priorities. You're more likely to get hired if you can tell someone you like and admire the way they run their facilities and you want to learn from them.

It's hard, when you run a kennel, to find the right employees. Lots of younger people love the animals and are happy to play with them, but when it comes to cleaning the kitchen, they're not so keen. If you can prove yourself responsible, reliable, and able to help with the full range of chores that have to be done in a kennel, I'd say you stand a chance of working your way up to some sort of management position. It's good to pick up the animal certificate IV, good to have some computer and accounting skills, but in my days of running a kennel, reliability, responsibility, and basic skill in handling animals were far more important than certificates.

Unfortunately, wages in the industry are not good. You'll not find it easy to work your way up from employee to owner.

[Esky the husky]

I agree with others about doing some further study into business as well as doing your animal cert.

You might even be able to get some work in kennels while you study, or just doing shelter work at the RSPCA will help you decide whether this is the career for you.

Not saying it isn't right for you, but I've done a couple of tafe courses and came out at the end finding out theres no career in that industry or that the industry isn't for you.

Have a look into the grants that the government is offering to small business owners/ new businesses. An employee of my partner recently left his job because the he got some great fundings/ incentives to help him take his business to the next level.

[JozMan]

I started a kennel from scratch in 2004.

I'd suggest touring all the kennels you can to decide what to aim for and how to get there. Things to consider include (1) which style of kenneling you like (ie, group exercise vs complete separation of dogs, commercial scale vs more homey; full service with grooming and pet product sales, training, etc. vs simply boarding); (2) which seems to be working best as a business; and (3) which of the local kennel owners you feel you could get along with.

Then go for a position in a kennel that fits your priorities. You're more likely to get hired if you can tell someone you like and admire the way they run their facilities and you want to learn from them.

It's hard, when you run a kennel, to find the right employees. Lots of younger people love the animals and are happy to play with them, but when it comes to cleaning the kitchen, they're not so keen. If you can prove yourself responsible, reliable, and able to help with the full range of chores that have to be done in a kennel, I'd say you stand a chance of working your way up to some sort of management position. It's good to pick up the animal certificate IV, good to have some computer and accounting skills, but in my days of running a kennel, reliability, responsibility, and basic skill in handling animals were far more important than certificates.

Unfortunately, wages in the industry are not good. You'll not find it easy to work your way up from employee to owner.

Do you still own and run the business? As for the money does the average pet boarding owner get enough income all year around to support them selves? I've heard mixed responses from current owners.

I agree with others about doing some further study into business as well as doing your animal cert.

You might even be able to get some work in kennels while you study, or just doing shelter work at the RSPCA will help you decide whether this is the career for you.

Not saying it isn't right for you, but I've done a couple of tafe courses and came out at the end finding out theres no career in that industry or that the industry isn't for you.

Have a look into the grants that the government is offering to small business owners/ new businesses. An employee of my partner recently left his job because the he got some great fundings/ incentives to help him take his business to the next level.

I didn't think of that, good idea!

[Esky the husky]

If you've got a good career advisor at school might be worth having a chat with them, as they'll probably know about all the grants available to young people in your area.

[JozMan]

If you've got a good career advisor at school might be worth having a chat with them, as they'll probably know about all the grants available to young people in your area.

I have a meeting with my pathways teacher at school this week so i will talk to her about all this stuff.

[flame ryder]

If you really want to do this you must consider where you live. Do you live in a rural area and do you have close nieghbours? You will need to apply to council to find out if you can go ahead. The place down the road from me got knocked back on their application to the council...they are rural but do have a few neigbours pretty close, it was those neighbours who put in the objection. Then I started to think about doing it as I have no close neighbours so am reading all this with interest.

I also started to think what might be involved and if kennels would need air-cond or heating which would make set up more expensive.

[Dogsfevr]

We own boarding Kennels & i love my job but i would never open one again given a second chance.

It is a 365 day of the year 24/7 life changing business ,yes you make money BUT it is a constant money draining business for repairs,upgrades & with all bills increasing so are your running costs.

As for set ups that will come under your local council & what there guidelines are for kennels ,each council can be very different & location makes a business make or break.Close to freeway/highways in/out of major cities,near airports or other tourist routes are good.

Whilst working with dogs is fun its hard work that in all honesty many people don't appreciate & you need to put up with some extremely odd clients at times.

I would suggest working in a kennel would be the go & i can tell you many people don't last long as it isn't what they think.

I have run.owned a boarding kennel/grooming salon for since 92

[JozMan]

We own boarding Kennels & i love my job but i would never open one again given a second chance.

It is a 365 day of the year 24/7 life changing business ,yes you make money BUT it is a constant money draining business for repairs,upgrades & with all bills increasing so are your running costs.

As for set ups that will come under your local council & what there guidelines are for kennels ,each council can be very different & location makes a business make or break.Close to freeway/highways in/out of major cities,near airports or other tourist routes are good.

Whilst working with dogs is fun its hard work that in all honesty many people don't appreciate & you need to put up with some extremely odd clients at times.

I would suggest working in a kennel would be the go & i can tell you many people don't last long as it isn't what they think.

I have run.owned a boarding kennel/grooming salon for since 92

Interesting and thank you for sharing your experience, what are some of the bad parts of owning your on dog kennels? Do you work from your own home and how did you go a parting starting up the business and affording it.

[Dogsfevr]

Any kennel owner should live on there property .

I have shown dogs since a child so kennels is part & part of life for me ,so even alot of the equipment was already owned before the kennels where.

The worst part is the 365 24/7 lifestyle ,unless you plan to employ excellent staff you are the one who is there for the animals no matter what & especially in summer when it comes to fire season.

You work every day of the year no matter what you are your job & all activities work around it not the other way.

Christmas day = Kennels

Holidays far & few between unless you have wonderfui help ,we go on separate holidyas because of the business.

It depends on how big you want to be or how small.

Dogs come in with many health issues that you need to be prepared to deal with or not accepted ,you need to be very dog savvy in looking for signs of issues in breeds & knowing when a vet is required & when not .

You need to be prepared to brush dogs in boarding ,bath,blow dry all these things are part & parcel,

Dogs with the runs,dogs passing away in your care especially the elderly .

It is hard work with not alot of reward unless you offer a great service & have clients.

It costs a fortune to build kennels,fencing for the outside yards that need to be dig proof,escape proof .

Kennel set ups can vary to making life easier to making life harder & also what makes the dogs in your care feel at home the most .

As i say i love working with dogs i have done it all my life but i would never open another boarding kennel given the choice & not with what it costs to build these days .

We also do full time grooming from our place which covers the occasional low periods because when your not full your not earning money .

Because we are known in the dog world we have a great referral system from breeders & even our vet ,our vet is well aware of how we deal with any medical issues & the care taken & again word of mouth with there clients .

There is not alot of playing with the dogs as such but a lot of hardwork dealing with dogs of all sorts of backgrounds,needs & patience that can be very trying at times.

You need to have plans for aggressive dogs to timid dogs

You need plans depending on how dig you are for evacuations which means vehicle types,crates & we also have 2 dog trailers if required .

As soon as late November hits we are on full alert for the fire season & rarely go anywhere far as apair if need be plus you need to be there through the summer to monitor dogs & how they are dealing with the weather .

Because we live here if i hear any of the dogs barking during the night i go up & deal with it often shutting them in there sleeping area ,this could be anytime in the morning lack of sleep can be a package deal aswell .

Barkers are far & few between but when you get an all nighter you again need a plan to deal with it & your neighbours ,1 barker can lead to many barkers .

[JozMan]

I really do appreciate you sharing your experience and knowledge with me so thanks!

[flame ryder]

Showdog can I just ask a question...you say you can't have holidays because of the business, but if you wanted to plan a holiday...say for example in June, could you just not take any bookings for June - kennels closed all of June ect?

Would a smaller kennel (say 10 dogs) be viable as a second income?

Sorry to hi-jack your post jozman, but it's all relevant to the original question :)

[sandgrubber]

Do you still own and run the business? As for the money does the average pet boarding owner get enough income all year around to support them selves? I've heard mixed responses from current owners.

No, I sold out. I developed bad tendonitis in one of my legs and all the work on concrete was too much. Also the 24/7.

Don't ask about the average kennel. They are all over the place, from people who take in half a dozen dogs to people who have capacity for 200+. The two are very very different. On the economics, if you work on a medium scale and are able to keep occupancy fairly high, kennels can provide decent income. But its hard to get there.

if you want to build a kennel, you need land in a good location . . . generally not cheap

the kennel itself, if you do it right and go for a medium-sized kennel (say 50 dogs) is going to cost around as much as new suburban brick home.

If you are able to average 50% occupancy, or say 25 dogs, and you spend, say $7/dog/day on dogfood, labor, insurance, and maintenance, and getting $22/dog/day, you're taking in around $2500/week. Say you invest $500k and are able to get 6% interest. Your borrowing costs are on the order $600/week . . . . So potential cash flow is there. The tricks are (a) coming up with money for the investment; and (b) getting to 50% occupancy. That's hard to achieve for a start-up unless you're in an area that is chronically short in kennel capacity.

Costs could be much higher . . . eg, if you're near a major city, land will cost a lot more . . . you may make some mistakes initially and find they are expensive to fix . . . you may have to pay 7.5% interest . . . and so on. Unless you really know how to do marketing, or have a really strong network in the local canine community, the first few years are going to be very rough . . . it takes time to build a client base.

As showdog states, it's lovely working with dogs, but it's 24/7, holidays can be hell, especially