5 Best Locations for Starting a Doggie Daycare Business

Starting a doggie daycare and boarding business can be a very profitable business. This Entrepreneur article lists it as one of the top 9 pet business that you should start. However, having the idea of starting a doggie daycare and actually starting one are completely different. Check through our blog archive above to see all of our posts about starting a doggie daycare. This post will focus solely on 5 top locations for doggie daycares.

Abandoned Warehouses in your Cities Business District

This seems to be the most popular method of opening doggie daycares these days. Since so many manufacturing jobs have gone overseas, there are a lot of old factories and warehouses that sit abandoned in most major cities. Most owners will happily lease you the building at a great rate, just to cut their losses. With a little most to clean it up and give it a touch of warmth, you’ll have a great doggie daycare on your hands. Since you're going to be located a little bit away from the residential areas, you might have some difficultly getting people to drop off their pets every morning. This could be a great reason to add a Pet Taxi feature to your business plan. You'll be able to generate additional revenue and you'll have some very happy pet parents.

Large Plot of Land in the Cheaper Outskirts

If you’re going to be focusing more on large breed dogs, you’re going to need space. No pet owner is going to board their large breed at a facility that doesn’t have adequate running room. The benefit of boarding large breed dogs is that you can charge a little bit more money for them. So, if you’re thinking you’re doing large breed, it’s best to find a cheap plot of land in the country-side and fence in a few acres. Since you're going to be outside of the popular commercial areas, you should be able to get relatively decent leasing rates. Perhaps you'll find someone that has an interest in investing in your business as well, giving you free rent in exchange for a cut in your profits. Give the dogs 100% free access to roam and just make sure to put muzzles on any of the dogs that might have social issues. You can check your pet records on DoggieDashboard to see if pets have any issues.

Small residential house with a Fenced in Yard

This one works great for doggie daycares that are going to focus more on small animals, and not so much on big dogs. If you can find an older small house in your city, especially one that has a fenced in back yard, you have your entire business right there! Take one of the rooms for your business office, and let your pets roam free in the other rooms. Dogs will feel much more comfortable if they can sleep on an old couch instead of inside a kennel and their parents will be MUCH happier if they know their little Lassie is napping in the sun on the floor of the livingroom. Add a doggie door to the property and you don’t even need to worry about letting the dogs out.

Any Building in Close Proximity to a Public Park

Word of mouth advertising is a great way to get the word out, but so is visual advertising. If you’re near a public park, there’s a good chance you’ll have plenty of people taking peeks at your business, and maybe even grabbing some flyers when they walk by. It’s all about getting the word out. Perhaps you can have your employee walk a whole herd of your dogs one day and hand out flyers when pet owners ask why she/he has SO MANY dogs. You can also utilize the public park as a running area for your pets (just make sure to pick up after them). Responsible pet owners are well-liked by their city, but if you aren't curbing your pet, you're going to wind up with problems from the city.

In the Heart of Downtown

This one might seem like the craziest ideas, but many of your wealthiest pet owners also live right in the heart of the city. If they have pets that they need boarded, they most likely aren't willing to drive way out of their way to the doggie daycare. With a few investors to help fund the build-out, you can own a very nice property in the heart of your city. Because people are going to realize the convenience of your location, they’re going to be willing to pay much more money for it as well. Would you rather have 10 dogs at $10/day in a country facility, or 2 dogs at $50/day in a downtown facility? Pretty simple, right? There's a lot of tech money in most cities these days, and techie pet parents are willing to spend a fortune on their pets. Why not take advantage of this discretionary income and start building your daycare's monthly recurring revenue.

We hope you enjoyed this article. Please remember DoggieDashboard if you ever need free doggie daycare software for your business.

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