OK, I am taking a big leap by doing this
I am going to open up a Doggy Day Care with a friend. I will stay at the boarding facility I am overseeing until I'm on stable ground - financially.
Now this is where it gets fun, I thought I would ask everyone here what they think of my ideas, add some ideas or tell me if some of my ideas are silly.
Doggy Day Care will include other services such as
-Limited dog grooming (I am not a trained professional groomer)-mainly specializing in large breed dogs...this will hopefully keep the other groomers in the area happy as they perfer small breed dogs.
As for grooming I have not taken any courses, but, I have been going in on Saturdays with my Sister to get tips/training from her...she is a National Certified Master Groomer. I'm sure I can get whatever training I require. My Sister actually hired a girl right out of grooming school and was very dissappointed at the lack of training she received. We are also going to the Grooming expo this fall where I should be able to attend a few select courses etc. I am not going to advertise as an all breed groomer. How could I let that be known in advertising...that will be difficult.
Now my friend on the other hand keeps her Collies in Show trim and has been grooming/showing for a few years. She also keeps a local kennel of show collies in show shape. She has also groomed a few Newf's for show. She is also coming in on Saturdays to learn more from my Sister...my Sister is going to be busy.. She has retrained a few new groomers fresh out of school, and she has another groomer coming down from another city to learn to groom...this lady has been grooming for a few years, she just wants to learn some different styles.
-Day Care which will involve people leaving their dogs with us for the day. We will be able to supervise, play, and take for walks. This will be great for the person who works and leaves their dogs all day. We will also provide supervised (of course) interactions, socialization etc. My experince is working at/over seeing a boarding facility for the past few years, working at a grooming shop where my Sister also had a few dogs dropped off to hang out for socialization. I also worked at a Vet clinic for a few years, and attended courses in Dog Aggression, obedience - but I have no certificates. I do think certificates on the wall would be good...although my Sister has her many certificates including her National Certified Master Groomer on the wall...no one ever notices
-We may have another bathtub set up for customers to rent if they want to bath their own dogs. For large dogs my brother will make me a sturdy set of stairs with rubber matting so the dog has a great grip...my Sister has had her homemade stairs for many years...still solid and great as ever.
-We will sell dog/cat food, Shampoo's, Treats, Bones etc. We may ever sell such things as stainless steel dishes, leashes, collars etc. The company I currently deal with has all these products available for me to distribute.
-Art Work, both my friend and I are Artistic, I have sold many paintings of pets in my past. I also did some artwork for the local agility club by hand painting "their" dog on the arm of their jacket with fabric paint. So, we are thinking of offering pet portraits, paintings of the owners pet on just about anything - Flower Pots, Wooden light fixtures, T-Shirts, just about any surface we can and will paint on. I am also going to get back into pottery and get set up with kilm and Wheel..so, we will have doggy art available - breed specific or pet specific. Maybe a dish set with your own pet on it.
- Dog walking service for shut in's etc.
- There will be no overnights. In extreme circumstances I will bring a dog home and leave in our kennel over night. We are getting our home kennel a kennel license.
The courses we plan on taking in the next couple of months is: Dog first aid, Acupressure, dog massage, Animal Care Technician. I don't know what else we could offer. We're also thinking of having an area set up with a table and coffee/tea/hot chocolate where owners can sit and watch their pups...and we can have weekly pow wows when the Customer's want. We could discuss their dog and give ideas or help (after we get more training). We will also have weekly progress reports where will will keep the owner up on their dogs behavior etc.
If anyone can add any ideas I would really appreciate it. Also help suggesting names of the esthablishment. I'm leaning towards a name that begins with the letter "A" this way I'll be top of the list in the yellow pages. Most people when looking go down through the list. No name with the word Pet in it...when you translate Pet to french then back to english it comes up as the word "Fart"...I don't want Fart in my company name. haha
I am going to open up a Doggy Day Care with a friend. I will stay at the boarding facility I am overseeing until I'm on stable ground - financially.Now this is where it gets fun, I thought I would ask everyone here what they think of my ideas, add some ideas or tell me if some of my ideas are silly.
Doggy Day Care will include other services such as
-Limited dog grooming (I am not a trained professional groomer)-mainly specializing in large breed dogs...this will hopefully keep the other groomers in the area happy as they perfer small breed dogs.
As for grooming I have not taken any courses, but, I have been going in on Saturdays with my Sister to get tips/training from her...she is a National Certified Master Groomer. I'm sure I can get whatever training I require. My Sister actually hired a girl right out of grooming school and was very dissappointed at the lack of training she received. We are also going to the Grooming expo this fall where I should be able to attend a few select courses etc. I am not going to advertise as an all breed groomer. How could I let that be known in advertising...that will be difficult.
Now my friend on the other hand keeps her Collies in Show trim and has been grooming/showing for a few years. She also keeps a local kennel of show collies in show shape. She has also groomed a few Newf's for show. She is also coming in on Saturdays to learn more from my Sister...my Sister is going to be busy..
She has retrained a few new groomers fresh out of school, and she has another groomer coming down from another city to learn to groom...this lady has been grooming for a few years, she just wants to learn some different styles. -Day Care which will involve people leaving their dogs with us for the day. We will be able to supervise, play, and take for walks. This will be great for the person who works and leaves their dogs all day. We will also provide supervised (of course) interactions, socialization etc. My experince is working at/over seeing a boarding facility for the past few years, working at a grooming shop where my Sister also had a few dogs dropped off to hang out for socialization. I also worked at a Vet clinic for a few years, and attended courses in Dog Aggression, obedience - but I have no certificates. I do think certificates on the wall would be good...although my Sister has her many certificates including her National Certified Master Groomer on the wall...no one ever notices
-We may have another bathtub set up for customers to rent if they want to bath their own dogs. For large dogs my brother will make me a sturdy set of stairs with rubber matting so the dog has a great grip...my Sister has had her homemade stairs for many years...still solid and great as ever.
-We will sell dog/cat food, Shampoo's, Treats, Bones etc. We may ever sell such things as stainless steel dishes, leashes, collars etc. The company I currently deal with has all these products available for me to distribute.
-Art Work, both my friend and I are Artistic, I have sold many paintings of pets in my past. I also did some artwork for the local agility club by hand painting "their" dog on the arm of their jacket with fabric paint. So, we are thinking of offering pet portraits, paintings of the owners pet on just about anything - Flower Pots, Wooden light fixtures, T-Shirts, just about any surface we can and will paint on. I am also going to get back into pottery and get set up with kilm and Wheel..so, we will have doggy art available - breed specific or pet specific. Maybe a dish set with your own pet on it.
- Dog walking service for shut in's etc.
- There will be no overnights. In extreme circumstances I will bring a dog home and leave in our kennel over night. We are getting our home kennel a kennel license.
The courses we plan on taking in the next couple of months is: Dog first aid, Acupressure, dog massage, Animal Care Technician. I don't know what else we could offer. We're also thinking of having an area set up with a table and coffee/tea/hot chocolate where owners can sit and watch their pups...and we can have weekly pow wows when the Customer's want. We could discuss their dog and give ideas or help (after we get more training). We will also have weekly progress reports where will will keep the owner up on their dogs behavior etc.
If anyone can add any ideas I would really appreciate it. Also help suggesting names of the esthablishment. I'm leaning towards a name that begins with the letter "A" this way I'll be top of the list in the yellow pages. Most people when looking go down through the list. No name with the word Pet in it...when you translate Pet to french then back to english it comes up as the word "Fart"...I don't want Fart in my company name. haha
