Hey, Ritchie here.
When people ask me about running a pet sitting and dog walking business, their eyes often light up and quite rightly so. In my opinion, this is the best industry in the world! But like any business, pet sitting comes with its fair share of challenges. After seven years of running PHG Southampton, offering both dog walking, home pet visits and rabbit boarding, I've encountered just about every obstacle you can imagine. And every single one of them is absolutely manageable, especially when you have the right support system behind you.
Let me share the real challenges I've faced and, more importantly, how I've overcome them.
The Initial Setup: Getting Everything Off the Ground
I'll be honest with you - I burnt my bridges when I set up PHG Southampton. At 30 years old, married, with a mortgage (and still am, may I add 🤣), I made the decision to put 100% of my time and focus into this business. Launching a pet sitting and dog walking business, like any business, takes time, effort, and determination. The initial setup was genuinely challenging.
But here's where going with a franchise like PHG made all the difference. I had an amazing step-by-step blueprint that fast-tracked the entire process. I knew exactly what needed to be done and how to do it. So whilst it was still challenging, having that clear roadmap helped immensely. I told myself this was just a one-time job - once it's set up, it's set up. And that has proven to be completely true.
The Lesson: Don't underestimate the setup phase, but know that with proper guidance, it's a challenge you only face once. Having someone who's already done it successfully show you the ropes is invaluable.
The Money Challenge: Achieving Positive Cash Flow
Now let's talk about money. Before setting up PHG Southampton, I made sure I had the startup capital I needed, plus savings to cover six months of personal and business expenses. Even with that safety net, I was still keen on bringing in clients ASAP. The challenge was clear: I needed to bring in enough clients to cover my living and business costs, achieving that critical positive cash flow.
This is where I truly appreciated the comprehensive support from PHG. They fully managed my Google Ads campaign, handled my website, and provided me with all the marketing graphics I could ever need. I was also given a very comprehensive 60-day marketing plan that ran through every important marketing activity step-by-step. No stone was left unturned in this plan!
So what did I do? I immersed myself in the local community, and followed all of the steps in the marketing plan - literally everything! I didn't want to just sit by the phone waiting for it to ring. I wanted to get my business's name out there. The challenge was getting myself out of my comfort zone, talking to locals, approaching high street shops, and networking.
But let me tell you, it was absolutely worth it. The multi-pronged marketing approach soon brought in clients. And I still remember that feeling when we received the first payment in our business account - it was the best feeling! Gradually, more and more enquiries came in, and I filled all of my dog walking slots six months in. I was shocked!
The Lesson: Financial challenges are very real when starting out, but a proven marketing system combined with stepping outside your comfort zone makes all the difference. The clients will come if you follow a tested strategy and put yourself out there.
The Vehicle Dilemma
As my business grew, I hit another challenge - finding a suitable dog walking vehicle. This was a big decision and a fair investment. Once again, I had all the support from the PHG franchise to guide me in finding the right vehicle.
I ended up buying a fantastic Ford Transit Connect which was already kitted out with six high-quality dog walking crates. Let me tell you, it was an extremely proud moment. It represented a major milestone - I was moving from solo lead walks to group walks in an enclosed field.
The Lesson: Major equipment purchases can feel overwhelming, but they're also exciting milestones. Having access to experienced advice helps you make the right decision the first time.
The Group Walk Challenge
My new dog walking van meant I could now offer a daily group walking service in an enclosed field. As exciting as it was, it also represented one of my biggest challenges. You're talking about introducing multiple dogs together for the first time - dogs with different temperaments, energy levels, and social skills. The stakes were high because any wrong move could have resulted in an injured dog, or worse.
As always though, PHG fully supported me through this critical transition. We followed all the advice they gave us meticulously because it was absolutely critical that we got this right. I'm pleased to report that we soon found our feet, and seven years later, we're living the best life, running a secured group walk every lunchtime, Monday through Friday. It's literally the best thing in the world!
Can it still have its challenges? Absolutely. Whenever you introduce a new dog to the group, there's always that unknown. It's critically important to implement every possible measure to minimise safety risk. You assess, observe, introduce gradually, and you never become complacent.
The Lesson: Group dog walking requires careful planning, a methodical process which is constantly being refined, and ongoing vigilance. It's a real step up from solo lead walking but absolutely worth it when carried out properly and safely.
Pet Sitting Services: The Work-Life Balance Challenge
For us at PHG Southampton, pet sitting consists of home pet visits (mostly to cats) and rabbit and guinea pig boarding. Home pet visits are awesome - this service involves visiting the cat, rabbit, or other pets, feeding them, giving them plenty of fuss, and following the exact routine they're used to. Small animal boarding is also great fun, and we currently have six rabbit hutches in our garden. Customers bring their rabbits and guinea pigs to us, and we care for them while the owners are away.
Here's the challenge that really tested me: finding that work-life balance. You have to remember that we board the rabbits and visit the cats and pets when their owners are away on holiday - that's every day, even over Christmas, New Year, Easter, and so on. I found this commitment initially challenging.
But once again, PHG gave us incredible advice on how to strike the right work-life balance. We of course still wanted our holidays, and I'm pleased to say we have plenty! We've been to Australia and are due to go out again next year. We've travelled to Lanzarote, France, Belgium, Norway, and the list goes on. This business has allowed us to live a wonderful life.
The important thing we learned is that we must mould the business around our needs, not the other way around. So whenever we book a holiday, we immediately communicate this to all our customers - dog walking clients, home pet visit clients, and boarding clients. We then remind them several times right up to seven days before we leave.
The key lesson here is communication. You can never over-communicate, but you can definitely under-communicate. As long as you keep your customers in the loop and give them plenty of notice, you will be absolutely fine. In fact, they're only too pleased to see you're going away because when you do an excellent job, the owners exclusively want you to care for their pets and they'll want you to enjoy some well deserved breaks!
With home pet visits, we can provide an AM and PM visit each day depending on what our customers want. We happily do this and just ask for some flexibility with regards to timings. I'm naturally an early riser and like to beat the traffic on my AM visits. For our PM visits, we typically carry them out just before we pick up our son from school. They can also be carried out after school, and our son loves helping us as he too is a huge animal lover!
The Lesson: Work-life balance in pet sitting isn't about sacrificing your personal life - it's about clear communication, advance planning, and setting boundaries that work for you and your family.
The Administrative Challenges: Staying Organised
Let's talk about the less glamorous but equally important challenges - credit control, keeping up to date on who has paid you and who hasn't, knowing what to do when payments are outstanding, and how to keep track of your invoicing and daily schedules.
These administrative tasks can quickly become overwhelming if you don't have good systems in place. Again, PHG supported us in all of these areas, which made the learning curve so much more manageable. Having templates, processes, and someone to ask when you're unsure means you don't have to reinvent the wheel or make costly mistakes.
The Lesson: The back-office side of pet sitting is crucial. You need robust systems for scheduling, invoicing, and payment tracking. Don't try to figure it out alone when proven systems already exist.
The Weather Challenge: Embracing All Seasons
The final challenge I'll mention is one that every dog walker faces - the weather! In the winter, it can get pretty muddy, which means lots of mucky dogs after the walk. But guess what? It's still so much fun, and I've grown to love all of the seasons. I'm now a massive outdoors person, something I never would have predicted seven years ago.
In terms of dealing with the mud, we have access to a comprehensive equipment database and wealth of experience across the PHG franchise network on how to most efficiently clean a group of dogs. I'm now cleaning them in a third of the time it took me in the early days, and they are as immaculate as they can be before returning home. And let me tell you, cleaning a group of dogs is good exercise!
The Lesson: Weather is the one challenge you can't control, but you can control how you prepare for it and handle it. The right equipment and techniques make all the difference.
The Bottom Line: Challenges Are Manageable With the Right Support
After seven years in this business, I can confidently say that every challenge I've faced has been worth it. From those early days of financial uncertainty to now running a thriving business that supports our lifestyle and brings us joy every single day - it's been an incredible journey.
The key difference between struggling through these challenges alone and navigating them successfully is having a proven system and expert support behind you. When I started with PHG, I had access to step-by-step roadmap for setup, the PHG blueprint, comprehensive marketing plans, safety protocols for group walks, work-life balance strategies, administrative systems, and other amazing PHG franchisees who were happy to share their experiences.
Going it alone in the pet sitting industry means facing all these challenges without a roadmap. There's the risk of spending time and money making mistakes, potentially wasting precious months or even years figuring out systems that already exist.
With the right franchise support, you still face challenges - that's part of any business. But you face them with an expert support system behind you, 24/7 guidance, and a community of like-minded people who genuinely want to see you succeed.
If you're considering starting a dog walking and pet sitting business, my advice is simple: don't underestimate the challenges, but don't be put off by them either. With passion, determination, and the right support system, you can absolutely build a thriving pet care business that not only pays the bills but gives you the lifestyle and fulfilment you're dreaming of.
Best,
Ritchie
