Dog owner need your help please?

[FurMum]

Hi all,

i have been thinking of this for a while and all being well we are in a position to move forward with this idea, and as dog owners i need some feedback and some help to some questions if any of you wouldn't mind i would be ever soo greatful.

So, I really would like somewhere local to let my dog offlead, knowing no other unruley owner could interfer. But, somewhere other than my garden, plus with training it would be nice to take the dogs elsewhere to step up the game with other distractions and scents. So i have found a good location that is not far from our promanade to possibly open a supervised free run for dogs. The area isn't huge but it would be enough for people to let their dogs off lead without worrying about other dogs, it is secure with a fence. It would be used for anyone wanting lead free time with their dog. Anything from 15 mins lead-free right the way up to hiring for local trainers/dog groups, pooch parties, puppy meets for socialisation, treat finds and plenty more. It will be supervied by people in opening hours, bookings can be made (15minutes minimum) if there is any empty slots people are free to use the area. There will be a small charge but nothng too OTT.

It could be a great place for training, off lead running & playing, illness recovery, affraid dogs, aggressive dogs, own multiple dogs and have them off-lead at the same time.

So if you could answer the following questions it would be a great help thank you:

Would you be interested?

Any pros/cons?

For the shorter use (15mins, half hour and full hour) What prices would people be willing to pay?

Mank Thanks in advance for your time

 

[Raven oaktree]

I have friends up and down the country who do this with their dogs . Most pay for an hour (I'm not sure 15 mins is worth it to be honest) my friends pay between £5-10 per hour depending on where it is and what facilities are available. One of my friends live up north and she pays a fiver an hour for a closed in secure field , another friend pays a tenner for a closed in area with agility equipment. There are more and more of these areas popping up around the country. We are planning to move very shortly and if we get the place we want we will be renting out a field to people with dogs too.

I would imagine insurance would be needed , as if you advertise it as a secure area and a dog gets out some owners may kick off. I'm not sure the area needs to be supervised either ..dog owners should be responsible for their own dogs . Also if it's not a massive area , having dogs on it every day all day year round could make it unsuitable to use in bad weather. I have quite a large garden that gets turned into a mud bath in the winter just from 2 dags

 

[wardy2016]

Hi Yes this has been offered in our area in North Yorkshire and I think they charge about £5 an hour

 

[RebeccaTCM]

I would love something like this in our area.

 

[theanchorage]

We have a couple in our area charging £5 to £10 per dog per hour, just a few points though, an ordinary fence is not enough, our local ones have a 7 foot small mesh with inturned top and buried in the ground 2 ft, you don't want to be sued if a dog escapes!! They also have a double entry gate, parking space, water and waste disposal facilities and a wooden hut for the supervisor although it's not always manned, it's also possible that you may fall under planning rules if you are doing this on a "commercial" basis so may need a change of use, you must have insurance as well. Altogether it needs a lot of thought and not as simple as it could appear, it is lovely though if you can relax and just let the dog run free