Don't 'Cha Wish Your Walker Was Hot Like Mine?

Imagine you just got a new puppy or dog, you're educated about puppy or dog care because you've done your homework and read both Dr. Ian Dunbar's Before You Get Your Puppy and After You Get Your Puppy, perhaps you even downloaded the book BEFORE from this site. You know that a new dog, especially a young pup, needs to be crate-trained and let out frequently for elimination opportunities, exercise, and companionship. But you work all day, you’re often gone 9 -10 hours at a time.

You’ve considered your local dog care options including coming home for lunch, doggy daycare, and dog walking services and decided a midday walk would do the trick. You research your options only to find there are no fewer than 20 dog walking services in your immediate neighborhood. How do you choose one?

Or, alternately imagine you are an energetic dog-loving entrepreneur with a new dog care service in a city teaming with competition. How do you set your business apart? What makes your service special and different than the others?

In Seattle, Washington the answer to both questions above is niche dog care services.

Dog care services in the hip metropolis have begun to set themselves apart by either matching the client's ideals, as Seattle Green Dogs does, or by leveraging the, ahem, assets, of their employees as illustrated by Hot Chicks Dog Walking Co.

It is an interesting concept, and clever marketing for sure, but personally, if I ever needed a dog walker I’d rather go with a niche of more substance. Call me old fashioned, but I’d be looking for the Super-Reliable-Trustworthy, and Knowledgeable Dog Walking Service. And if the dogs could choose for themselves the marketing would be completely different. Imagine business names such as The Cat Poop Patrol, or Hot DOG Chicks Dog Walking Service. Now there’s a niche…

What do you think about niche dog care services? What would your niche be?

Read the article on the Seattle dog walkers’ scene here.