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

Hi Tannyc just thought I would give you abit of feedback. I haven't got a dog now lost my little fella some years ago but when I had him this was something that went through my mind. He was only a small dog and quite timid the times when I would take him to a field for abit if a run off lead would be great until another came on. I would be so nervous and if they were ok great but a couple would chase him off and that would be it run off the field all way home with me in pursuit . I used to think exactly what you are doing if only there was a safe field I could pay fir just to go round it in peace I would have paid gladly. I think it is a great idea hope you get a good response. Good luck...

Thank you Cools
Like you i have a small shih tzu, her recall is ok but if a bigger dog comes over when she is onlead there is hell to pay it makes her feel threatened, and owners don't always care about what their dogs are doing when they are offlead. If we manage this it will be manned by staff at all times and available for one dog and their owner if needed. Sorry to hear about your rainbow dog
Thank you for taking the time to reply it is appreciated

Hi Tanny, good luck with a great idea, my little girl can be a bit timid around large boisterous dogs and if you ask their owners to kindly stop their dogs flattening your dog you get an astonished look accompanied with "He's only playing", once again, good luck.

I think its a really good idea and had looked into it myself but the only affordable locations were a bit out the way and I was a bit concerned about the need for a shelter for the supervisor (preferably with electricity).

You will need insurance and need to check that all visiting dogs are correctly up to date with jabs etc.

I didn't get as far as checking whether you would need planning permission or not.

I know that feeling too well, thanks hun


I dont want to give the place away just yet, but it is totally ideal with a fenced area already there and huts in the ground, still along way to go but want to be prepared
Ive emailed an insurance company to see if its just public liability insurance or there is something else. jab checks are on the list to look in to to thank you.
As for planning permission we are only just finding out who the grounds belong to so yes will be a lenghthly process but just wanted to put all plans on paper and make sure i had everything thought of and of coure to make sure people would like to use something like this, thank you again for your response

Not a dog owner myself - but apart form previous suggestions - you could consider a fresh water supply, even if you tranported it to site in a suitable water butt or similar, for drinking purposes, and check with council over possibility of a bin specifically for dog waste to be sited on/close to site, if one doesnt already exist.
Would definitely approach Pets at Home, newly opened branch at Bidston Moss, for any possibility of sponsorship/branded kit/community support available from them as the openeing of a local branch by a national chain is normally accompanied by a corporate want to get into local conmmunity to support related charities/community schemes.
Good Luck

Thank you Near_Oval fab suggestions there. Yes there will be water bowls and water play eventually for a water loving dogs. Will look into the other stuff to many thanks for your time

Hi Tanyc. In principle , this is a great idea , but I would query whether such a thing would be profitable enough to run.
Looking on the darkest side possible , which is I suppose what you have to do when considering a business (although not so much here I guess as you have fairly low set up costs).

How many people I wonder actually have dogs that they prefer not to walk in public?

My guess on that one, is-- relatively few owners whos dogs are nervous, delicate/injuries, unreliable with other people/dogs , or maybe in season. Would there be that many I wonder? --Just thinking too, residue accumulating from dogs in season going in before them, is going to send unneutered dogs nutty! Wont do much for any training sessions held there either lol!

I think the above group of owners if local , would use you in moderation,(depending on price) but Id question how many would get in the car to visit if they were then paying a fee on top of diesel.
Those with 'dodgy' ie pit type dogs would I think continue to walk at dawn and dusk in uninhabited places (if at all) . They won't want their dog seen out or be willing to pay anything.

Would people tire of 'having to book' ? Dog walking is pretty spontaneous with people who dont work. Booking and cancellation systems are labour intensive too , for organisers.

Depends how pleasant/large/interesting the venue is , but after a few visits, would users tire of it I wonder. Maybe you could keep altering the space with new dogfriendly attractions. (Big brother dog house lol).
.
Lets say you're open 8 hours a day . How would you split that? Working people like to exercise their dogs early morning and evening , so youd need to be open from about 7am or earlier, till about 8pm - thats 13 hours , so would you be closed part of the day ? You said something about if it wasnt in use, people could use it for nothing - does that mean if people turn up when you are closed , they can use it for nothing? If so, people are very adept at changing their habits to accommodate 'free' lol!

As a business, I imagine you would want to make a living ? With one dog at a time, you will surely have to charge an awful lot to make it work, by the time you take away tax, a wage, insurance, rent - and give thought to breaks for yourself and sick days or will you open 13or more hours?

Bubbles in New Brighton (soft play) is £3 an hour roughly. So, I personally wouldnt have thought people would want to pay that much more than for their dog. There just isnt the money around I dont reckon ,for use on a regular basis.

Sorry to be depressing,and I wish you lots of luck, but those are my random thoughts for what they are worth.

Having re read your first post, it dawned on me that this probably isnt a business , is it? More a community service? In which case half of what Ive said is rubbish !!

It is a business, many businesses are providing a service to the public right down to an ice cream van.

Being a voluntary dog walker and previous dog owner I think there is a huge demand for this, whenever you have dogs out there are huge concerns about the many vicious dogs around. Royden park, Rock Ferry High School ground, Birkenhead Park and Eastham woods all have had problem with vicious dogs attacking others and the list goes on.

I don't think "free" was referring to monetary free, it was free-running ie off-lead etc?

Additional to the general public, professional dog walkers (a growing market) may consider a deal on this as obviously the safety of the client's dogs is paramount.

You are the mathmatician DD. Can you see it making a living if you crunch the figures? One dog at a time remember for a lot of the time.

Dog walkers are about £10 an hour, if they had to lose £3+ off that , or charge their dog owners £3+ more, they may lose too much business.

How much do you think would need to be charged per hour's use, if open 5 or 6 days a week , to earn say£19k a year after expenses and allowing for voids?

The whole point is that more than one dog can be there at the same time, that is why its limited to non-aggressive dogs. People want their dogs to mix with others, they just don't want their dog to be injured in the process.

The dog walkers can provide it as an option to their clients, perhaps on say a once a fortnight basis (not every walk) so the dogs can mix with others which it wouldn't normally do.

If there are quiet periods at the project this could be offered to the dog walkers on a greatly discounted rate, don't forget that dog walkers often have four dogs at a time. Any income is better than no-income where you have slack, if this is regular income then all the better.

The overheads are negligible, you could run this business just making an average of around £10 an hour at a push. The early evenings and weekends will be the busiest and will be the main income times, you need to find ways to top that up during the quieter times.

There will probably need to be a charging structure to encourage regular use eg £7 for a one off use or batch buy 5 uses for £20 and perhaps a one-off fee for initial registration. Loads of possibilities, as with most businesses its the marketing strategy that will make or break it more than the product itself.

Adding a pick-up, play and return service could be another possibility, even if this is once a month for a given dog its more money in the bank.

Quote DD "its limited to non-aggressive dogs"

But its not DD, the OP mentioned suitablity for aggressive dogs , nervous dogs, recovering dogs etc, which is why I focussed in so much on one dog at a time, but I can see now , that those would only be fill ins , and that the social side of things would be the main thing, which yes I could see working. Splash pond, ball pond , hose water chase play etc would be great fun for the active dog . If multiple dogs at once formed most of the use, it certainly would be more profitable..

My current oldie, is fine with other dogs, but much prefers to walk alone, he mostly ignores others, so I wouldnt use this facility at the moment. I would have if I still had an agressive dog,or a non returner, and wanted a space to let them off safely.

If we're talking groups of dogs, how would you best police health and safety . ie many perfectly good dog owners, dont believe in vx their dogs more than every 3 years on health grounds. Kennel cough vx isnt routine except if kennelling . Would admitted dogs need to show cert for both , or would they not be needed at all?
Re behaviour, how would aggression be assessed? New dogs coming along with owners insisting their dog has never so much as looked sideways at another dog -- and then with all the smells and excitement , it attacks another dog whos owner has paid to have a safe environment.That cant happen, it would kill your purpose and reputation .
I suppose its perfectly possible to organize special sessions for the elderly, frail, timid or recovering dogs , session for the young and bouncy etc. Like they do in swimming pools - beginners session, ladies session, serious session etc. Lot of work organizationwise though .
I sound really negative tanny, but Im only throwing ideas around, not trying to sink your boat, I really like the idea - just interested and exploring the pros and cons . Would be really pleased for you if you managed to iron out all the negative possibilities and made a success of it

Think Tanny is sorry they put thus up now. As far I'm concerned it was just a safe fenced in area which you could take your dog on its own and let it have a run off lead without worrying about other digs. Surely you put up a notice about taking dig in at own risk etc if worried about health issues we don't worry about that when you take it to the park etc. I don't think £10 a visit is feasible I was thinking £3 for 15 mins is great.sure Tanny is not thinking she could go on Dragons Den with this, just a community thing and enough to cover field expenses etc .

I would definately use this service...I have a very lively husky who unfortunately doesn't get on with other dogs...she does seem to get quite frustrated as her natural instinct is to run but she is held back because we can't let her off the lead...
Fantastic idea and I hope it comes to fruition very soon x

Thats how I interpreted it at first cools , and thats why I thought it wouldnt be profitable at say £3 a 15 min walk ie £12 an hour for 4 single use dogs or even up to £15 an hour. The supervisor would need to be paid minimum wage per hour , so after insurance etc, that wouldnt leave hardly anything, so , the bread and butter would be the communal dog stuff like DD said , to subsidize single use . So - there probably would be off peak fill in times you could use it cheaply singly, but maybe not always at the times useful to you.

I don't think I've ever taken a dog for a walk as short as 15 mins, its hardly exercise if its that short.

It depends how far you walk on the lead beforehand DD. We are talking about time off the lead here ,fun time.

I don't know how big or how small Tanny wants this to get so if it's a profitable business Tanny wants well you would have to go the way DD and Venice suggest...

Sounds like you need something like that dog scooter for sale on here , to allow your dog to relieve its tensions . OR you could put a little cart behind her and offer rides in Tanny's dog area if its big enough, to offset the charge to hire it for an hour! Poor mans version of dog sledding in Canada!

Not sure about the scooter but the other idea ...mmmm

Dog parks already exist in Spain, Calpe has two Benidorm and other places are getting them so it would seem the idea is feasible.I saw the one in Calpe a few weeks ago and it was about half a football pitch size,stone chippings underfoot with tunnels hurdles tyres and a see saw for the dogs to run around.Put dog parks Calpe Spain in your search you may get a few tips or a bit of insight into your business model.Good Luck!

hi all,
Lots of feedback and suggestions being thrown here thank you this is just what we wanted.
We have a big list of things which we are discussing through and some things that have been mentioned here to which has been a great help. I didnt mention this being our main course of income, although we don't want to fall into the negitive so it would be basic at first and things added depending on the market for it. It can be book prior to people walking their dogs aready but will beavailable for people passing to pop in for offlead runs aswell. Although nothing is set in stone as it stands the offlead area will be use for one dog at a time, unless people have multiple dogs or come in a group where they all know their dogs all get along, we would never just through a load of random dogs in there and hope for the best.
About dogs in season, yes we can ask owners not to bring their dogs when in season but its not a fool proof thing sadly, people take their dogs out on pulic walks, streets fields, proms where dogs in heat have been already, sadly apart from asking people to be honest and respect other dog users theres nothing we can do about this.
Asking to see peoples jab paperwork is an idea but again this is an outdoor area, next to other fields and the prom where their dogs could pick up things also, if we had an outbreak in the area it would be treat the same as they do parks etc and other outdoor areas.
Thanks again guys

sorry posting in bits as im reading lol, yes as i said above it will be a basic thing until we see what the demand is like, we are not saying take your dog on a walk for 15 minutes, but people who have already walked the prom etc to come see us then 15 min leadoff time then the walk home would probably be ong enough exercise which is why we said a minimum

Yes, we also have many dogfields in the uk that landowners lease out for people, but not aeveryone has the transport to get to these fields which is why we would like to offer a more local thing

P.S you lot are bloody hard work
but i really do thank you all for the time you are putting into your replies.
As for the is it a business question, To begin with i am willing to put the time in as a basic secure area for dogs to be offlead. we can easily progress from there to see what the market is and what our users would like to see be done and be in there. i don't want to have to charge people an absolute fortune for something when all they want is some offlead time with their dog. I want everyone to beable to use it that need to and not just be there for people who can 'afford' it. I want the users to tell us what they would like to see in there, i want them to feel part of it.

I think that it would be the "staff" that would be a problem, rather than the dogs, as someone would have to be certain to be there ALL the time or work shifts. Think of the winter when it's cold and dark "til 8am and dark at 4pm. Someone could come down "sick" and what about the dogs themselves? Owners would have to be punctual otherwise anyone late would have to be turned away and that wouldn't go down very well! There would need there be a toilet available on site (unless there is one there already). If you can cope with all this, good luck to you.

HIYA. This is a great idea. The nearest one we have is in Liverpool. Think they charge £10 an hour for the off lead area..

I have a 2 year old Samoyed who is desperate to go off lead..

Tan I am willing to help you set it up x

That's what I think Tanny is wanting, maybe people with dogs to help out manning it for abit voluntarily maybe for an hour here and there. Don't think people would expect it to be open all day , set times maybe except if you make arrangements. Community pulling together. Sure Tanny will me know in no uncertain terms if that's not what she means, lol......

Just a quick one while I'm on my phone. I think I would prefer it to be a community based thing yes, family is all willing to help man it. Yes, someone would be there to cover the full day/evening so it can be booked or people can use walking passed for a min of 15min (they obviously can leave before 15minutes but a small charge would be for 15min) Not sure on toilets just yet but there is some buildings in there. I'm willing to throw all my time into this to see how things go!
Cools I like you, you just get it
Thank you colette that is very lovely of you
Will check in through the day, thanks again guys for all your comments and feedbacks

Set up and run properly, this sounds a great idea, i wish i lived closer as i would use it,

I think this would be a great idea. There are many diffrent reasons why people would need secure off lead space. We have used several none on the wirral for off lead fun. I'm sure there may be some dog rescues and those who foster rescue dogs as well as dog owners who would like some off lead space for dogs who need to let off steam but have no recall or other issues. Also for training their dogs.Some dog trainers run their business from home and need good secure space to meet/train their clients in. We pay £8.00 per hour for one secure field and £10.00 per hour in another place for a max of 3 dogs and then it is £3.00 for any additional dog.
One thing that is very important is the secure fencing and how high it is and also how visible it is.

There is actually a big demand for secure dog walking fields round here. Check out this Facebook group Dog walking fields. The closest one I found was Dogs Country Club in Warrington. They charge £10 for an hour which seems to be the average. You should definitely check out their website for ideas.
I have a husky with no recall and I've taken him there before, it's just too far out to go regularly. There's another in Chester but the fields not big enough to be worth it.

Hope you go ahead with this, would be ideal for my husky! Definitely check out the Facebook group aswell

Yes Dogs Country Club is the nearest to me too. I was out walking last night with my friends and there husky's and samoyeds and they all agreed it's an excellent idea and something we drastically need.

Thank you all again for wonderful comments and suggestions. We have most of it on paper now. Just wondering if people would think it better for contributions for 15/20 minutes(for the people going past on their usual dog walk) and under for basic use of the area and charge people per half hour/hour?
Might light to point out its is not a huge field because of the location we are looking at but it has enough room to throw a ball and the dog to have a good run about or setting up an agility course.

Probably pay for half hour or full hour - easier to book and control for yourself and get maximum use of the space if it gets busy. Or if there is demand for shorter time slots charge something like £6.00 per hour £3.00 for half an hour and then £1.00 for every 10 minutes.
Look forward to seeing how you get on and I'm sure people will spread the word if you can get this up and running.

Good luck