Dogs are man’s best friends. It is difficult to disagree with this statement, that 44 percent of Americans own a dog. Hence, the concept of a dog walking app is getting popular. Nine out of ten Americans say they consider their pet to be a part of their family. Thus, dogs are more than best friends. No wonder dog owners pay a lot to take care of them.
According to the American Pet Product Association, Americans spent a total of $23.04 billion for their pet’s food, $14.39 billion on supplies or OTC medication, around $15.73 billion on vet care, $2.19 billion on purchases of live animals, and $5.24 billion on pet services such as grooming and boarding.
How to Develop a Successful Dog Walking App?
Reading this, if you are a dog lover, then you would know how you can contribute to a dog lovers’ community with a dog walking app.
Also, if you are not a dog lover this simple idea can make you a really good business to take care of animals around you.
Before that, check out below the best dog walking app platforms for pet owners and dog walkers.
Best Dog Walking Apps for Dog walkers and Owners
Although it is a relatively new market, there are still a few dog walking application leaders in the market. These platforms are your competitors if you choose to develop a dog walking app.
Wag – Leading Dog Walking App
Wag is one of the leading dog walking applications for some time now. Built in 2014, it was named the Uber for dog walking.
However, some recent events have put the company’s reputation at risk. Even then, they raised $300 million in venture capital funds from Softbank in 2018.
Image Credits: Wag
Dog owners can schedule a dog walking service and get an emergency service within 15 minutes, too. The platform also provides other features such as dog notes, and instructions for the walker, live notifications and reports of a walk, etc.
Rover – Top Dog Walking App
Founded in 2011, the Rover app has been in this business for 8 years and is one of the best players in Uber for dog walking.
Users can contact and message dog sitters and walkers and get answers from the application. With the application, they can also make payments very easily. The user also can follow the route chosen by the walker. Along with this, there is a live notification feature to do pee or poo, food and water, and additional personal notes for walkers or guardians.
Image Credits: Rover
Barkley Pets – On-demand Dog Walking App
Launched in 2011, Barkly Pets had a simple goal to offer dog parents quality care service for their pets. It is an excellent example of an on-demand dog walking app development in the market. Well, not only this, there are many other on-demand app development ideas you can consider for your business.
Besides Barkly also provides 24/7 customer care service for its customers. Users may meet in person the dog walker to know before entrusting their precious pet to them. It is very easy to manage all bookings, scheduling, and invoicing within the mobile application.
Image Credits: Barkly Pets
How does Dog Walking App Work?
Dog owners register on the platform and provide their home address as well as their dog’s size and age.
First, Search Dog Walker
After registering, dog keepers can find walkers nearby or with zipcodes and book walks immediately or on a scheduled basis.
Meet Walker In-Person
Dog owners can meet with walkers to get to know each other and to introduce the walkers to their dogs. These first meet-and-greets are very important, as dog keepers choose walkers in part depending on their dog’s reaction.
Easy Walk Scheduling
For example, If a dog owner knows that they usually work late on Friday, they can schedule Friday evening walks for their dog regularly. If a dog owner suddenly gets to know they’re late for walking their dog, they can immediately schedule a walk.
In-App Payment
A cashless payment option or payment gateway should be integrated into your custom application solution.
How Your Dog Walking App Should Work For Dog Walkers?
Dog Walker Profile
Every dog walker can make their profile. Hence, they can be discovered by pet owners in the same zip code.
Gif Credits: Youngscout
Receive Requests From Owners
Dog walkers should be able to receive a request for dog walking jobs in their neighborhood.
Time Availability of Walkers
Dog walkers can add their time availability to their calendar. Henceforth, it can be easy for a dog owner to allocate the job at the available time.
How does the Admin Panel work?
Both Rover and Wag check dog walkers’ reliability who apply to the platform.
Live GPS Tracking allows users to track their dogs while walking. Dog walkers also share photos and updates with the dog owners while walking their dogs. This allows owners to keep track of their pets as they walked to.
If a dog owner is satisfied with the walker they meet, they can begin using their services. Both Rover and Wag pay dog walkers for online walking services. On average, a 30-minute dog walk is $ 15-25 depending on the city. Rover charges 20% fees to walkers, while Wag app charges them 40%.
To ensure the dog walkers or dog owners are trustworthy, online dog walking platforms also provide telephone support and intervene when any difficult situation happens.
What do You get in a Dog Walking App?
- Pet Owner App
- Dog Walker App
- Admin Panel
Build your on-demand dog walking app solution and get a complete technology suite with incredible subsystems:
- Landing page
- Pet Owner Android App
- Dog Walker Android App
- Pet Owner iOS App
- Dog Walker iOS App
- Dog Walker Admin Panel
Steps To Your Dog Walking App Solution
Find your niche for Dog Walking App Business
Choosing a niche close to your dog service application ensures the success of your business. Below, we have compiled the most important niches for Uber for dog walking mobile app:
Dog Sitting
Professional Pet Sitters will play with animals, feed them, or provide more personalized care, such as giving medication.
Dog Training
You can create an on-demand dog training service with professional managers. There is plenty of space for dog trainer services because, in the United States alone, there are 74 million dogs.
Dog Grooming
Grooming on demand is another service niche for prospective pets. US Bureau of Labor’s statistics says demand for animal groomers should increase by 12% during this year.
Research Leaders in the Industry
At this phase, your primary goal is to get a comprehensive view of the competitive landscape. To do this, you can do the following:
- Search for companies with ideas of similar services or general business ideas
- Check out their social media profiles, websites, and online communities
You can use the below tools to receive deeper insights:
- Ahrefs
- ReferenceUSA
- Alexa
- Hoovers
- Keyword Spy
Create a Basic & Advance Features List
Basic Features
- Sign Up/set Up A Profile
- Information
- Booking A Walk
- Scheduled Walks
- GPS Tracking
- Walk Log
- In-app Payments
- Ratings And Reviews
- Push Notifications
Advance Features
- Filtering Feature - Filter, and sort through the walkers and walk requests
- Curated Professional Advice - Valuable feature for those first-time dog parents
- Doggy play day - Set up a dog playdate can be an amazing way
Develop the App Design and an on-demand dog walking app MVP
Features | Design | Android/ iOS |
---|---|---|
User Signup (email, Facebook) | 10 hours | 16 hours |
User Profile(photo, bio, dogs and their photos) | 10 hours | 20 hours |
Add or edit data of dogs to the user’s profile | 9 hours | 20 hours |
Filter routes by location or type | 8 hours | 16 hours |
Search on map | 9 hours | 26 hours |
Booking or Scheduling | 5 hours | 4 hours |
Total | 51 hours | 102 hours |
Develop the App Design and an on-demand dog walking app MVP
Collecting feedback from application users has several advantages. First, you can know:
- Whether your application meets the expectations of users or not, how the user experience is shaped, and so on
- In addition, application users can report the drawbacks of applications you will not notice. Second, you can ask them what they want you to add features to the application to make it more convenient. By implementing these features, you will give users the feeling to be heard. Besides, you will also encourage them to participate more and send more comments in the future
How to Earn With Dog Walking App Solution?
Of course, the main goal is to create an application to monetize. And we take care of it in our dog walking app solution. When it comes to monetizing an app for dog care on-demand, you need to know about the different monetization models.
Earn Money with the Marketplace model
You create a platform where all other suppliers of pet care can register and obtain independent bookings. All they have to do is pay a small fee to the platform for each booking and ended session.
This is basically a peer-to-peer payment model that helps users to pay for the dog walking service to the walker through the application
The Agency model – Create your own Pet Care App
There is another model for this application, which is the agency model. With this model of monetization, you hire sitters and pet walkers, to provide training and possibly use as suppliers of pet care. Unlike the market model, walkers here are not self-employed, rather they would work under your platform.
One-time Registration Fees
This one is for service providers and pet’s parents. Having to pay one registration fee would not only help you increase revenue, but also help them take advantage of the various features of your platform. Hence, this is a good idea when you have just started.
The annual fee for users
The recurring annual fee to access high-end features is a common monetization model for most applications. And that is why using your application can be a great way to increase revenue.
Advertising products
You can easily monetize your application by showing relevant ads to users. Get paid partnerships with various companies of dog food or dog toys. However, make sure before entering a partnership that the company is reliable and does not endorse any type of harmful product for animal parents.
Selling Dog Care Products
Of course, the sale of goods on your dog’s platform is an incredible way to generate income. People consider their pets as part of their family, they are obviously going to spend money on buying various toys and clothing for members of their precious family.
Cost to Develop an On-demand Dog Walking App
How much would it cost to develop an on-demand dog walking app?
How much for the custom dog walking app for the Android or iOS platforms?
What is the cost of a full admin panel?
However, providing a cost without knowing exactly all needs is difficult. The cost of developing an application custom dog walk depends on many factors.
To estimate the cost of the project, we need the following details:
- Type of business model
- You are tending towards a less complicated development process.
- Data security and privacy are your top priorities.
An app developer average costs 25$ per hour for App Development and Design. Minimum Time to develop an app 200 Hours for the Development Dog Walking app. Then we got the estimated cost is 5000$ ($25*200 Hours) for Walking Dog App Development.
If you want to get the exact cost of development then you can use our App Cost Calculator Feature. You will get Price with Business Strategies.
So if you are really interested in the development of dog walking applications and want to know the cost of developing dog care applications or dog walking applications for android or iPhone you can contact us using the form below.
Team Echoinnovate IT will be happy to provide you with an accurate estimate of the project according to your specifications and needs, with a detailed development roadmap of mobile applications.
Conclusion
A quick and comprehensive solution to the dog walking app created by Echo innovative IT ensures that you get maximum revenue while providing dog owners with dog walking professionals to take care of their pet’s activities.
We use advanced technology and modern tools to ensure that you are uber for dog walking app works effectively on all platforms. Whether it’s a smartphone, tablet, or other smart gadgets, the application we develop is available on any smart device.
FAQs
How to Build a Dog Walking App Like Uber?
- Find your niche
- Research leaders in the Industry
- Create a Basic & Advance Features list
- Develop the App
- Design and an on-demand dog walking app MVP
- Get customer feedback
How do dog walking apps work?
- First, Search Dog Walker
- Meet Walker In-Person
- Easy Walk Scheduling
- In-App Payment
Which dog walking App Is Better for Making Money?
Rover is the most popular and better dog walking app for making money.
How much does it cost to start a dog walking business?
Providing a cost without knowing exactly all needs is difficult. The cost of developing an application for a custom dog walk depends on many factors such as
- Type of business model
- Number of platforms
- Required features
- Your budget
How to Earn With Dog Walking App Solution?
Earn Money with the Marketplace model for Dog Walking App
- The Agency model – Create your own
- Pet Care App
- One time Registration Fees
- The annual fee for users
- Advertising products
- Selling Dog Care Products
How do I track my pet health?
Monitor your pet’s well-being with a pet health care app. Stay up-to-date on vaccinations, appointments, and many more features.