Top 4 Dog Daycare Franchises in the UK

It’s official: Britain is a nation of dog lovers. It’s no surprise then that there are so many dog daycare franchises in the UK. If you've been considering which dog daycare franchises would be a good fit for you, here are our top 4 dog daycare franchises.

Dog daycare franchises take a lot of stress out of owning a canine friend. Where many owners need to go off to work throughout the day, these franchise businesses are there to look after and care for dogs until their owners return. From working closely with animals to reaping some exciting profits, there are a lot of reasons to start your own dog daycare business. 

What is a dog daycare franchise? 

Dog daycare franchises will be playing an active role in the stewardship and temporary care of dogs across a set period of time, sometimes indefinitely. Oftentimes, you’ll find yourself:

• Speaking directly with potential new clients and fielding enquiries 
• Recruiting dog-loving employees
• Chairing meetings
• Ensuring all animal and employee wellbeing practices are followed
• Maintaining excellent and continuous communications with customers
• Processing invoices 
• Keeping records up to date

This isn’t an extensive list, and you will likely need to work flexibly to help out with various different departments of your business, but these are some of the more common franchisee tasks. 

Top 4 dog franchises 

1. PetStay

PetStay is more than just a bunch of dog sitters; this franchise is committed to giving the very best specialised care to clients’ furry friends. For an affordable price, you’ll be able to join this renowned, globally recognised and trusted brand.

• Becoming a PetStay franchisee: Whatever your experience, this franchise is looking for individuals who have good business acumen, great customer relations skills, and of course, a passion for dogs. 
• What you need to invest: Depending on the size and scale of the business you want to run, you’ll need to make a minimum investment of £9,995 + VAT. 
• What you get for your investment: You’ll immediately be entitled to a 3-day training programme, where you’ll be introduced to all the essentials of running a franchise business. 

2. Barking Mad

If you’re looking for a lifestyle with working flexibility, a growing full-time income and the freedom to make an overwhelmingly positive difference to the lives of pets and their owners, Barking Mad might just be the ideal franchise for you. Benefitting from loyal, repeat business and a huge amount of job satisfaction, running a dog daycare franchise such as this has never been more appealing. 

• Becoming a Barking Mad franchisee: If you have a commitment to building a long-term franchising opportunity, are looking for the freedom to build your life around a flexible business and love working with animals, this could be the perfect franchise for you.
• What you need to invest: You’ll need to make a minimum investment of £10,000 to get the ball rolling. While your total investment may end up around £14,995, there is also the freedom of running a Pay As You Go business where you’ll be able to pay for your franchise as you continue to develop it.
• What you get for your investment: Franchisees are guided through every step of the start-up process. You’ll be able to make use of expert guides, training and support that is designed to help you move towards that dream six-figure turnover. 

3. Dogknows

Dogknows is one of the country’s first professional dog walking businesses. In addition to providing tailored guidance and development for helping dogs to grow and thrive, this franchise works from science-backed programmes designed to help encourage your dog to naturally thrive. With the help of Dogknows franchisees, the pets of your customers will develop lifelong skills that help them to lead a happy life. 

• Becoming a dogknows franchisee: The ideal dog day care franchisees will be people-oriented, first and foremost. If you’re reliable, enthusiastic and, of course, happy to work in all weathers, dogknows could be for you
• What you need to invest: Your total investment will be around £15,000, but you will first need to make a minimum investment of around £7,500. After this, you will be able to look forward to a potential revenue of around £25,000 after two years
• What you get for your investment: You’ll undergo a 10-day training programme that covers all the essentials of running your own franchise business. Once completed, you’ll receive a start-up package which includes everything from marketing materials to tutoring and support details.

4. Friends for Pets

Offering a range of home-based pet care services using a team of pet carers, Friends for Pets is one of the UK’s leading pet caring franchises. Covering all kinds of different services, you’ll need to be adaptable and open to working flexibly. If this sounds like the right franchise for you, you can look forward to joining a new role with a huge amount of job satisfaction. 

• Becoming a Friends for Pets franchisee: The ideal franchisee will be an animal lover, honest, hard working, someone wanting to work from home and someone wanting to be their own boss - but with the support of someone who has been there and done it already. You should be confident around animals, a people person, and be comfortable using basic computer programmes. You should also be able to learn a user-friendly tailored software programme.
• What you need to invest: In order to potentially earn a  revenue of £50,000 in two years’ time, you’ll need to make an investment of around £8,995.
• What you get for your investment: Your initial training will cover business set up, operations, animal behaviour and welfare regulations, animal nutrition, pet first aid and much, much more!

Start your own dog daycare business today

There are lots of different franchises in this thriving sector, but not all of them will be the right fit for you. Assess your own needs and decide which of the above franchises will be the best fit for your business needs and ambitions.

If you don’t think this is the right sector for you though, consult the UK franchise directory for a full list of available franchising opportunities.