City man looks to turn dog-walking business into million-dollar venture
Armed with a treat bag on his hip and an intricate combination of leashes and tracking devices, one Edmonton man is looking to turn dog-walking into a million-dollar business.
Dan Meyer, owner of The Leash Team, has become a common sight in west Edmonton off-leash dog parks as he takes anywhere from seven to 11 pups for an hour-long walk multiple times a day.
After retiring from his job operating hockey goaltending schools across North America, Meyer began walking his own dogs two or three hours a day and decided to turn it into a money-maker three years ago. He has now created a six-figure business out of dogwalking, boarding and behaviour modification.
“I also did some research and there turns out there’s more dogs in Edmonton than children,” said Meyer as he trudged through the grass at Terwillegar dog park handing out treats. “So it’s a very large market and there aren’t any big companies here doing it.”
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic initially bit into Meyer’s business as clients had to cancel or reduce their walks. He said he offered his customers reduced rates or kept walking dogs for free. After deciding to expand his business, The Leash Team has grown by 30 per cent compared to PRE-COVID numbers, up to about 60 clients.
Now Meyer is hoping to turn it into a million-dollar company.
“When I get another 16 a day, I’ll get another van and a new employee and work on building up the new dogs again and we’ll just keep repeating that until we get to a million dollars,” Meyer said.
Meyer currently has two employees that each walk eight dogs at a time.
Sporting a number of training certifications, Meyer currently charges between $23 and $27 a walk.
Meyer requires each new client to fill out an information sheet regarding their dog and then take part in a consultation. Once the dogs attend walks, they start on leash and have a tracker placed on them until Meyer can make sure they will stay with the group.
“We started all the dogs on a 20foot training lead, test their recall. Once we know that they’re going to come back to us the next step is for them to drag the training lead,” Meyer said. “Then once we know that that recall is good, then they go (off-leash).”
Meyer said he will try his best to match any dog he can’t work with, whether due to their behaviour or because they don’t live in an area he services, with another dogwalker.