Puppy love puts start- ups in boom- and- bust zone

Bark Bag, Happy Dogs, Snoop Inspired, Cotton Tails and Barking Bad are some of many start- ups popping up around the pet industry.

Barkley Manor owner Krista Strong set up her 40ha- plus doggy daycare, grooming and training business in 2007. Over the past 10 years she’s seen a influx of customers using her services as a means to justify purchasing a pet.

“When we launched daycare we gave a large amount of people out there that felt very guilty about leaving their dogs at home, an opportunity to not feel guilty.

“However, there’s a flip side of this coin — we’re a really hectic industry now — there’s lots of people out there: daycares and walkers and nails being painted pink, where people think you can make easy money,” Strong says.

Barkley Manor is a playground for between 900 and 950 dogs a week, with 28 employees. It costs owners $ 30- 35 per day, per dog, for a full day on an ongoing basis, or $ 48 for a casual visit.

“We’ve allowed [ our] customers the opportunity to treat their dogs as if they’re children, but not treat them like children,” Strong says.

Strong says she believes money is being thrown at the pet industry. “What I see in New Zealand is a large amount of people passionate, who think there’s a lot of money in the pet industry . . . and then expenditure, rules and regulations set in and they dissipate.”

She says retailer Animates is setting the standard for what is sustainable long term.

“I think if you want to sell highend collars, bowls, toys [ beware], we kind of see those stores launch — everybody gets very excited — and then: I don’t know if the Auckland market is just a bit fickle, but then they kind of go quiet and disappear.”