How much to charge for dog walking?

[gemma]

A few times per week, I walk an elderly couple's (huge, crazy, tiresome, but adorable) standard poodle.

One of their friends recently contacted me about walking her four dogs.

My current prices are:

Up to 1.5 miles (20 minute) walk, hike, or run: $15
Up to 2 miles (30 minute) walk, hike, or run: $20


She wants to me to walk all of her (4) dogs at one time, and is asking if there's a discount available for households with more than one dog. This seems counterintuitive to me, but I don't want to be rude to her, and I don't have dogs, so I'm finding it hard to figure out what people might want to pay or how to approach them with that type of info.

Any help on what seems reasonable to charge?

I did already contact her to ask her how many times per week she'd like the dogs walked, inferring that if it was quite often, a discount may be available.

Thanks in advance. :)

[gemma]

http://www.costhelper.com/cost/pets/dog-walker.html

This says that additional dogs can be as much as $10 each if they're in the same household.

Hmm.

[gemma]

I ended up asking her for an additional $3 per dog, per walk, with a commitment of three walks per week. It's not a fortune, but it's decent money, and I like doing it, so hopefully she agrees!

[scaredsi11y]

That sounds good to me. If I understand your formula correctly, that means you'd be getting paid pretty decently for that kind of time commitment:

[$15 + ($3 X 3 extra dogs)] X 3 walks = $72/week
[$20 + ($3 X 3 extra dogs)] X 3 walks = $87/week

Hey, I made a math formula that actually seems to work. What's going on with me today??
_________________
"It came to betoken the nation's biking and adulation of automobiles!"

[gemma]

Yay, math! :)


Yeah, it's s decent wage, and fun work. That's what I love about working for myself (the jewelry biz) - I can pick up side projects and fun smaller jobs here and there.

[PencilSkirt]