This comprehensive book follows an easy-to-use sequence of actions you need to take to launch or improve your current pet sitting and dog walking business. Each chapter includes solutions to start-up and business expansion challenges along with compelling examples from Kristin's own business and other pet sitting and dog walking professionals.

"This revolutionary book shows you how to turn your struggling pet sitting business into a lucrative, stress-free enterprise. You will learn how to: create the foundation to build a six-figure pet sitting business ; ensure business success from the beginning ; create the one-hour business plan: plan your work, work your plan ; understand your commitment and value in business ; remove the blocks to let financial abundance in ; work with business financials ; advertise and sell to generate results ; find, work with and keep great staff members ; set goals to achieve pet sitting business success ; and more" -- P. [4] of cover.

Got a pet sitting, dog walking or dog training business? 20 experts share their secrets for pet business (and life) success. Each chapter is filled with tips and tools to run your pet business effectively. Kristin Morrison interviewed pet business and mind/body/spirit experts about the most important topics for new and experienced pet business owners. In the interviews, the experts held nothing back - each interview uncovered insights that can help your pet business become more profitable, enjoyable, and rewarding.

Just fifteen years ago, “pet sitter” meant the kid down the street who helped feed pets when the neighbors traveled. Today, this fledgling field is fast becoming an established profession. Combining the appeal of working with animals, a viable customer base, and truly low start-up costs, it is for many people the ideal home-based business. And yet its “fun” aspects are often overshadowed by the daunting tasks of registering the business, purchasing insurance, and knowing what first steps to take and how to continue from there. With a simple, step-by-step format, How to Start a Home-Based Pet Sitting Business guides aspiring pet sitters from the dreaming stage to the doing stage more clearly and comprehensively than any such book to date.

"This innovative book shows you how to turn a struggling pet business into a lucrative, stress-free enterprise. You will learn how to create the foundation to build a six-figure pet business, ensure business success from the start, plan your work and work your plan with the one-hour business-plan, removes the roadblocks to let financial abundance flow in, understand your commitment and value in business, easily work with business financials and spreadsheets, market and sell to generate real results, find, work with and keep staff--and the secrets to hiring with ease, set powerful goals to achieve pet business success. -- P. [4] of cover.

Professional dog walking is a booming business. Over forty percent of U.S. households include a dog and the number is rising steadily. No wonder, then, that demand for dog walking services also keeps growing. But there's a huge difference between throwing a leash on a few dogs and charging for it and running a professional dog walking business. To be a successful dog walker, you must be dog savvy and business savvy. Veronica Boutelle has helped thousands of dog walkers set up and run successful enterprises. This book tells you how.

From the time she was a young girl growing up in Chicago to unintentionally becoming a professional pet sitter in Los Angeles, The Pet Sitters Tale is Laura Vorreyers collection of stories about her love affair with pets. Each story is infused with the authors unique sense of humor and observations about the foibles and adventures of furry children and their human counterparts. Filling multiple roles as animal expert, companion, therapist, and friend, Laura muses over her clients pet obsessions while always lending a compassionate ear. Both poignant and humorous, The Pet Sitters Tale will amuse anyone whos ever had their heartstrings tugged by a cute pet.

Long known as a dog coach to the stars—her clients include Oprah Winfrey, Ben Affleck, Courteney Cox-Arquette, Owen Wilson, Natalie Portman, and Larry King—Tamar Geller changed the way Americans relate to their dogs with her bestselling book The Loved Dog. Her approach is simple and down-to-earth. Instead of utilizing the negative and often painful feedback of physical dominance, choke chains, and prong collars, Tamar recommends love, play, and mutual respect as the keys to a happy home for dog and human alike. Now, Tamar makes her Loved Dog™ Method accessible for everyone with this day-by-day guide that will lead you through the first thirty days with your new dog—or help you make a fresh start with your current dog. Drawing on her studies of wolves in the wild and basing her method on the principles of child development, Tamar uses an "instincts versus choice" approach that satisfies a dog’s Seven Basic Needs and will result in a pet with good manners. 30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog covers every question commonly asked by people embarking on the momentous journey of dog ownership: why it’s important to choose the appropriate dog for you and your lifestyle, what you can expect from a puppy versus an adult dog, how to introduce your new dog to your home, and how to respond when things don’t go according to plan. Tamar guides you every step of the way, from addressing undesired behaviors in your dog to crate and paper training him to introducing him to other dogs and helping him become relaxed with strangers. Included are important but often overlooked tips about the use of words and body language to communicate, the power of play, and the amazing value of teaching your dog some lighthearted pet tricks. Along the way, Tamar debunks myths in need of debunking: that dogs are frequently "alpha" by nature and need to be dominated; that discipline is the key to dog training, and that "success" only means getting your dog to do what you want. Instead, she shows how to align your dog's wishes with your own to create a rich and enduring relationship that works wonderfully for you both. Gentle, firm, and effective, 30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog will build your relationship with your dog to make every new day together a day of love, joy, and discovery.

Obesity is a national epidemic in the United States. It is estimated that by 2018 the cost of treating weight-related illnesses will double to almost $350 billion a year, while a 2010 report by the US Surgeon General estimates that two-thirds of American adults and almost one in three children are now overweight or obese. This volume originated in a special 2009 symposium funded in part by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and sponsorship from Mars WalthamA on how human-animal interaction may help fight obesity across the lifespan. The authors present scientific evidence about the benefits of dog walking for improving human and animal health, and case studies of programs that are using this powerful expression of the human-animal bond to combat obesity. The volume is especially valuable as a sourcebook of evidence-based studies for public health professionals treating overweight humans and veterinarians treating obese dogs.