Dog Grooming Business.......How To Begin?

[nattydread]

my teeraks mum and dad love dogs and have two themselves.They have a small house situated adjacent to a busy main road on about 1 rai of land. The family are not rich and the dad grows some rice and longan so i was trying to think of a little business they could run from home with minimal running costs...........they have an outbuilding behind the house that for a few thousand baht could be converted into a place to do dog grooming, dog sitting for people on holiday and maybe even a bit of breeding dogs in a small way,so i would like some opinions on whether they could make a go of this before invest a little money and are there any books,training courses or other information i should be aware of

the pros as i see them are

they both love dogs

running a business from home incurs minimal costs once its set up

thousands of people drive past the house every day so a big sign outside would attract passing trade

if they could supplement their income from the farming to the tune of 5-10,000 a month it would take the burden off my teerak (aka ME)

i would be most grateful for any input from anybody whose tried it.........thanks

[bina]

if they are in a farming area, dont know how many thais would pay money for grooming, never mind boarding and forget the breeding...

grooming needs someone who has learned or can learn how to: 1. cut hair of all kinds, learn a bit about dog skin problems and deal with them, know their breeds and know how to pick out the 'main' breed in a mixed breed dog inorder to give the proper cut, and deal properly with the types of fur.

2/ know how to work with dogs. very few dogs take kindly to being thoroughly groomed unless the groomer is experienced with all knds of dogs and knows how to work with nervous dogs (here some groomers can 'sedate' a nervous dog before hand but only those that work with/in conjuction with a vet).

as for boarding, boarding kennels have basic needs as far as construciton, cleanliness/installation/sewage, gates, chain link sizes, floor types, food, insurance (in case an animal escapes or dies), and again, most important, a good working knowlege of dogs (and of their owners, even more importantly probably), and of course, is there a market for that in their area.

as for breeding: forget it. as usual if u dont know about the breeds, the genetics, and the neccesities for breeding, u will lose money, not make money, and not to mention burder the breed of choice with badly bred dogs.

jsut o give u an idea: i have two lovely lhasa apsos. i bred them in my bitch's second heat. all went well until her 50th day. she went in to labour and gave birth to a preemie pup which obviously died soon after birth being way to preemie to help it. thinking that was her only one, and she seemed Bright and Responsive (BAR), i let her be. a day later, when i picked her up, another dead pup slipped out. off we went to my vet's, at 21:00 to deal. four hours later, and tons of pitocin,hand insertion, manipulations, and finally, anasthesia and sqeezing out a few more dead preemie pups, and a vet bill of 1000 shekels (i helped in the surgery so got a discount), a sewed up lhasa bitch, and some uterine problems for a while after. so all the people waiting for her pups were disappointed, and i lost even the small amount i would have made (maintaining costs, not actually profit) due to vet problems.

i am an experienced dog person. have breed/showed/vetted/trained/groomed, etc since age 10. another friend of mine (facebook friend) who breeds scottish fold cats and also dogs in thailand, has had several runs of bad luck with parvo and distemper due to her location and lack of funding for good vet care as apposed to farm vet care. and she knows what she is doing, has access to internet info, etc...

and unless u also have the knowlege etc, u will probably just keep having to fork out the dough for the business. better to ask GF's parents what they like to do, what they know what to do, etc.... and just have fun with their own pups as a hobby.

my shekels worth.

but on the other hand, never trying means no possible gain either....

bina

israel

[ignis]

The question is why do people take the dogs to a groomer ? Long hair ? Hate water ? unmanageable ?

Many of course just because it is easy.

myself have 5 shih tzu, long haired [just off the floor all over], oldest is 7 the youngest is 1 yr next week, they ALL need a shower and be groomed every week, I do it myself mostly, each dog takes at least 1 hour each....

I take them to the Groomer only when I need all 5 to be groomed the same day [eg: going to the Vet next door to groomers] or if they need a light trim... The charge for grooming is 150 baht, trim and groom is 200 baht each.

3 of my dogs are girls, and the time when they are on heat is difficult, after I take them to the groomers because of all the knots

She also does over night stays @ 50 baht per dog, she lives upstairs, most of the dogs that stay have a free run of the house, not put in some cage in a corner, so if I ever had to would not mind letting mine stay there.. [my partners Sister looks after them if we are away so never used the groomer]

Out of interest most dogs at the groomers are long haired, she has a large shop also selling all dog products so over the years have been in many times, all my dogs love her. The groomer + Sister + Daughter + another girl all work there.

As 'Bina' says they would need to know the breed type, hair type, skin type, cut type for each dog... Do they know that shih tzu's and Huskies need hair conditioner ? give some other breeds conditioner and it will give them a skin problem. Can they deal with Ticks and Flees ? last thing anyone would want is a clean dog going to the groomers and coming home with flees..

Also out of interest, the Groomer has a car + van, the van comes to the Village around 10am on Fridays, at least 6 dogs in this Village go every week, returning about 6pm, I have phoned her a couple of times and she has come in the car and picked my dog/s up and delivered them later is a FREE Service.

[Nienke]

Amen to above posts.

Your Parents in Law will work with living beings, not toys. Love only is NOT sufficient. And animals certainly should not be used as a means to take the burden of the shoulder of your loved one.

For the businesses you mentioned knowledge on general health care, disease symptoms, first aid, diet, housing, hygiene, different kinds of breeds, genetics, coat types, etc etc is a MUST, when working with living beings.

Although grooming may be done between 8 and 5, that is not the case with boarding them. For that your PIL's should be willing to be available 24/7. There's NO day of as the animals need daily care and feedings.

I do not know about the Law concerning Thais running a doggy business. I do know that when a foreigner runs it then a legal business (Co.ltd or Prt ltd) is required by law, and the foreigner needs a work permit and at least 4 Thais people need to be employed.

Nienke, who runs LuckyDogs boarding and training center (see banner on the Chiang Mai forum or link on my profile).

[elektrified]

Don't ever invest money into the parents of a teerak.