How to develop a Dog walking app development

Pets, commonly recognized as dogs, cats, birds, fish, or any other species, are humans’ best friends. Almost everyone loves to own pets. In the US, half of the households own pets according to the latest research and data. 65.1 million US households own at least one dog, accounting for 49.5%. Every pet wants to be cared for. Well, before moving forward, we will cover some vital stats, which are worth to check out before diving into the pet care industry and considering to develop a Dog walking app development. 

The pet care industry insights and the market size

• 2018: As per the American pet products Association, the US pet industry market size was approximately US $72.13 billion in 2018. 
• 2025: As per Grand View Research Inc, the global pet care market is forecasted to reach USD 202.6 billion by 2025 due to the rise in the adoption of pets and the growing demand for the premium care products which drive market growth.
• As per the recent report from Crunchbase, an app for a pet has raised $12 M in series B round of funding.

Now let us go through the Petsitter app or pet walker app.

What are the different revenue models of pet sitters or dog walker apps

Pet sitter or dog walker can be used as a DIY model or Marketplace model.

• DIY Model: Using the DIY model, you can start your own pet sitting or dog walker app in which only you will be the service provider act as an agency rather than an individual service provider. You can recruit and guide service providers and make them ready for booking under your own brand name.
  • Benefits of using the DIY model
    • You can earn a direct fee from pet owners after every successful completion of the job.
    • Fixed membership fee from the pet owners
    • Advertising pet products 
    • Charging additional fees for delivering guaranteed services to pet owners.
• Marketplace model: This is also known as a peer-to-peer marketplace platform which acts like uber. In this marketplace model, there is no need to hire service providers, and it allows an independent service provider to register on the app, make accessible to book by pet owners and cost commission or service fee on each booking.
  • Benefits of using the Marketplace model
    • Charging commission to the pet sitters once the job was done.
    • Fixed membership fee from either pet owner or pet sitter or both
    • Charging one-time fee from service providers for on-boarding, background check, profile verification.
    • Running ad on pet products
    • Featured or paid to list for pet sitters profiles

Types of pet apps

Pet apps can be classified into several groups based on their aims:

• Pet care
• Pet entertainment
• First aid
• Veterinary recommendations

Pet Care: This type of apps are used to help you take care of your Pet. Even there are different reminders to track pet location.
Pet Entertainment: Every pet owner wants his Pet to be strong, fit and happy. Pet owners can use apps to help their pets engage in both physical and mental exercises. This app allows interactive playing with your Pet, tracking the pet progress.
First Aid: This type of apps help the pet owners to deal with a pet in trouble. Using this app, you can get help on how to give the right emergency care and first aid to the pet until you get to the vet.
Veterinary Recommendations: this type of apps are used to connect pet owners with veterinary professionals. These apps are used to consult with doctors via smartphone. The cost of the consultation will less than than the price of a regular visit to the Vet clinic. These apps enable sending a doctor all materials necessary for diagnosis such as test, x-rays and videos of pets showing symptoms. 

How does Pet sitter or dog walking app work?

For Service Providers(Pet Sitters and Dog Walkers)

• Service providers will register and apply to become a service provider on the pet sitter app.
• The service provider can decide the type of pet wants to care with hourly pricing and calendar schedule.
• Ensure reliability, qualification, certificates and background check before allowing service provider on the platform.
• Once approved, the service provider can accept the service request from the pet owners.

Pet Owners

• Pet owners can search for nearby service providers with the best reviews and ratings.
• The service providers get the real-time push notification on their app and confirm or deny a booking as per their convenience. 
• Pet owners can trace the live GPS location of the pet. 
• Service providers can upload a photo, pet activity reports, crisis alerts and many things to keep pet owners fully aware and worry-free about their pets. 
• Pet owners can chat, call or see directly if the service provider has good bonding with the pets 
• Pet owners can pay online to the service provider for the service provided. 

What are the basic features of Pet Sitters or Pet Walkers?

Pet owners love their pets and want to be consistent about their pet care. If you develop a pet walker app that can fulfil every corner in the pet care market and present pet owners with sustainable value, you can get loyal users ready to stay with your app as long as it serves them and their pets. 

Here are some guidelines that what you should take into account when planning a pet care app design? What are the components of a loving pet sitter app? There are two parties involved in the development of pet sitter app.

1. Service Provider
2. Pet owner 

Basing on the app purpose, your pet walker app will include the following features.

• Personal information about Pet:

  For each pet profile, include pet type, name, breed, color, age, weight, allergies, food, health info, and unique tracking options.

• Real-time Dashboard of Pet:

  Dashboard must contain all information of Pet such as Pet’s temperature, pulse, activity level, scheduled vet visits, medications if any and time of next feed or walk. 

• Food Monitoring:

  This option allows controlling Pet’s food and water consumption so the owner can adjust the Pet’s diet or quickly recognise the first symptoms of health issues. 

• Exercise and walking:

  The integrated GPS tracking in the app enables planning walks and physical activities, monitoring distance, time, and walking speed.

• Geofencing Tracking:

  You can even integrate Geofencing option to trigger an alert when the Pet leaves the permitted area. Even the owner could get the notification if the Pet lost. 

• Notifications:

  This feature allows the Pet owners about the predefined events, such as planned vet visits, vaccinations, feeding and walking times, tracking the location of a pet. 

• History:

  This feature can display health, activity logs, feeding and sleeping patterns.

• Search:

  This feature is used to search for vets, groomers, dog parks or emergency centers nearby to the user location or in selected regions. 

• Medical documentation:

  This feature will give you official medical documents on each Pet’s constant conditions, allergies, vaccinations and many more.

• Chat with a vet:

  This feature allows to communicate with vets and send medical documentation. Users optimize the app by integrating it with a video streaming option to show vets their pet’s symptoms or behavior. 

• First aid:

  This feature has first aid video recommendations with media files like how to do first aid treatment for the Pet. 

• Review and ratings:

  If someone wants to take service, then the pet owner for sure go through the reviews and rate section to grab the best service provider. The pet owner will give rating and reviews to the service provider. 

• Online payments:

  The pet owner or service seeker can pay for the service via gateway providers like stripe, PayU, PayPal, etc. 

• In-app message:

  This feature will allow the pet sitter and pet owner to communicate with each other regarding the questions and concerns they may have before booking the service. 

The essential features enable pet owners to book service providers, including vets and grooming shops, with a few taps.

Conclusion

An ideal pet sitter app embraces several features to make the pet walker app to work more efficiently and effectively. As a pet sitter startup, you should be glad to know the pet care industry is worth over $100 billion. Pet care service provider apps are on the rise.

Thought to have an idea on the pet care app? You can cross verify with us as we Krify is a leading Android and iOS app development company based in India and UK, having tremendous competency in developing the pet sitter app. 

Ask about pet sitter app costs, dog walker app development time, or hiring Indian developers for on-demand pet walker apps. You can get in touch with us through the contact form.

A sales representative will advise on the best pet sitter app solution for your business shortly. The consultation is absolutely free of cost.