When Kelley and Denis O’Sullivan purchased their Bay Area house 4 years in the past, it got here with a huge yard. The earlier house owners had raised horses on the property, however the O’Sullivans had no sensible use for the now-empty piece of land. Still, they needed to do one thing with it.
Just a few years later, Kelley noticed an advert on Facebook for Sniffspot, a firm that connects pet house owners to individuals who have non-public outside areas the place canine can safely run off-leash.
“I used to be like, ‘oh, that’s fascinating. I’m wondering what that’s about,’” she says. “And right here we’re.”
After making some repairs to their fencing and bringing in some doggie necessities like consuming water, toys and poop baggage, the couple listed their yard on Sniffspot final spring, charging $10 an hour for the practically one-acre house. They even gave their “spot” a identify: #349 K9 Farm, a nod to the badge variety of their daughter, a Sacramento police officer who was killed within the line of responsibility in 2019.
Since then, they’ve developed a core group of regulars. The couple had 80 bookings final month alone — netting an additional $1,300 in aspect revenue, says Kelley, who works as a private coach. (Denis works in IT).
“If you’re looking to kind of dip your toe into a side hustle, this is definitely one to do,” she says.
Off-leash canine parks at a cheap value
Sniffspot, which launched in 2018, is likely one of the newer iterations of the so-called sharing economic system.
It’s form of like Rover (which itself is form of just like the Airbnb of canine boarding), however for shorter intervals (normally about an hour or two) geared to canine house owners who need to give their pets extra train than their house house permits, and who can’t, for no matter motive, take them to a canine park.
Each “spot” appears a little completely different. Some are simply massive fenced-in lawns for taking part in fetch; others present all the pieces from toys and agility gear to doggie—and typically human—swimming pools. (The O’Sullivans, for his or her half, have canine parkour obstacles, a designated “digging spot” and a shaded haunt space for pet dad and mom).
Founder David Adams says the concept behind the corporate got here from his girlfriend, who needed to discover a place for her canine, Toshii, to run off-leash with out worry of him getting misplaced or working into hazard. Dog parks might be scary locations, in any case — you by no means know who will flip up, or in case your pet will get together with the others there. Wouldn’t it’s nice if there have been an app for that?
“When you’re out there in public around other dogs, you really don’t have control over what can happen,” Adams says.
Shortly after, Adams, who was working as an Entrepreneur in Residence on the funding agency Battery Ventures on the time, launched Sniffspot from his house in Seattle, Washington. It debuted to little fanfare, racking up simply 20 bookings within the first month.
“I had this vision it was going to be huge immediately,” Adams says. “I was underwhelmed.”
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, issues modified. Many cities closed down public parks, making canine house owners determined for accessible inexperienced areas. Sniffspot additionally began gaining traction amongst animal rescue and foster teams, who used it—and nonetheless do as we speak—to e-book spots for behavioral coaching periods and meet-and-greets with potential adopters and their canine.
Zoe Hawkins-Wells, a licensed canine coach in Asheville, North Carolina, says the app offers her canine shoppers the chance to “[Use] their senses in nature, with the freedom of choice in their actions, which is often taken away from them by being on a leash or in tightly contained areas.”
Put merely, “Sniffspot gifts dogs with what they need: time and space for dogs to be dogs,” she says.
Today, there are millions of Sniffspots within the U.S., and that quantity is rising: about 10% to 15% every month since 2018, Adams says. As of this writing, Sniffspot has about 7,000 hosts in over 1,500 U.S. cities. Hosts are beginning to pop up internationally, too, in locations like Canada, Europe and New Zealand.
“It turns out it was relevant for every dog,” Adams says.
How Sniffspot works
Using a enterprise mannequin related to Airbnb’s, Sniffspot vets potential hosts to be certain that their house meets the corporate’s security necessities, like correct fencing and a yard freed from particles, toxic crops and different hazards.
Once authorized, the “spot” is listed on the web site with all the required particulars: how huge the yard is, what facilities are supplied, guidelines to bear in mind and value.
The common host rents out their yard for $15 an hour per canine (extra canine are normally half-price), in accordance to Adams, although some hosts cost as little as $4 and as a lot as $50 per hour, relying on their location, the dimensions of their yard and what additional conveniences they’ve included.
Sniffspot fees its hosts a 22% charge — in change, they get entry to the corporate’s reserving web site, 24-hour customer support and legal responsibility and property injury insurance coverage. (Hosts are accountable for paying bank card processing charges, which add up to one other 5%.) In whole, hosts take house 73% of the cash paid by friends. Top hosts web round $3,000 a month, he says.
Since the aim is to present a protected house for canine to get off-leash train, scheduled appointments have 30-minute intervals between friends. This offers house owners each privateness and peace of thoughts that there gained’t be any confrontations between their canine and others coming into or exiting the house.
How to earn cash on Sniffspot
Opening up your yard to pooches (and their people) might be a rewarding expertise. But earlier than you make the leap, there are a few particulars to contemplate. Here are the key ones.
1. Check the necessities for working a enterprise in your space
You could also be required to get a enterprise license earlier than signing up as a host. Check your native authorities’s small enterprise web site to see what the licensing necessities are and, when you’re not sure, file an inquiry about whether or not changing into a Sniffspot host is allowed in your space.
You might also be required to receive an Employer Identification Number, or Federal Tax Identification Number, which comes with a charge starting from $25 to a number of hundred {dollars}. Check with a tax skilled to confirm what paperwork you’ll want to full that course of.
2. Make certain your yard is protected
Sniffspot requires the entire yards out there for lease on its web site to be fenced-in and safe. For some folks, meaning constructing (or repairing) fencing that’s freed from gaps and excessive sufficient to preserve canine from leaping over. Most yards on the location have fences which might be at the very least 4 ft excessive, in accordance to the corporate.
If you utilize pesticides within the house, you’ll want to show they’re pet-friendly. You’ll additionally want to be certain that canine gained’t have entry to any poisonous crops. Sniffspot will present a checklist of toxic crops to examine for and, if obligatory, take out.
3. Decide what facilities you need to supply
Some hosts solely present a safe yard space with a water bowl and a few poop baggage. Others have mountain climbing trails, agility programs, canine hammocks and human-friendly facilities like barbeques and fireplace pits. The dimension of your yard will assist decide what sort of house you need to present — and the way a lot you may cost for it.
How concerned you need to be together with your friends—whether or not you need to greet every one or keep unseen whereas the spot is in use—can be completely up to you.
4. Be a good neighbor
Keep an open line of communication together with your neighbors. Make certain there may be sufficient parking out there on your friends with out creating issues in your avenue. And if you realize your neighbor’s canine will get taken out at a sure time every day, schedule bookings round that window to keep away from potential confrontations.
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