A guide to help you choose the perfect name for your dog walking business for 2024!
When starting your dog walking business, one of the first big decisions you must make is choosing a name for your company. Luckily, as with most other aspects of starting your own dog walking business, deciding on a name can be a lot of fun. That said, it's easy to get hung up on selecting the perfect name and struggle to find an ideal fit.
You want to pick a name that reasonably represents you and your business. Many professional dog walkers and pet sitters like to choose something fun in the form of a pet-related pun or something based on the services they offer. For example, if you are a pet sitting business focusing on cats, you might incorporate that into your name to better advertise that fact. You can also choose to go with a name that is good for local SEO, like "INSERT CITY NAME HERE" Dog Walker or "INSERT CITY'S NAME" Best Dog Walker. A name like that with built-in SEO value can be a wise choice if you are in a city full of other competitors.
You should also keep in mind whether or not the name you choose for your dog walking company is something that will look good on business cards, logos, invoices, and apparel. Consider if it is something that will pair well with a logo or other business designs when it comes time to promote your brand.
As you can no doubt see, choosing a name is a critical step to starting your business. It is often the first impression prospective clients will have of you and needs to have a spark of memorability to it. Since it’s such an integral step to getting started as a professional dog walker or pet sitter, we have created this blog post to help guide you as you pick out the perfect name for your dog walking company.
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Step 1: Choose a name that suits you and your company and accurately reflects your brand identity.
A company’s name can do a lot to help potential clients identify the kind of business you are running and what types of services you might offer. It may also demonstrate the experience clients can hope to expect from you and your team. If you decide to go with a playful pet pun, they might expect a business run by someone with a deep love for animals who derives a lot of joy from their job. If you go with something that advertises a certain level of expertise or a superior level of service, clients may instead expect a higher degree of professionalism than usual. To that end, you should carefully consider the type of image you want to project to pet parents on the hunt for a pet care provider.
Here are a few questions for you to think about as you deliberate:
- Will you exclusively offer dog walking services? If so, a name that centers on dogs might make the most sense. If you provide other services, however, consider a name encompassing all the services you plan to offer.
- How will you position your business? Will you offer upscale pet care services or specialize in a particular service?
- Do you plan to be the biggest and the best, or are you aiming to be a smaller and more boutique type of business?
- Do you plan to expand to other cities or markets? Think carefully about this one, as It might be more challenging for your business to grow if you pick a city-specific name and are forced to change it later.
- Do you want your business name to be silly or playful that brings a smile to your clients? Or do you desire something that reflects your company’s professionalism?
- Do you have any veterinary and medical animal care experience and plan to incorporate that into your services?
Whatever name you wind up choosing, it should be something that resonates with you on a personal level. After all, it is a name that you will use daily and that people will come to associate with you and your face. It will also often be the first interaction prospective clients have with your business and will help to inform their first impressions. That is why you mustn’t go with something you thought up on a whim, but instead something you have chosen after careful consideration.
A great place to start the name-creation process is to write down ten characteristics about your dog walking company that are most important to potential clients. Think of how you want people to feel when they hear your name. This includes prospective clients, existing clients, and team members working under you. It should also be something that will look good on your logo, website, and business cards, and it should be something people are happy to wear, such as T-shirts and other official brand merchandise.
Step 2: Brainstorm some name choices.
Sometimes, you get lucky, and a great name comes to you immediately, or maybe you already know precisely what you want to name your dog walking business. If you are in the position where you’re drawing a complete blank when choosing your name, though, that's completely okay! All you need is an idea of what you want your name to represent. After that, it's time to let the creative juices flow!
Start by brainstorming a list of everything you can think of related to your business. You can even make a mind map to help you connect specific ideas! As you consider the different aspects surrounding your dog walking or pet sitting company, some of the questions you might ponder are: What are the most important services your business will offer? Where do you want to operate and grow your business? Do you want a friendly name? Or a name that sounds buttoned-up and professional? Do you want a name that refers to a pet’s safety? To your reliability? Whatever keywords you come up with, write down as many of them as possible.
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Once you have all your keywords written down, it’s time to start putting those keywords to work and creating some business names. There are no restrictions here; write out as many different names and variations as you desire. We do have a few pointers here, though! The best business names tend to be simple and memorable. Choosing a name that is easy to pronounce and remember for prospective clients is usually a smart choice, as it will stay in their minds later if they happen to come across your name while running errands and don’t have time to investigate until later. You may want to also consider local relevance (especially if you live in a big city with a lot of competition). This can aid potential clients (and Google) in better identifying exactly where your business operates. Lastly, consider the types of names your competition uses for their business names. Consider choosing something unlike your competitors so that it’s easier for your business name to stand out in the crowd and avoid confusion with another company.
After you have done so and produced a list of names, try to refine that list down to the top ten or so that you like best and begin the process of elimination. If you’re still stuck, however, we have an excellent list at the bottom of this post with many ideas to help get you started. You can also jumpstart the creative process by using an online name generator. The business name generator from Shopify is a good place to begin.
Step 3: Make sure your business name is available and you can own the trademark.
Once you have narrowed your list down to a name or two that you really like, it's time to do some research! Before declaring a winner between your final choices and making anything official, you must ensure that the business name you want is available for you to use and own. In order to figure out if a business name is free for you to use, we suggest following these steps:
- Use a trademark search tool to ensure your dog walking business name is not already trademarked. The US Patent and Trademark Office has a great trademark search tool that’s free for you to use. If you plan on incorporating your business, you must also check on that with your local state.
- See if your desired domain name is available. We like using Instant Domain Search. You can always try to create a variation of your name for your website domain, but it's best to keep the domain name as simple and as close to your actual business name as possible — .com's are always better, too!
- Look at the company names of the competitors in your area. You want to avoid having a name that is too similar to your competitors, as it can confuse prospective clients. For example, if there is already a Denver's Best Dog Walker, you don't want to call your business Denver's Very Best Dog Walker.
- You should also check if the social media accounts for your desired business name are available. Namechk has an easy-to-use tool to help you search for available social media usernames. Also, remember that you'll have more flexibility with social media usernames than website domains. You can get a little creative with your usernames for a workaround if the one you want isn’t available.
Step 4: Get feedback on your final picks for your dog walking business name.
Before you set the name for your dog walking business in stone, seek out some feedback from outside sources. It's best to get feedback from existing or prospective clients. If that's impossible, try to find people who can be objective and neutral when giving their thoughts and honest opinions. Family and friends are great for helping you start your business, but sometimes, they can be overly optimistic and hold back on sharing constructive criticism. All that being said, however, it’s your company’s name at the end of the day, so despite what others may think, what is important is what you think of it!
Step 5: Register your business name.
Once you have settled on the perfect name for your dog walking business, you should register the name and buy a domain name for your website. The Small Business Administration has some great resources on how to Register Your Business Name. After you purchase your domain name, you should scoop up as many social media usernames for your business name as possible. You might not plan on using sites like Twitter or Instagram, but it's best to get the appropriate usernames just in case. Doing so will also prevent others from taking the username and causing potential confusion with clients when they search for you on the web.
Step 6: Bring your dog walking business name to life.
Now that you have all of your ducks in a row, it's time to bring your business name to life! In order to do so, you will want to create an eye-catching logo to go with your business name. This logo will be used on business cards, marketing materials, flyers, T-shirts, and other brand merchandise, so it must look professional and represent your dog walking business well. If you don't know anyone with graphic artistry skills who can create a logo for you, there are plenty of online resources like Fiverr and 99designs, where you can find artists to create affordable graphic designs. If you have some experience in graphic design yourself and want to try your hand at designing your own logo, Canva is a free-to-use resource with a lot of templates and tutorials available.
Once you have a logo made, you should add it to your website and all of your social media channels. If you need guidance on building a website for your company, we have a great blog post on the 10 Must-Have Website Pages For Your Dog Walking Business. Also, take a look at our complete guide on How To Start A Dog Walking Business for a massive amount of resources to help you get started!
Bonus: Some Ideas For Your Dog Walking Business Name!
Here are a few examples of some dog walking business names to help get your creativity flowing!
Creative Ideas:
- Pawsome Pooch Walkers
- Wagging Tails Trails
- Happy Hound Hikers
- Bark 'n' Stroll
- Canine Companion Walks
- Tail Blazers Dog Walking
- Woof Walkers
- The Leash Lounge
- Rover's Ramblers
- Furry Feet Adventures
- Paw Prints Pathfinders
- Waggy Wanderers
- Bark Brigade
- The Doggie Dash
- Walkies & Wags
- Pawsitively Active
- The Daily Dog Trot
Local Relevance:
- Austin's Pawsome Trails
- Urban City Pup Walkers
- Wichita Hound Hikers
- Windy City Tail Waggers
- Barkingham Palace Walks (London)
- Canine Companions NYC
- Coastal Maine Canine Walks
- Metro DC Mutt Walkers
- Doggie Downtown Detroit Adventures
- Rover City Walks
- Mountain City Paws
- Bay Area Pup Buddies
- Oakland City Tails and Trails
- Lone Star Cap City Leash Lovers
- Emerald City Pooch Walkers
- NYC Pup Explorers
- Golden Gate Dog Walkers
- Cap City Canine Crew
- Manhattan Canine Companions
