In recent years, dog-care centres were established to meet the demands of people who wanted to travel during Tet holiday, but are concerned about the welfare of their pets. Along with many professional dog-care and training centres, there has been a rising number of smaller, private dog service businesses which have attracted large numbers of customers this year, especially in Ho Chi Minh City.
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| Dog-sitters are popular around Tet |
Families who own many dogs themselves often take up a favour looking after their neighbour’s dogs when asked. This type of favour then turned into a business and now seems to have grown in popularity. Customers often are acquaintances of the dog-sitter and this is how they have been advertising their service, through word of mouth.
Ms Nguyen Thi Ngan, from Ung Van Khiem Street, Ward 25, Binh Thanh District, is one of those people who does not go anywhere for the Tet holiday and since her family owns a large number of dogs, they decided to set up a dog-sitting service. “In previous years, my friends and neighbours would often ask me to take care of their dogs when they went away, and after awhile, they suggested that I should open a business to make money doing this during the Tet holiday, so I tried,” Ngan said.
Ngan’s dog-sitting service runs from February 8 to February 28, caring only for dogs that are 15kg and under, due to the family’s limited space. These dogs must be checked and vaccinated before being sent in. Friendly dogs are preferred. This is for the safety of other dogs at the facility. Price ranges from VND30,000 to 70,000 per day, depending on the size of the dog.
Ngan shared that the forty-room capacity is almost full, “Customers are mainly acquaintances, friends, colleagues, and people who have heard about our service through word of mouth. They will start to bring their dogs to our place beginning February 9.”
In a similar situation, Mr Tao, from Ward 6, District 8, who is also a dog lover, has opened the same type of business just for the Tet holiday. Last year, he only took in a few pets as a favour for his acquaintance, and refused those from people that he did not know. However, it is a different story this season; more dogs were welcome at his home.
“In saying that I have taken in a lot more dogs this year, but actually I only have twenty available places. All were reserved a week ago and I cannot accept any more. It’s great that I can make money out of my hobby,” Mr Tao said excitedly. Prices here range from VND50,000 to 80,000 per day.
Ms Hoang Thi Phuong, from District 5, sent her two Japanese dogs to Mr Tao. She prefers having her dogs looked after by small local dog-care businesses than at those big professional pet-sitting centres. “People who open this kind of business are often dog lovers, plus with just one word of recommendation from my colleague, I feel much more assured that my dogs will be well looked after. Dogs of different kinds, professionally trained ones and domestic ones are often put together, and you never know what could happen to your beloved pets.”
Professional dog-care centres are also getting ready for the busy holiday season, but there have been fewer customers who want to send their dogs in this year. Prices at those venues are about 15-25 percent higher than last season. It also varies at different places, and the disparity is high. The lowest price is VND70,000 and the highest VND150,000 per day at those centres as recorded.
