There are more than 30,000 dog walking services in the United States alone. So, it’s no surprise settling on a unique name when starting a dog walking business can be a challenge.
Picking the right name gives potential customers an idea about the services your business provides, creates a good first impression, and helps you stand out from the competition.
Are all the good names already taken? How do you come up with something fresh? And what about the legality of using a name?
If you’re not sure how to answer those questions, you’re in the right place. Keep reading to learn my top tips for choosing a creative dog walking business name and how to make sure your favorite choices are available across the board.
Learn more about the dog walking industry
Tips To Help Name Your Dog Walking Service
If you’re struggling to choose a company name for your dog walking service, one of the best things to do is just to start brainstorming. As you go through the tips outlined below, make a list of words, phrases, and terms associated with your business.
From there, you can narrow down the list and cross off ideas you don’t like.
Once you have several top considerations, we’ll walk you through how to make sure you’re allowed to use them. This last step helps you narrow down your list even more so you can make a final decision.
1. Consider the Services You Plan to Offer
There are several types of services a dog walking service can offer, such as daily walks, in-home pet sitting, transportation to grooming, and vet appointments, so it’s worth looking at using a descriptive name for your business.
Add the different types of services you want to offer to your brainstorming list.
Remember to avoid anything limiting your business’s future growth if you decide to go in another direction down the road.
2. Location-Specific Terms
Most dog walking services are specific to a geographic service area. So, if that’s true for your business, consider adding a location-specific term to your business name.
You can consider things like:
- City nicknames
- Neighborhoods
- Regions or states
- And descriptive terms
However, consider what happens if you expand outside your intended service area. Does the name become limiting? If so, it’s best to avoid it if you plan to expand or change directions later.
3. Avoid Business Names That Are Hard to Pronounce, Hear, or Spell
Despite the technological advances in voice search, assistants like Siri and Alexa struggle to understand slang and other confusing words.
This could limit how often your business shows up in voice (and text-based) searches if your name is hard to spell, pronounce, or hear. Because of that, it’s important to avoid complicated words, industry jargon, and using numbers in place of letters. While having a unique dog walking service name is good, being too unique may not be so good.
Keep your business name as simple and easy to remember as possible so potential customers can easily find you.
4. Consider Alliterations and Rhyming Words
Alliterations and rhymes are catchy and easy to remember. Because of that, they make for great business names.
That said, it’s not always easy to come up with them. Start by choosing a few of your favorite words from your master brainstorming list.
Then, you can Google “words that start with P” to come up with a name like Paw Pals or Posh Pets or whatever letter you’re using to create an alliteration. Alternatively, you can search “words that rhyme with _____”.
It can be time-consuming, but it’s an excellent place to start.
And don’t forget to add any exciting finds to your brainstorm list while you’re at it. Try not to overthink the names you come up with in this stage. Just write them all down, as some of the more interesting ones may spark better ideas later.
5. Steer Clear of Initials or Obscure Acronyms
Initials and unusual acronyms are hard to remember, so they typically don’t make a very memorable name for a business. They can also be challenging to pronounce and confusing for voice search as well.
Furthermore, there are 325 different two-letter combination possibilities in the English language. And the odds of your customers remembering the specific letters you chose are pretty small.
6. Imagery Words
Another consideration when brainstorming name ideas is whether there are industry-related words that could also lend themselves to be used in a logo for your website, business cards, etc. For instance, a dog walking service could use an image of a dog, dog paw, or leash and focus the name around the image.
Related: How to create a logo for your business.
7. Still Struggling? Try the Owner’s Name
If you’ve made it this far and are still struggling to find a catchy dog-walking business name, you can always consider using the business owner’s name. Doing so works well if the owner plans to be the face behind the business.
Something to keep in mind is that using the owner’s name as the business name can make it more challenging to sell the business in the future.
Creative Dog Walking Business Name Ideas
Here is a list of existing dog walking company names that may help give you some fun name ideas. While many of these names may be available for you to use, be sure to check first to be sure it can be used.
Tips on how to check business name availability are after the list of names!
- Active Paws
- Adorable Paws
- A Lucky Dog
- American Pet Sitters
- Bella My Yard
- Bow Wow!
- Burns Park Dog Walking
- Camp Canine
- Cani’s Minor Dog Care
- City Sniffers Dallas
- Companions Animal Care
- Cruisin’ Canines
- Dave’s Dog Walking Service
- Dog Jogger
- Dog Walk Charlotte
- Dog Walking & Pet Sitting
- Dog Walking Academy
- Doggie Family Walk
- Doggie Walks
- Doggy Walk
- Dogs Unleashed
- Dogwalker Dave
- Downtown Pet Studio
- Dusty Paws Dog Walking
- Fancy Paws Home Care
- Fare Price Dog Walking
- Fetch! Pet Care
- Fido N Friends
- For the Love of Dogs
- Four Leg Stretch
- Four Paws Agency
- Furball Fitness Dog Camp
- Glen Bark Walks
- Golden Leash
- Good Dog Sitting Co.
- Good Dog Walking
- Grand Paws
- Green Paws
- Happy Pets
- Happy Tails
- I’ll Strut Rover
- Krazy Kritter Dog Walking
- Leash Adventures
- Leash Lovers
- Light & Love Pet Care
- Little Furry Things
- Louisiana Pet Sitters
- Lucky Dogz
- Lucky Leash
- Maine Soggy Dog
- Majestic Paws
- Mel The Dog Walker
- Mickey’s Menagerie Dog Walking
- Midday Dog Walkers
- Oh Happy Pets
- Oli’s Dog Adventures
- Olivia’s Pet Sitting Business
- Original Dog Walking Co
- Pampered Pets
- Pampered Pug
- Pampered Puppy
- Passionate Pack
- Paw And Claws Pet Care
- Paw Patrol of VA
- Paw Sitters
- Paw Walkers
- Pawfessionals
- Paws Express
- Paws In Motion
- Paws ‘n Walks
- Pawsitive Pet
- Pet Valet Service Of Naperville
- Playful Pup
- Pointy Nose Walking
- Premier Dog Walking
- Puptopia
- Ruff Life
- Salty Paws
- Sidekick Sitter
- Simply Pampered Pets
- Sir Barks A Lot Dog Sitting
- Sit Means Sit
- Sit Stay Play Dog Walking
- Sky’s The Limit Pet Service
- Snappy Paws
- Sniff Dog Walkers
- Sonny’s Place
- South Boston Dog Walking
- Stinky Winky Dog Walking Service
- Stress-Free K9
- Strut The Pup
- Sweet Puppy Smiles
- Tails A Waggin’
- Tails N’ Trails Dog Walking Co
- Tennessee Trails Dog Walking
- The Dog’s Paw
- The Friedly Heel
- The Funny Bone
- The Pet Nanny
- The Woof Pack
- Toto Fit
- Traveling Leash
- Two Peas & A Paw
- Uptown Pet Services
- Wag! Dog Walking
- Waggin’ Tails
- Wags 4 Paws
- Wags West
- Walk Dogs On Wheels
- Walk My Paws
- Walk Steady
- Walk With Me Dog Walking
- Walk With Tanya’s Dog Walking
- Walkin’ Pets
- Walkin Doggies
- Walkin ‘N’ Rollin Dog Walking
- Walky Pet
- Whiskered Walks
- Wiggles & Waddles Dog Walking
- Wild At Heart Dog Walking
- Your Pet’s Pal
Funny Dog Walking Names
- Belly Rub Pet Services
- Dog City
- Doggy Trolley
- Every Dawg Has It’s Day
- Hot Diggity Dogs
- Muddy Paws
- Paw Patrol
- Pawitive Strides
- Shady Waggers Dog Walking
- Who’s Walking Who
Catchy Dog Walking Names
- Carl’s Dog Walking Service
- Dog Walking & Love By Dutches
- Furbabies Dog Walkers & Runners
- Happy Hound Pet Service
- Live Bark Walk
- Man’s Best Friend Walking Service
- Pampered Pooch
- Potty Time Dog Walking
- Prestige Pet Services
- The Dog’s Out!
Is Your Name Available to Use?
At this point, you should have several top considerations to choose from. And the best way to narrow it down further is to check each one for availability before committing to that perfect name.
This step is helpful because using a name that someone else is using could be very costly, time-consuming to rebrand your business, and possibly embarrassing. There are several places to look to check whether a name is available to use, so let’s walk through each one.
Can the business name be registered in your state?
If you plan to use a specific business name, you may be required by the state to verify it’s available to use.
Related: How to check business name availability in your state
Is your name already trademarked?
When searching for a name for your new business, you should check that your new name isn’t trademarked by someone else. If it is, you may not be allowed to use it legally.
Thankfully, the United States Patent Trademark Office (USPTO) makes trademark searching a breeze through their Trademark Database.
A name isn’t necessarily available if it doesn’t appear in this search. Every business has some limited protection through a common law trademark. This means another business can’t open up down the street with the same name, as this creates confusion for customers. Also, check local competitors by doing a Google search and looking through the Yellow Pages.
If your name is available and you want to protect it from being used by anyone else, you can register it with the USPTO.
Related: How to check for a trademark
Hopefully, you now narrowed down your business name ideas and have just a few great names for your dog walking service business. Once you have narrowed down this list to just a few and researched that they are all available, start asking friends, family, and potential customers for their thoughts to get feedback, and then pick your perfect dog walking service name!
