Walking the dog

I’m not sure whether other readers are experiencing the same effect but it appears to be boom time for dog-walking businesses and I have recently taken on several as new clients. I guess dog walkers speak to each other and tell each other who their accountants are.

The general sequence of events appears to be that the dog walker is often a homemaker or retired person with some spare time and an inkling to make some extra money. Friend goes on holiday and pays them to look after their dog.

Word gets around and before they know it they are building up a nice little business. More word gets around and they then can’t cope so charge the client say £20 to look after the dog during office hours but then pay someone else say £15 to do the looking after.

There is...