Charging for puppy parties

Re: Charging for puppy parties

Kay Eminson — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:04:05 GMT

We don't charge for ours, if we did they would never turn up!

We hold ours at a small community hall as our practice is not big enough, parties are usuallly 6 puppies lately been much larger due to a increase in people buying puppies?

I think ours arent run that well but my HVN refuses to listen to me, they last an hour and they get a certificate at the end.

You get no goody bag and no opportunity to buy anything only a sound cd which isnt pushed to be sold anyway.

Re: Charging for puppy parties

Jo Mackenzie — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:36:12 GMT

I run mine on a Monday night after clinic (7.30pm) and they last 45 mins to an hour. I charge £10 for a three week course as I found clients were less likely to come back if they were free. I think there's also a perception that if something's free it's not worth anything, and I find people are more than happy with the cost. I talk about basic puppy care (feeding, worming, flea prevention, vaccs, microchipping, insurance etc etc), practice basic training like sit and stay, and let the pups have a run around and play at the end, in groups of 2 or 3 depending on their size and the number in the class. I try to keep class size to a maximum of 6 pups per course.

Re: Charging for puppy parties

Nicola Jamieson — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:16:31 GMT

We don't charge for our puppy parties, they also last for 45 mins to 1hr, i am in the middle of looking into the goody bags, at the moment we give a practice brochure, free puppy treats and also a toy.

We run them on a wed eve 6:30pm onwards, they can be a hit or a miss regarding the number of puppies at each party, but they are very popular and clients seem to love them and always ask if they can come back!

We used to block off an area in reception and hold them there, but now the extension has been finished we have a spare consulation room (of decent size) that we can use so it is easily fitted into the normal day.

Re: Charging for puppy parties

Maisy — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:09:20 GMT

I used to charge. The classes were only small (no more than 6 pups), and when the classes were free, more people didn't tend to turn up so sometimes just had 1-2 pups so not really worth it! The charge wasn't much but it generally kept people to the class as they would pay for the block beforehand.

Re: Charging for puppy parties

littlehays — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:56:49 GMT

can i just ask what you actually do at these? like what the format is? my practice doesn't do them and i think it's a real shame.

Re: Charging for puppy parties

Steph Worsley — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:49:16 GMT

I never charged when i was doing them, i used to run a series of 4 with a goodie bag and a cert at the end of it, it helped ensure client bonding

used to run them after a sat am surgery for an hour everyone loved them and seemed to find that time convenient