Many people walk their dogs for the exercise. Ms Yenni Yap does that, and gets paid for it. Ms Yap, in her 40s, is the founder of Dogwalkies, which provides professional dog-walking and pet- sitting services.
She earns at least $2,500 in slow months and double that during the busy Christmas or Chinese New Year holiday seasons.
She was inspired to start her business in 2003, when she was about to take a two-week trip and needed someone to 'dog sit' her Labrador retriever.
'I checked out several pet hotels but did not have the heart to put him there with all the other dogs. I searched the Internet and found that more personalised dog-sitting services exist overseas. I thought, why not start it here too?'
It was also a timely change as the single woman was feeling burnt out from running a food stall at Kovan Mall. After evolving the business from a franchise restaurant to a bubble tea shop and then a crepe stall, she decided to wind it up after five years.
She then took a six-month break before starting up Dogwalkies.
Though she initially ran the business with just her twin sister, a younger sister has now joined in. Ms Yap now has one permanent helper to take turns walking clients' dogs.
She said there are many other individuals providing such services here and most target specific residential areas. Most of her clients live in the Bukit Timah and Orchard Road areas, where she lives with her mother. About half of her clients are expatriates.
She estimates that she has walked more than 300 dogs in the past six years, and currently has about 50 to 60 dogs that she walks regularly. She walks two to six dogs each time. She picks the dogs up from her clients' homes and returns them there after.
A 'walk' lasts about 30 to 40 minutes around the neighbourhood and costs $25 for the first dog and $5 per additional dog. An hour-long outing, which means picking up a dog and taking it to a dog run to socialise with other dogs, costs $55 and above.
She also provides a service where she will visit pet-owners' homes twice a day to feed their dogs, cats or fish while they are away. She also helps bring in their mail and water their plants. This service costs between $22 and $35 per visit.
She hopes to eventually open what she calls an 'exclusive dog club' - a small day-care centre for dogs.
But though people she met have expressed envy at her seemingly relaxed job, she points out that it is not stress-free.
She has to look for a sheltered place for the dogs to exercise on rainy days, make sure they do not attack other dogs along the way, and see to it that the dogs stay tick-free after interacting with one another.
Ms Yap, whose working hours can sometimes last from 6am to 10pm, said: 'I have been able to go on holiday only about two or three times a year, and that's only when everyone else has returned from their holidays.'
