Tips for Naming Your Dog Walking Business

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Last Updated on October 3, 2020

There are more than 33,000 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?

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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.

Let’s dive in!

Tips for Choosing the Perfect Dog Walking Service Name

If you’re struggling to choose a company name for your dog walking service, one of the best things to do is to just 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 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 for a dog walking service to 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 of 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) search 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 with choosing a few of your favorite words from your master brainstorm 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 of 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 also be used in a logo for your website, business cards, etc. For instance, a dog walking services could use an image of a dog, dog paw, or leash and focus the name around the image

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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 also 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.

Still Needing Inspiration?

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!

Bella My Yard
Burns Park Dog Walking
Cani’s Minor Dog Care
Chilton’s Dog Walking
City Sniffers Dallas
Companions Animal Care
Dave’s Dog Walking Service
Dog City
Dog Jogger
Dog Walk Charlotte
Dog Walking & Love By Dutches
Dog Walking & Pet Sitting
Dog Walking Academy
Doggie Family Walk
Doggie Walks
Doggy Walk
Dogwalker Dave
Dusty Paws Dog Walking
Fare Price Dog Walking
Fido N Friends
For the Love of Dogs
Furbabies Dog Walkers & Runners
Furball Fitness Dog Camp
Glen Bark Walks
Good Dog Sitting Co.
Happy Pets
Krazy Kritter Dog Walking
Leash Adventures
Leash Lovers
Little Furry Things
Louisiana Pet Sitters
Light & Love Pet Care
Live Bark Walk
Man’s Best Friend Walking Service
Maine Soggy Dog
Mel The Dog Walker
Mickey’s Menagerie Dog Walking
Oli’s Dog Adventures
Olivia’s Pet Sitting Business
Original Dog Walking Co
Passionate Pack
Paw Patrol Of VA
Paw Walkers
Paws ‘n Walks
Pet Valet Service Of Naperville
Pointy Nose Walking
Premier Dog Walking
Ruff Life
Salty Paws
Shady Waggers Dog Walking
Simply Pampered Pets
Sir Barks A Lot Dog Sitting
Sit Means Sit
Sit Stay Play Dog Walking
Sky’s The Limit Pet Service
Sonny’s Place
South Boston Dog Walking
Stinky Winky Dog Walking Service
Stress-Free K9
Tails N’ Trails Dog Walking Co
Teslas Trails Dog Walking
Toto Fit
Traveling Leash
Two Peas & A Paw
Wags 4 Paws
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
Who’s Walking Who
Wiggles & Waddles Dog Walking

Is your Name Available?

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 vital, 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.

Trademark Search

Trademarks are the most critical, so we’ll start here.

If a name or phrase is trademarked, you’re not allowed to use it in a similar capacity. So, run a trademark search for each business name you’re considering and cross off those that aren’t available.

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Local Search

Just because there isn’t a federal trademark on a name doesn’t mean the name you want is available. That’s because there is a trademark known as a common law trademark. A common law trademark isn’t filed anywhere, but provides someone who is using that name in commerce some limited rights in their geographical area to use the name. It can be hard to define how far geographically these rights extend as each industry is different, but at a basic level, someone can’t open a small business and name it the same or similar name as another local business. If you think the name could potentially create confusion with potential clients, it is usually best to just find another one to use to avoid potential legal issues down the road.

To do a local area search, open up the phone book (if you still have one), and do a Google search to see if there are any local competitors with a similar business name to the one you want to use.

Cross off any similar names from your list and take the rest and let’s keep checking.

State Entity Search (If Applicable)

If you plan to register your dog walking service as a corporation or LLC, you have to register with a unique business name. Each state requires every corporation or LLC to register a unique name for their entity. This doesn’t necessarily protect your name from anyone else using it, but nobody can register a corporation or LLC under the same name in your state.

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If you find the name is in use, cross it off your list and move on.

Domain Name Availability

Website addresses aren’t as critical as the first three searches, but it’s still worth doing. Optimally, if you can find a matching domain name, it’s easier for your customers to remember. Typically, you want your domain name to be “yourbusinessname.com” without any numbers, dashes, etc.

It’s easiest for customers to remember, but these are hard to come by.

However, you can explore other configurations and extensions if your preferred domain name isn’t available. Just remember your customers may have a more difficult time finding you online.

You can start with . Type in the domain name you want to use to see if it’s available. The tool also returns other possibilities you may want to consider.

Social Media Profiles

Next, especially if you are stuck between a couple of names, check and see if anyone is already using your potential dog walking service names on social media. Consider which platforms you plan to use and start with those.

Keep in mind you may have to shorten your company name for some platforms. Twitter only allows 15 characters, for example, while a Facebook page is limited to 75 characters.

Start with your preferred platforms and do a quick search for your name. If nothing pops up, that likely means no one is using it, and you’re good to go.

Example: Someone is using startingyourbusiness on Instagram, so I would have to choose a different social media handle, making it more difficult for customers to find me.

Vanity Phone Number

An inexpensive way to make your business stick out and is easier for your customers to remember is to get a custom phone number with your business name. These are affordable too, with pricing typically around $10-$25 per month, depending on the level of features you need.

Companies like and let you type in words to quickly see if a local or toll-free number is available.

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 this list narrowed down to just a few and researched that they are all available, start asking friends, family, and potential customers their thoughts to get feedback and then pick your perfect dog walking service name!