Sonoma and Napa County locals are making some additional money by leasing their yards and open space to dog owners throughout the North Bay location utilizing an app called Sniffspot.
David Adams, co-founder of Sniffspot, said there are 9 active listings in Sonoma and Napa counties, with the greatest earning area peaking at simply over $2,000 a month.
Alison Klahr, a Petaluma local, signed up with Sniffspot back in February and saw an instant rush for reservations from dog owners searching for a safe location to let their dogs off-leash.
Her listing is a totally fenced, two-acre property in northern Petaluma with a walk-in dog pond that she says has actually made her listing incredibly popular.
She’s made around $9,000 up until now through her reservations.
“We’ve been slammed,” Klahr said. “I have to block off time during my day just so my dogs can come out.”
Klahr has actually had around 400 appointments for her yard given that she registered as a host on Sniffspot. She said most of her visitors originate from the Bay Area and East Bay like San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley.
“There are no yards anywhere in that area so they (dog owners) will drive up to us to have this experience,” Klahr said. “It’s amazing to see how many people really need places for their dogs … it’s been such a joy to be able to do this for people.”
Victoria Petersen signed up with Sniffspot last January. She has a fully-fenced, two-acre property in Santa Rosa and puts the money made from reservations into preserving the property.
She said the majority of the dog owners that schedule her space are regional and are searching for a location to let their dog belong to be themselves.
“I love (being on the app) from the perspective of helping the dogs,” Petersen said. “I would say 99.9% of the folks who come just love their dogs and want to be able to have a good time with them without hassle.”
Sniffspot was produced by David and Rebecca Adams, who have 2 dogs of their own, Soba and Toshii. David said they were having a tough time discovering a location to let their dogs off-leash and had actually not had terrific experiences at regional dog parks.
“I’d had my dog, (Soba) for a year and I would take her on walks and all kinds of different things to help her enjoy her time and I didn’t really know the alternative,” David said. “I would take (Soba) to the dog park and it was pretty dirty, people didn’t always pick up after their dog and there were a lot of dogs that made it not a great experience for the other dogs.”
There are numerous factors dog owners don’t feel comfy taking their dogs to a dog park. While dog parks can be a terrific method for family pets to interact socially and get some energy out, some dogs simply don’t agree others, and some owners fret about injury, disease or bad interactions.
Many dog parks likewise don’t divided dogs up by size, leaving owners of smaller sized dogs with minimal choices when it concerns providing their dog off-leash time.
David and Rebecca released Sniffspot in 2018 and based the design for the app off Airbnb. Dog owners thinking about reserving a space can utilize the app to filter for particular areas, such as areas with a swimming pool or dexterity equipment.
All of the reservations are personal, with just the dogs noted on the booking enabled throughout the designated time. There’s likewise a needed half-hour break duration in between reservations so owners showing up and leaving with their family pets can do so without disturbance.
Sniffspot likewise runs look at hosts and their areas prior to enabling them to note on the website, such as verifying addresses and areas to make sure authenticity.
“We have people booking large meetups or people doing training sessions,” David said. “The people that use Sniffspot are crazy about their dogs and that’s still true today.”
You can reach Staff Writer Sara Edwards at 707-521-5487 or sara.edwards@pressdemocrat. com. On Twitter @sedwards380.
