Pet Sitting as a side hustle

[Slow2FIRE]

Anyone do this?
Did it work well for you?

I was thinking since my wife and I both work from home we could take on 1-2 dogs per day.  Just do an interview process to see if their dog is compatible with our dog, make sure their pet is housebroken, and provide us with a copy of all vaccinations.  Probably need to get a business license too.  I suppose I'll need to get a copy of a big chain's pet sitting application to get an idea of what else I should be asking about.

Maybe we'd set up a few baby gates to control which areas of the house are open to the dogs.

Seems like very little extra work other than having an additional dog for walks in the morning and evening, more poop to clean from the yard, and more food (which should be a deductible expense).  We've watched friends and family members dogs in the past for up to 3 weeks, but would prefer to do doggy daycare during the day time while someone is working rather than overnight for when they are going on vacations.

Maybe the potential for conflicts between dogs, but that is why we'd have no more than 2 dogs.  Ours would just go to the kennel and we'd use baby gates to keep the others to separate areas and let go one of the customers after that day if any issues arise that can't be settled by treats, commands and extra exercise.  I also see the possibility that someone drops off a dog that likes to tear up the yard.

[Fire2025]

In our area this can add up to a lot of money, I have friends who pay a fortune for doggie daycare, and I've definitely considered it for when I'm FIRE.

You should go for it with just one dog and see how it goes, you can always just stop if you don't like it.

[sokoloff]

We have a regular dog sitter that we use when we travel somewhere that won't take pets. We bring our own food, so there isn't even that expense.

Do a good job and make it so the dog wags its tail in excitement when your customer walks up to the house and you'll have steady, repeat business from that customer.

[draco44]

Hi there! I did some pet sitting back when I was in debt paying off mode.  I think the number one thing to keep in mind is that your customers are the human owners, not the dogs themselves.

Dogs are usually pretty easy to keep happy and safe - just add food, water, exercise, any medications, and some head pats.  However, depending on what clients you are working with, you will likely be expected to provide extras like daily photographs of and/or texts/emails about their pet.  You may also be expected to follow very specific instructions such as "always play my dog's favorite radio station if you have to step out of the house" and "boil 1/4 cup green beans fresh twice daily to mix into their wet food."  Instructions like this can be a pain, but on the other hand, often the most demanding pet owners are willing to pay the most for quality pet care.  If you can earn the trust of a client like that, it may be well worth your while.

[ooeei]

Don't forget to ask for veterinarian info for emergencies.

Also consider what will happen if a dog happens to die on your watch. I know it's awful, but that is a possibility you have to consider, because statistically it can happen even if you do everything right. Also don't forget to add in the costs of things the dog may destroy to your fee rate. If it pees all over your couch or vomits on your comforter, that $80 you charged them for the night is really not gonna seem worth it. Some dogs absolutely blow through toys and/or furniture, that cost is not nothing.

Once you've got that down, I'm sure it could be easy/profitable with the right clients.

My roommate does it sometimes through some app where she goes and stays at the owner's house with the dog, and they pay so little it's ridiculous. She gets something like $25-50/day to stay overnight at someone's house and walk their dog during the day. It reminds me of Uber, where I find it hard to believe 95% of people doing it are actually making close to minimum wage after expenses. She ends up eating out most meals while she's there, and probably nets around $5-30 for a whole day/night of being there.

[SC93]

There was a couple on a Dave Ramsey show last week doing their debt free scream. They were doing this as a side hustle but now do it full time and make $100k a year. I continue to tell people.... a service business can make you rich if you let it. Problem is most people always say the same thing, "There is too much competition". And my answer is.... too bad there isn't more competition for that spot on your couch that your ass sits in all day.

[JanetJackson]

I've been trying to respond, but the site is way slow....
long story short, it's doable.  It took me about a year to work up to it, and I had to fine-tune it with my work/life schedule, but I pet sit/dog walk/daycare and I'll be at about 10-12k this year.
Get ALL of the information about your clients. Do not undercharge (research pet motels, other walkers, etc)  Don't be afraid to say that it's not a good fit (and have a referral to another walker/sitter for them).  Be sickeningly customer service oriented- send photo texts and "report cards".  Find add-ons (wash a pup for an extra $10, brush a kitty for an extra $5) to increase your value.
That's all it'll let me type... it's already starting to not respond in the text box.

Long story short... do it!

[Valhalla]

There was a couple on a Dave Ramsey show last week doing their debt free scream. They were doing this as a side hustle but now do it full time and make $100k a year. I continue to tell people.... a service business can make you rich if you let it. Problem is most people always say the same thing, "There is too much competition". And my answer is.... too bad there isn't more competition for that spot on your couch that your ass sits in all day.

haha love it!!

Dogsvacay allows a pet sitting service a la Uber model, and they provide insurance for pet sitting liabilities.

One thing that occurs to me is the potential liability if a guest dog gets loose and attacks someone...you'd want some sort of liability insurance to protect you from that.  Accidents happen, you can't really predict how all animals behave, so there is a little bit of risk.

[honeybbq]

Why not start with being a pet sitter on Rover*? Then you don't have to do any of the 'business' side at first. You can test the waters.

*obviously you split profits with them but you can set your own rates.

[katscratch]

I've done it before with formal clients, but now try to stick to friends only for scheduling purposes (I like my free weekends!).

As a dog owner yourself, you have the base knowledge and it sounds like you're aware of the human customer service side. I had vet tech experience, so my favorite and best-paying jobs were in-home for pets with complicated medical issues. I had some clients who started out wanting me to stay at their home and later wanted me to bring their dog to mine, and vice versa. It was great to build those repeat relationships and would have been pretty easy to make it a consistent gig.

[FallenTimber]

As a few others have mentioned, you may want to sign up for Rover.com (which recently bought DogVacay.com, therefore increasing its size).

My wife and I both work from home and have 2 dogs of our own. We live in an area that has heavy tourist traffic in the summer, and we've had a lot of dogs stay with us. Rover.com does take 20% right off the top, but they provide insurance and handle all payments, and saves us the trouble of creating another business, building a website, and doing the marketing, so it's worth it to us. Save the headache but still make the side hustle money. We make a few hundred bucks a month and our own dogs meet playmates, so it has worked out nicely.

[Bracken_Joy]

Posting to follow. We recently lost our old dog, and I wouldn't mind have a dog around the house now and again (plus, money is nice). Husband and my work schedule means someone can be home every day of the week (work from home//my 2 day work week), and I'm a nurse/our dog had lots of health problems at the end so medication administration is fine for us too.

My main concern is the destruction risk, but I guess that's mainly mitigated if we're home most of the time?

[FIFoFum]

This is very doable. Using Rover or equivalent at first is a good way to try it out and figure out what you like/don't like doing with low risk to you. It also helps build references and some regular clients for moving beyond, if that's important to you.

Find some niche that works for your lifestyle and figure out how that fits the needs of the market. Be realistic about what your at-home job requires in terms of time and other needs (e.g., other people's dogs may bark - will this disrupt your work?).

If your goal is to take only quiet, easy, middle-aged dogs who don't require anything in the middle of the day while you work at a computer except maybe a minor potty break, you won't make enough to be worth your while (that's something a taskrabbit person will do for less than $15/day).

What can you provide that people need? Different people will need:

- Someone to walk/exercise/create playdate midday, esp for younger/energetic/bigger dogs
- Someone to run/jog or really tire out a high energy dog
- Someone to care for older/senior pets with specialized needs who don't fit in at daycare
- Someone with dog-free home for dogs who don't get along with others & can't do daycare
- Someone who can guarantee constant company for a separation anxiety dog (cannot leave the dog alone for any amount of time)

Some of these things may work for you. There is side gig to FT job money to be had if you figure out which ones and develop a reputation for being good at it.

[lexde]

Also be aware of zoning issues. Running a business out of your home may give you some trouble. Not my area of law, but just wanted to put it out there.


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[lexde]

This is something I would really love to do, too, but I'm not sure my weekend-only availability would work out well since most people want dog care during the week and I work constantly, too.

[skip207]

Something else to mention and also will attract customers is a decent K9 first aid course.  If you do have to get liability insurance (some dogs can be worth a lot of $$) then it may help reduce the premium.

[SC93]

Also be aware of zoning issues. Running a business out of your home may give you some trouble. Not my area of law, but just wanted to put it out there.


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I've ran several businesses out of my houses and they were always 'against' the law as far as zoning goes. I'm never good at following rules/laws. A high ranking city official dropped by one day several months ago and said, "You know it's against the law to be running a business out of your garage?". Although I did know, I said, "No sir". He looked around and said, "My grandson just moved over to ______ apartments and needs a washer and dryer. Apartment _____". I looked at him a little crazy because I didn't know what to think. He asked if I wanted to write down the address? Oooohhhh, now I get it.... "Yes sir, I better write down the address. What time is good for him for me to bring it tomorrow?". The next day I found out it was on the 3rd floor and I do not take washers and dryers up stairs myself. So it cost me $200 for the washer & dryer + $30 to my friend for taking them up stairs for me. Not much to stay in business. lol

[RyanAtTanagra]

PTF, I've thought about doing this same thing for post-FIRE income if needed.  People around here pay a fortune for doggy day care (I know I did when going on vacation).

Also, agreed on the part about remembering that the humans are your clients, even if it's the dogs you end up connecting with, and sending random photos thorough out the day of their happy dog will get you a client for life.  I had an abused rescue dog that was scared easily, timid around other dogs, and suspicious of humans.  The first time I couldn't take her on vacation with me I found a place with good reviews and hesitantly left her there.  Few days into my trip I get a picture of her sleeping on her back, which is a vulnerable position that she only would do if she felt completely safe in her environment, sharing a doggie bed with another dog.  When I went to pick her up the guy working at the time carried her out to me.  As an abused dog she was terrified of being picked up, I was the only one that had been able to do so, but she looked perfectly comfortable.  Customer for life.  Some customers may just want a place to dump their dogs for the day so they don't pee in the house, but to others the little things you can do will make a huge difference.

Oh, and at that time I was trying to teach my dog how to play.  I got her when she was 14 and she had apparently never been taught to play, so I'd try and she'd get confused and nervous and run away.  I was making some progress, but it was very slow.  When I got her back from day care from that vacation she was playing, not great at it, but way more of a player than when I left.  I don't know what they did there but it was magical.

[Cwadda]

I had a friend that was doing this in a HCOL area. He was making about $70k/year, tax free.

[Fudge102]

I had a friend that was doing this in a HCOL area. He was making about $70k/year, tax free.

Tax free or tax avoiding...  $70k a year sound like if anyone found out he would have a lot of problems.

[MrsPete]

Sounds like a pretty good idea.  It's something I've considered. 

Thoughts /things to investigate:

- I'd think you'd need to check with your insurance.  Maybe raise your homeowner's policy.
- You should take a class in Pet First Aid & CPR.  It would make you more attractive to prospective clients. 
- Think about fire drills.  What the boarding places do:  Have a rope on hand, and in case of an emergency you run the rope through every dog's collar and drag them out together.  Hopefully none start fighting, but this gets them together almost instantly and keeps them corralled with you. 
- I'd think you'd want to invest in a couple big crates /mats for the dogs to have some "quiet time" alone.   
- This means that someone must be home in the morning for drop off /in the afternoon for pick up.  This could be an issue occasionally, but with two of you at home it would be only an irritation.
- Would you possibly have a neighbor who'd like to be "on call" as your back up ... you know, for the rare-but-inevitable day when you have a crisis that takes you both out of town. 
- Maybe give out brightly colored tee-shirts to your first customers.  Or offer them a free day of car when they refer a new client to you.
- Giving the dogs their daily walks will force you to take a break from your "real work" and get a bit of fresh air and exercise.
- When I take my dogs to be boarded, I bring my own food (measured out in a ziplock), but my dog has a delicate tummy, and I'm careful about what he eats.  My point:  You may not need to feed the visiting dogs. 
- Boarding places "upsell" you by offering baths and grooming ... but that might be more effort than you want to put in.

[boyerbt]

Anyone do this?
Did it work well for you?

I was thinking since my wife and I both work from home we could take on 1-2 dogs per day.  Just do an interview process to see if their dog is compatible with our dog, make sure their pet is housebroken, and provide us with a copy of all vaccinations.  Probably need to get a business license too.  I suppose I'll need to get a copy of a big chain's pet sitting application to get an idea of what else I should be asking about.

Maybe we'd set up a few baby gates to control which areas of the house are open to the dogs.

Seems like very little extra work other than having an additional dog for walks in the morning and evening, more poop to clean from the yard, and more food (which should be a deductible expense).  We've watched friends and family members dogs in the past for up to 3 weeks, but would prefer to do doggy daycare during the day time while someone is working rather than overnight for when they are going on vacations.

Maybe the potential for conflicts between dogs, but that is why we'd have no more than 2 dogs.  Ours would just go to the kennel and we'd use baby gates to keep the others to separate areas and let go one of the customers after that day if any issues arise that can't be settled by treats, commands and extra exercise.  I also see the possibility that someone drops off a dog that likes to tear up the yard.

I have been doing this as a side hustle for over two years now through DogVacay and now Rover and I would recommend this to anyone who loves dogs and has the time/space/patience that this entails. Over this time we have had over 120+ different dogs come through the house with a high percentage of them becoming repeat customers which is key as it becomes increasingly easier when you know the owners and pets very well. It has been great for us because almost all of the dogs have gotten along (3 outliers) and we have had times where our backyard was an unofficial dog park with 15 pups running around. Doing this has definitely extended the lives of our dogs as we have two older dogs who were very active beforehand but by having additional pups around all the time has made them happier even more active. 

PM me if you have any questions.

[Cwadda]

I had a friend that was doing this in a HCOL area. He was making about $70k/year, tax free.

Tax free or tax avoiding...  $70k a year sound like if anyone found out he would have a lot of problems.

Yes, tax avoiding.  He'd keep grocery bags full of money, like $25k in a bag.

[simonsez]

We (non-dog owners who love dogs) do it for friends and family and the occasional outside person (on a rec from family/friend) but it's always on their turf as a housesitting/dogsitting combo (usually for a weekend or extended period of time).  The work is very irregular (maybe 5-6x a year) and I hesitate to even call it a side hustle, more like for someone that wants to make an extra 1k-2k without doing the business legwork and not getting their house involved.

My advice would be to always make sure you have the information you need to provide the service the owner wants.  This sounds obvious but I find that with the more intimate the relationship (I doubt this would ever be a problem if you signed up to be a resource for a dogsitting company), the more they assume you know what they want.  Plus always have their vet number, applicable medication, and any pet insurance info handy.

[dodojojo]

Not only would I like to do this as a side-hustle but as a full time job.  It would fulfill my increasing desire to get away from computer-oriented work.  I'm not a computer tech, but all my jobs have been in front of screen working on Word or Excel.

Problem is that I travel a little bit and would like to travel more if I were to ditch my current job.  I'd think to make it a viable full time gig, pet sitting requires you to be around and available.  Right now, all my pet-sitting is sitting for a friend (cats) and she reciprocates.  I'm not a dog owner (apartment won't allow dogs), but I have been volunteering with dog and cat rescue groups for years.

[RedwoodDreams]

If you like dogs, this is a fairly easy way to make extra money while you're working from home. I've done this several times after posting an ad on craigslist and it generally was OK, but a few things happened that gave me pause to continue: the first dog bolted out of the house the first time I opened the front door, ran away, and I caught her only with the help of neighbors. My bad for not putting her leash on before opening the door, lesson learned, but I was up several nights worrying and wondering how I would have explained losing their dog to her owners.

Another dog I dogsat for is sweet and mellow and gets along well with my dog. No problems there. But after a few days he developed a limp and I couldn't see what had happened...Had to call the owners to see what they wanted me to do. Luckily, the limp calmed down after a few days so I didn't have to visit the emergency vet. Then, by the end of his stay with us, he had blood diarrhea, much of it all over my kid's room. Don't know if it was stress or from his diet having been recently changed, but it was a) gross, and b) scared me that he'd gotten into glass or something on a walk...

So, as with any endeavor, shit happens, and taking care of someone's beloved pet is a big deal.

But I'd suggest starting with one. A lot of people work full time and feel guilty about their dogs being home alone all day, or have a dog that's too anxious or high needs to go to doggy day care. Maybe place an ad offering companionship for anxious dogs. You might even find clients among your immediate neighbors alone, which makes things even more convenient.

I also do dog walking, which is great forced exercise for me daily. I walk 4 dogs at different times and I'm sure I could have many more if I had the energy for that. I see younger people out walking 6-8 dogs in a pack and I always think, "Wow, that person is making $150 on her lunch break...impressive."

Good luck!

ps- Another friend offers dog sitting AND a ride to/from the airport for clients who travel. I thought that was a good combo of services to offer.

[honeybbq]

Not only would I like to do this as a side-hustle but as a full time job.  It would fulfill my increasing desire to get away from computer-oriented work.  I'm not a computer tech, but all my jobs have been in front of screen working on Word or Excel.

Problem is that I travel a little bit and would like to travel more if I were to ditch my current job.  I'd think to make it a viable full time gig, pet sitting requires you to be around and available.  Right now, all my pet-sitting is sitting for a friend (cats) and she reciprocates.  I'm not a dog owner (apartment won't allow dogs), but I have been volunteering with dog and cat rescue groups for years.

I read about something that's a dog sitting service where YOU travel to where the person lives and pet sit in their home. You can pick and chose where you want to go, and while you'd still have to care for their animal, you'd get to stay in a nice place for free. Can't remember the name of the business, but you could google.

[Bracken_Joy]

Not only would I like to do this as a side-hustle but as a full time job.  It would fulfill my increasing desire to get away from computer-oriented work.  I'm not a computer tech, but all my jobs have been in front of screen working on Word or Excel.

Problem is that I travel a little bit and would like to travel more if I were to ditch my current job.  I'd think to make it a viable full time gig, pet sitting requires you to be around and available.  Right now, all my pet-sitting is sitting for a friend (cats) and she reciprocates.  I'm not a dog owner (apartment won't allow dogs), but I have been volunteering with dog and cat rescue groups for years.

I read about something that's a dog sitting service where YOU travel to where the person lives and pet sit in their home. You can pick and chose where you want to go, and while you'd still have to care for their animal, you'd get to stay in a nice place for free. Can't remember the name of the business, but you could google.

Rover lets you do that. Rover lets you:
Take care of dogs at your home
House/dog sit at the client's home
Do daytime home visits to the client's home
Do walks

You can select any or all of those you want to offer as services.

[dodojojo]

I had heard about the travel to option.  I think it's great and I'll look into it.  But it doesn't really work with the earning income part though?  The part where I would like to pet sit as a full time job.

[Bracken_Joy]

I had heard about the travel to option.  I think it's great and I'll look into it.  But it doesn't really work with the earning income part though?  The part where I would like to pet sit as a full time job.

Offer day care in the client's home? You go to the dog, during the say while they're at work. Look for other dogs in the area you can walk during the day, or before/after? That would be my best guess. Not being able to have dogs come to you though is very limiting.

[RyanAtTanagra]

I think honeybbq is talking about actual travel.  Want to visit San Diego?  Find someone that's going on vacation and needs a dog/house sitter for a week.  Would be a great way to cut down on vacation costs, but yea hard to make it a full time gig, unless you REALLY like traveling nonstop and watching other people's dogs while you do it.

[ckosh]

I did this on dogvacay for a couple months. I had thought  it would be the perfect fun way to make a little side income because I love dogs. I've had lots of dog experience with up to four of my own at a time and also being a  foster home for a dog rescue group. But I found it exhausting because it was all about dealing with the dogs in their first few days/week at a strange house when dogs are stressed and needing to be watched more closely. Even dogs that their owner said were perfectly housebroken in their own home went pee when introduced to the new environment. And there was one Akita who got along okay with my dog during the meet and greet, but was extremely aggressive toward the other two dogs I was watching. Not fun to keep them separated since hard to watch both at the same time. And worrying that the aggressive dog would hurt the other two.

[lizzzi]

I am keeping my neighbor's dog for the weekend--three overnights--while she is away. He is a sweet, medium sized dog who knows me and my dog. I thought I would try this as a way of dipping my toes into pet-sitting as a side gig. Some thoughts: The two dogs get along, but are not really "buddies" or interacting with each other. I feel like my dog's nose is a little out of joint having another dog in the house. I think this is just a little stressful for both dogs. And it seems like a lot of work--two bowls of food to fix (Visitor Dog has special food), two bags of poop to pick up (and Visitor Dog is pooping loosely), two dogs to make sure are leashed securely and to get down the steps for walks without breaking my neck--although both are pretty well-behaved. Have to remember to give Visitor Dog his allergy medication. Visitor Dog is a little, flat-face French bulldog, so snorts and snuffles loudly all night long. Not a good night's sleep for me to say the least. I don't really mind (it's not his fault), and after all--I did offer to pet-sit. I said I'd do it for free--as a neighborly thing to do--although the neighbor says she intends to pay me. We'll see how much she pushes--I'm not sure I should accept--feel kind of funny about it. I might accept...this is more work than I thought--not as easy as I expected--and I love dogs, was raised with multiple animals in the house, and looked forward to having an extra furry friend visiting us.

Definitely re-thinking doing pet sitting. Hmmmmm......perhaps it's not for me. We're having a decent weekend--I do like Visitor Dog-- but I can see clearly that there are issues I hadn't anticipated, and with a completely unknown client dog things could be more difficult.

[TravelerMSY]

For money? No. But I did get free use of a house in San Francisco for a month. It is a pretty good gig if you have a network of friends with pets in places you might want to visit.

[lizzzi]

 Just updating that neighbor did not try to pay me for keeping Visitor Dog. So that was fine-I was doing it for the experience and because I like her dog...wasn't trying to reap profits.  : D

[boyerbt]

Just updating that neighbor did not try to pay me for keeping Visitor Dog. So that was fine-I was doing it for the experience and because I like her dog...wasn't trying to reap profits.  : D

Did your dog and the visiting pup end up bonding and playing at all?

[lizzzi]

Yes, my dog and Visitor Dog did start playing together on the final afternoon. They both were very tired for the next couple days after the pet-sitting was done--my neighbor and I both thought that while the pet-sitting went well, it must have involved some stress on our dogs. Both of them are very used to socializing with other dogs, but are also very used to being the only dogs in their own homes.

[FI-in-no-time]

We hire a pet sitter when we go out of town.  She charges us $50 a day for two dogs and stays at our house which works out great.  Our Lab is 13 and has a very hard time with change.  The last time she was at the kennel she didn't eat the entire time so having someone we can count on to take care of her is a huge relief. 

While the dogsitter is at our house, she'll leave for a couple of hours throughout the day to walk/feed other dogs she takes care of.  I'm not sure how much she charges for this service, but I can tell you she is booked solid and not taking any additional customers.

Seems like it has good potential as a side hustle to me.

[nancyjnelson]

A couple of people have mentioned pet-sitting while traveling.

I am a full-time traveler (I started last September) and do occasional pet-sitting under trustedhousesitters.com.  I don't get paid but I stay free.  I started out by doing a couple of trial pet-sits in my local area (Wisconsin) before I sold my house in order to 1) see if I liked it, and 2) build up my official experience.  There are pet-sits I don't take: I don't do sick pets, I don't do large birds or farm animals (if you do, you can often demand payment), I don't take pet-sits that are for less than a week, I don't do more than three pets at a time (unless it's something like an aquarium full of goldfish).

So far I've pet-sit a week in a flat in Edinburgh and two weeks on a small estate in rural France.  From mid-April through late-September seem to be the busiest times in Europe.  I haven't had problems getting pet sits I've applied for, but I'm an older, single, female, non-smoking, retired USG employee - totally boring, which for some reason the homeowners seem to think is a positive. ;)

While this doesn't help bring in money, it does help in not spending it.  My biggest concern is finding longer-term pet-sits - I don't want to do two nights here or three nights there because I'd end up spending all my money on travel (and it would be exhausting). Currently I am hunkered down in Split to ride out the winter (70% off my airbnb because it's the off-season!) - I'll begin pet-sitting/traveling again in late April.  Pet-sitting seems to be most common in North America and Europe, but one can find offers in Latin America and the far-East also. 

[DadJokes]

My wife did this a lot before we were married. After we married and got a dog of our own, it generally meant that one of us had to stay home with our dog while the other was pet-sitting. I was okay to keep doing it, since it paid pretty well for not doing any additional work, but my wife wanted to stop, so we did. If I could go back, I wouldn't have gotten a dog (for many reasons), and we could still be doing it.

There was one couple who went out of town every weekend during the warmer months (~4 months per year) to stay on a houseboat and paid $100 for two nights to watch their two Westies. That job alone was amazing, even if the dogs weren't a pleasure to be around.

[fuzzy math]

As a few others have mentioned, you may want to sign up for Rover.com (which recently bought DogVacay.com, therefore increasing its size).

My wife and I both work from home and have 2 dogs of our own. We live in an area that has heavy tourist traffic in the summer, and we've had a lot of dogs stay with us. Rover.com does take 20% right off the top, but they provide insurance and handle all payments, and saves us the trouble of creating another business, building a website, and doing the marketing, so it's worth it to us. Save the headache but still make the side hustle money. We make a few hundred bucks a month and our own dogs meet playmates, so it has worked out nicely.

I know this topic is old but I have a Rover grump I need to share for anyone considering using it. They DO NOT offer insurance. They offer a "rover guarantee" which is shit, and I will never use them again.

I boarded my dog at someone's house while I was on vacation. She chewed up their rug while they weren't 100% supervising her. It had been a week and obviously both of them had grown comfortable. Anyhow, I got a message from the sitters and a pic of the rug. Rover does not offer insurance and they left us in a very bad position of having to negotiate amongst ourselves how to deal with the rug. I was not happy. I would not use a service that takes a huge fee but provides 0 protection for the owner or the sitter. I pay a fee so I don't have to deal with this shit myself.

[Candace]

A couple of people have mentioned pet-sitting while traveling.

I am a full-time traveler (I started last September) and do occasional pet-sitting under trustedhousesitters.com.  I don't get paid but I stay free.  I started out by doing a couple of trial pet-sits in my local area (Wisconsin) before I sold my house in order to 1) see if I liked it, and 2) build up my official experience.  There are pet-sits I don't take: I don't do sick pets, I don't do large birds or farm animals (if you do, you can often demand payment), I don't take pet-sits that are for less than a week, I don't do more than three pets at a time (unless it's something like an aquarium full of goldfish).

So far I've pet-sit a week in a flat in Edinburgh and two weeks on a small estate in rural France.  From mid-April through late-September seem to be the busiest times in Europe.  I haven't had problems getting pet sits I've applied for, but I'm an older, single, female, non-smoking, retired USG employee - totally boring, which for some reason the homeowners seem to think is a positive. ;)

While this doesn't help bring in money, it does help in not spending it.  My biggest concern is finding longer-term pet-sits - I don't want to do two nights here or three nights there because I'd end up spending all my money on travel (and it would be exhausting). Currently I am hunkered down in Split to ride out the winter (70% off my airbnb because it's the off-season!) - I'll begin pet-sitting/traveling again in late April.  Pet-sitting seems to be most common in North America and Europe, but one can find offers in Latin America and the far-East also.

My husband and I also use trustedhousesitters.com, both as pet/house sitters and as home/pet owners. It's not usually for people who are looking to get paid, but more for people who have time to travel around, want to cut hotel costs, and of course, love pets. We're about to do our first international sits -- several days in London looking after a low-maintenance and sweet dog, and a few days in Wales looking after cats. This will save us big bucks in hotel costs. The home in London is walking distance from the Underground, and the dog can be left for up to five hours at a time. Although it puts a little bit of a constraint on us, we like the tradeoff and can't wait for dog snuggles when we're "home" at night and in between sightseeing jaunts.

Things can go wrong, and sometimes they have, but I love pet sitting. There is always the chance of a pet having a medical emergency and/or of a house being unliveable. I know someone this happened to. She arranged with the homeowner for their pets to be taken care of by friends, and communicated with trustedhousesitters.com about the problem, complete with pictures that she also showed me. 

We've also had good results getting nice and reliable people to stay with our pets while we travel. The house sitters pay for their own travel, but the home owners don't pay them for house sitting. I'm sure there are exceptions for special situations.

Again, it's not a way to bring extra cash in, but it works to keep our own cash :-). I see the unpaid house sits as more for one-offs travelers going on vacation, and the paid pet sitting as more for people who have a regular need, and want the same pet sitter over and over. Whatever way we do it, it's great fun being with all the pets and loving them.

[mountain mustache]

I've been dog sitting through Rover, and through word of mouth for about 6 years. In my current town we are super tourist heavy, so I take care of a lot of dogs during river season and during ski season. I also have about 10 really good local clients who I can count on to go out of town 2-3 times a year. I've been with Rover so long that they only take 15% cut of fees, so it works out ok. I charge $40/night to stay at the dog's house, and $35/night for them to stay at my house. I don't do doggie daycare because I have a full time job, so overnight care with a few walks during the day is the most I can handle.

I pretty much always stay at the dog's house. It's way easier, in my opinion, because the dog is comfortable, still in their routine...I get to stay in (usually) a super nice house, the owners always tell me to eat their food, use the house as if it's my own. Also no risk of the dog ruining anything at my house. It's like a mini vacation, and I'm getting paid! It can sometimes be stressful with my job to make sure that I get over to the house at lunch time for a dog walk, but I have a really flexible schedule, so it works out. The really well behaved dogs come with me to work, too, which is always nice! I have some older retired clients who pay me way too much, and then some clients I've had forever that I charge less. I've definitely had a few stressful stays, especially the last few months with sick dogs, untrained puppies, etc...but that has just taught me to draw more boundaries. I say no to about 3-5 stays a week, so there is plenty of business to be choosy.

I'd say if you are just starting out, open a Rover profile, and be really specific...just do the services you are comfortable with. If you aren't ok with a 6 month old puppy tearing up your home, say "no puppies". I require every dog I watch to be crate trained...I don't like dogs sleeping loose in the house, or in my bed. So I just draw those boundaries up front. Owners are all really different and have different levels of structure for their dogs. Figure out what works for you and then take the clients that fit within those parameters.

[GettingClose]

My sister and I did this as very young kids - starting around 10-12 years old, I think.  We earned enough to fund our tickets for months-long family trip to Europe.  We also boarded cats and ponies. Some things we learned:
1) Always have the owners provide the food and written instructions
2) Only accept neutered/spayed animals.
3) Have every owner give you a signed agreement that you can take the animal to the vet (if possible, the animal's own vet, but any vet that's open in an emergency) and that they will be financially responsible.
4) For anxious animals, have the owner give you a dirty t-shirt, covered with their smell, for the animal to sleep with.  Works wonders.
5) You get many extra points if you bathe a dog or provide some basic obedience training during long stays.

If you love animals, it's really a lot of fun - I still remember many of our clients :-)

[boyerbt]

As a few others have mentioned, you may want to sign up for Rover.com (which recently bought DogVacay.com, therefore increasing its size).

My wife and I both work from home and have 2 dogs of our own. We live in an area that has heavy tourist traffic in the summer, and we've had a lot of dogs stay with us. Rover.com does take 20% right off the top, but they provide insurance and handle all payments, and saves us the trouble of creating another business, building a website, and doing the marketing, so it's worth it to us. Save the headache but still make the side hustle money. We make a few hundred bucks a month and our own dogs meet playmates, so it has worked out nicely.

I know this topic is old but I have a Rover grump I need to share for anyone considering using it. They DO NOT offer insurance. They offer a "rover guarantee" which is shit, and I will never use them again.

I boarded my dog at someone's house while I was on vacation. She chewed up their rug while they weren't 100% supervising her. It had been a week and obviously both of them had grown comfortable. Anyhow, I got a message from the sitters and a pic of the rug. Rover does not offer insurance and they left us in a very bad position of having to negotiate amongst ourselves how to deal with the rug. I was not happy. I would not use a service that takes a huge fee but provides 0 protection for the owner or the sitter. I pay a fee so I don't have to deal with this shit myself.

Hi @FuzzyMath this falls on the dog sitter and not the dog owner. We have been watching dogs via Rover since they purchased DogVacay a few years back and both sites/companies explicitly state that any damages caused by a dog is the responsibility of the sitter as you should be watching the dog. As a sitter it sucks when these things happen as we've had a French Bulldog pup chew up an area rug as well as another dog chew on the footrest of a chair but we didn't pass anything on to the owner as it was our fault.

Sorry to hear about the bad experience and I would encourage you to try again with a better rated sitter.

[tralfamadorian]

*snip*

Thanks for sharing your experience @mountain mustache ! I would love to start doing some pet sitting and dog walking in the future. Do you mind sharing your prices?

[JanetJackson]

I've been dog sitting through Rover, and through word of mouth for about 6 years. In my current town we are super tourist heavy, so I take care of a lot of dogs during river season and during ski season. I also have about 10 really good local clients who I can count on to go out of town 2-3 times a year. I've been with Rover so long that they only take 15% cut of fees, so it works out ok. I charge $40/night to stay at the dog's house, and $35/night for them to stay at my house. I don't do doggie daycare because I have a full time job, so overnight care with a few walks during the day is the most I can handle.

I pretty much always stay at the dog's house. It's way easier, in my opinion, because the dog is comfortable, still in their routine...I get to stay in (usually) a super nice house, the owners always tell me to eat their food, use the house as if it's my own. Also no risk of the dog ruining anything at my house. It's like a mini vacation, and I'm getting paid! It can sometimes be stressful with my job to make sure that I get over to the house at lunch time for a dog walk, but I have a really flexible schedule, so it works out. The really well behaved dogs come with me to work, too, which is always nice! I have some older retired clients who pay me way too much, and then some clients I've had forever that I charge less. I've definitely had a few stressful stays, especially the last few months with sick dogs, untrained puppies, etc...but that has just taught me to draw more boundaries. I say no to about 3-5 stays a week, so there is plenty of business to be choosy.

I'd say if you are just starting out, open a Rover profile, and be really specific...just do the services you are comfortable with. If you aren't ok with a 6 month old puppy tearing up your home, say "no puppies". I require every dog I watch to be crate trained...I don't like dogs sleeping loose in the house, or in my bed. So I just draw those boundaries up front. Owners are all really different and have different levels of structure for their dogs. Figure out what works for you and then take the clients that fit within those parameters.

Hi @mountain mustache!  May I ask how long you've used Rover?  I have an LLC but still use Rover for some clients who like it better and kind of as a first-touch marketing outreach and I've been on there since juuuust after they took over DogVacay (I think it was)- so around... I guess 2014-15?  I worked for a dog walking company prior to that.  But I'm curious how you get the 15% rate.  I swear I get more grey hairs every time I see the % that Rover takes and I wish I could have slid in at the 15% rate.  Just curious how you managed it!
Thanks! :)

[Cassie]

We pay 40/night for our sitter to stay overnight in our house.  Professional companies charge a lot more.

[boyerbt]

Hi @mountain mustache!  May I ask how long you've used Rover?  I have an LLC but still use Rover for some clients who like it better and kind of as a first-touch marketing outreach and I've been on there since juuuust after they took over DogVacay (I think it was)- so around... I guess 2014-15?  I worked for a dog walking company prior to that.  But I'm curious how you get the 15% rate.  I swear I get more grey hairs every time I see the % that Rover takes and I wish I could have slid in at the 15% rate.  Just curious how you managed it!
Thanks! :)

I can't speak for Mountain Mustache but we also only have 15% pulled from our rates and it is because of the start date with either company (Rover or DogVacay). We had been with DogVacay for about two years before the purchase and our percentages were grandfathered in with the new system.

[mountain mustache]

I've been dog sitting through Rover, and through word of mouth for about 6 years. In my current town we are super tourist heavy, so I take care of a lot of dogs during river season and during ski season. I also have about 10 really good local clients who I can count on to go out of town 2-3 times a year. I've been with Rover so long that they only take 15% cut of fees, so it works out ok. I charge $40/night to stay at the dog's house, and $35/night for them to stay at my house. I don't do doggie daycare because I have a full time job, so overnight care with a few walks during the day is the most I can handle.

I pretty much always stay at the dog's house. It's way easier, in my opinion, because the dog is comfortable, still in their routine...I get to stay in (usually) a super nice house, the owners always tell me to eat their food, use the house as if it's my own. Also no risk of the dog ruining anything at my house. It's like a mini vacation, and I'm getting paid! It can sometimes be stressful with my job to make sure that I get over to the house at lunch time for a dog walk, but I have a really flexible schedule, so it works out. The really well behaved dogs come with me to work, too, which is always nice! I have some older retired clients who pay me way too much, and then some clients I've had forever that I charge less. I've definitely had a few stressful stays, especially the last few months with sick dogs, untrained puppies, etc...but that has just taught me to draw more boundaries. I say no to about 3-5 stays a week, so there is plenty of business to be choosy.

I'd say if you are just starting out, open a Rover profile, and be really specific...just do the services you are comfortable with. If you aren't ok with a 6 month old puppy tearing up your home, say "no puppies". I require every dog I watch to be crate trained...I don't like dogs sleeping loose in the house, or in my bed. So I just draw those boundaries up front. Owners are all really different and have different levels of structure for their dogs. Figure out what works for you and then take the clients that fit within those parameters.

Hi @mountain mustache!  May I ask how long you've used Rover?  I have an LLC but still use Rover for some clients who like it better and kind of as a first-touch marketing outreach and I've been on there since juuuust after they took over DogVacay (I think it was)- so around... I guess 2014-15?  I worked for a dog walking company prior to that.  But I'm curious how you get the 15% rate.  I swear I get more grey hairs every time I see the % that Rover takes and I wish I could have slid in at the 15% rate.  Just curious how you managed it!
Thanks! :)

I honestly have no idea how I got the 15% rate, because I just looked and it looks like I opened Rover mid-2015. I didn't even realize there was a different rate until others started talking about it...I've just always had 15%, which hopefully is the case forever!