Pet Sitter, Dog Walker - Earn Some Extra Money by Helping Dogs

Pet sitting, dog sitting.

If you want to work with dogs, the easiest job to start with, is pet sitting. Rates range from about $10-$20 per visit, and about $40-$70 for overnight stays. Rates vary depending on your experience, and your location.

Some simple tips on getting started with pet sitting:

• Get to know the dog owners around your neighborhood, and offer to care for their dogs while they are away during the day or during vacations. Chances are, some of them will be interested in your service, and will be more likely to hire you, because they know you.
• Visit the local dog park, with your striking but well-behaved dog, and you are sure to draw some attention.
• Bring your dog to playgroups at a nearby SPCA, dog daycare center or dog obedience training school. This helps you make friends with the local dog owner community.
• Put up street fliers around your neighborhood, especially in vet offices, animal shelters, pet stores, and other pet related businesses. This is a simple and low cost way of advertising your service.
• Start an online site, and register with local pet sitting directories to get more customers.

Make sure you come up with a contract for your clients to sign, so that you are protected from any personal liability.

Once you start growing your pet sitting services, consider getting bonded and insured. This will further protect you from liability when unexpected situations occur, e.g. a dog runs away, a dog fight occurs, or a dog bites a person.

Val also makes a great suggestion in the comments section.

I always make sure to write the times I visited, and what I did on a piece of paper. At the end I put concerns, questions and comments. That record is what really makes them happy, because they know what is going on when they are gone.

I definitely agree with Val. When I bring my dogs to daycare, I always talk to the staff afterward to see how they did. Having a report would be even better. It is a great add-on to the service, and shows that you really care about the dogs under your care.

To expand your business, it makes sense to start a website and join professional pet sitter associations, such as the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters (NAPPS). The NAPPS has a certification program that will help enhance your resume. By being a member, you will be included in the search facilities on their website, which can help improve your visibility.

Also consider joining the local pet sitter associations near you.

Dog walking.

Once you have some regular pet-sitting customers, you may also consider walking their dogs. Make sure you are comfortable walking single, and double dogs around the neighborhood.

Visit and interview the dogs first before agreeing to walk them. Expand your pet sitter contract to protect yourself from any added liability from dog walking.

Neighborhood dog walking fees, for single dogs, can range anywhere from $10-$40 depending on your experience, the duration of the walk, and your location. Neighborhood walks can be from 30 minutes to an hour. You can usually tack on an additional 50%-75% of your current rate to walk an additional dog.

Some equipment you may need include poop bags, and some good 6 foot leashes. Leather leashes are nice because they give you good control over the dog, and are easy on your hands.

Start with easier to handle dogs as clients. This will start you off on a positive note, and help build up your references. Once you gain more experience you can try tackling the tougher dogs.

It may also help to take a dog training certification course, which will help to enhance your resume, prepare you to walk a larger variety of dogs, and help you handle problem situations that may arise during the walk.

Once you are comfortable with neighborhood walks, you can consider extending your service to include off-leash group walks at a nearby park.

To do this well, however, you must be comfortable with walking a pack of dogs off-leash. Some cities will also require that you have a license if you want to walk more than a certain number (usually three) dogs. You will also need a station wagon to transport all of the dogs to the park.

Remember to bring along some water bowls so that you can water the dogs before and after the walk.

First start with a small number of dogs (two or three) to build up your off-leash skills. Then you can slowly increase that number. It is usually difficult to manage more than 6-8 dogs at once.

Off-leash walks usually range from $20-$25, per dog, and takes up to about 2-3 hours total time, including transportation time.

Dog daycare or dog boarding.

Another common service offered by pet sitters is dog daycare or dog boarding. Rates for dog daycare range from $25-$35 per day, and night boarding range from $40-$60.

Decide what your house rules should be, e.g. only housebroken dogs, only crate trained dogs, only non-aggressive dogs. Make sure your clients understand the house rules, and only accept dogs that you think will succeed.

Rejecting dogs afterwards, may create bad karma with your clients. This my spread around the neighborhood and hurt your pet sitting business.

Note that you may be competing with larger daycare centers, so make sure you list the advantages of boarding with your smaller, more personal, "bed and breakfast". You may also want to provide pet taxi services which usually cost $20-$30 one way, and $30-$40 round-trip.

Most cities require a business license for this, but many pet sitters offer this service even though they do not have a business license for their home. As long as you are on good terms with your neighbors, and nobody complains, there are usually no problems.

However, this means you must keep the noise level low, pick up dog poop, and make sure that your house and yard are clean.

Not having a business license, may also put you at risk if accidents occur while client dogs are in your premises.

Dog grooming and dog training.

Once you are comfortable with your dog boarding service, consider adding dog grooming or dog training services.

Since the dogs will be staying with you all day, it is convenient to add in some dog grooming or dog obedience training.

Before doing this, make sure you have the skills needed for these jobs. If you make your clients unhappy, you will not only lose their business, but you may also lose the business of their friends and neighbors.

Get a dog grooming or dog training certification, then start by volunteering your services at a nearby SPCA or shelter to gain some experience. This will also look good on your resume. Collect pictures of the dogs you have groomed or trained, and build an online record of your experience.

Once you gain some hands-on experience, you can start offering these services to your clients.

Note that the rate estimates provided here are in US dollars and are based on pet sitting services in the United States only.

Initially, set lower rates, so that you can easily entice some clients, and build up your reference list and resume. Make sure to check what other pet sitters are charging in your area, and use that as a yardstick for your own rates.

Just go to the NAPPS search facility, enter your city or zip-code, and find out who your competition is.

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