Anyone ever work as a dog walker or pet sitter?

[Chris in VA]

Yeah, I'm still looking for a different job. Craigslist has tons of pet sitter/dog walker jobs--several look pretty good! 16-20 bucks an hour, 3 hour windows, 5 mile radius right here in my town. Seems ok--anyone ever done it?

[StaceyinLA]

at different times of the year, and ds has a regular job letting out my sister's dogs right down the street each evening (they often play golf after work and he goes to let them out so they don't have to worry about coming home late).

 

I haven't ever done the dog walking thing. Right now we live in the "sticks" so most of the dogs have HUGE yards.

 

Pet sitting is fine - ds usually makes $15-20/day depending on the animals and he goes two-three times day for 10-20 minutes. All of the people he "sits" for are on our street.

[Remudamom]

I haven't, but some friends had a business once called "Other Mother", that house sat but without staying the night in the house. They gathered mail, walked/fed pets, watered plants, turned lights on and off. I think it worked pretty well for them.

[plansrme]

A huge neighborhood I used to live in had a "Pet Lady," who would check on our dogs 2-3 times a day while we were on vacation. She stayed plenty busy in our neighborhood alone. She got the word out by advertising in our n'hood newsletter and by serving as a free repository for information about lost and found dogs in our neighborhood.

 

She was pricey but cheaper and more convenient than boarding, especially if you have more than one dog. It was a great service, and I wish we had someone like that in our current neighborhood. I don't like having to negotiate with and rely on other people's teenaged kids.

 

Terri