dogsitting..

[gardenmom5]

someone made a comment about how much dog sitting costs ..  . so, just how much does a dog sitting service cost?

and what does it cover?

 

I'm currently sitting my sil's dog. for free. walk, feed, bath, go to the pet store and buy something to clean his ears because that's why he stinks .. . . (he was really good as I massaged the drops in. the 2nd ear, that has some sort of canker/growth - he  really didn't like, - when I was done, he was shaking his head like mad and happy to get a treat.)

 

any information would be appreciated.

[bettyandbob]

A neighbor teen who walks and feeds the dog may get $10-20/visit over a weekend away, when owners leave dog at home. That might be 3-4 visits each day.

 

A regular afternoon walk 20-30 min, when owner is at work is in the $20 range.

 

Going to the store, grooming, that's not part of the service. The sitter needs to propose a rate for those activities and save receipts.

[mommyoffive]

Are you going to charge her or something? 

 

I see rates in my area for $40 a night.  Meaning the person comes over and takes the dog out and handles it.  I think if you are doing more than it is more $.

 

 

 

I dog sit for a neighbor for free.   She is a single mom and I think it helps her out. 

[MommyLiberty5013]

When my parents watch our dog, they do so for free. It is just something we do in our family. And, they "get paid" when DH and I take them to dinner or something in the future. But when they cannot watch her, we kennel her at our vet. She gets play times with other dogs there. It is $35 per night.

[Rebel Yell]

I'm not sure if you're asking about charging for a pet you already agreed to watch, or for future/other pets. If it's this current situation, I wouldn't suddenly ask for money, but I would expect to be reimbursed for any additional expenses

 

My girls pet sit a schnauzer in our home, and generally get $20/day

 

If they had to travel to take care of the dog in its home, minimum $30/day for one trip and an hour of walking/play, more if it was 30+mins travel, or several trips or a longer stay.

[Alice]

Around here it's about $50 a day. But we have family members who kindly do it for free. BIL stays here and does basically what we would do for her. Walk, feed, whatever

[Only me]

I'm also wondering this. We are thinking about asking son's teenage friend to take care of our 2 dogs while we are gone. They will be need to be let out in our fenced bag yard and pretty much right back in. Then he just has to make sure they have food and water. We will be home during the evening on the 2nd day so it would probably mean a total of 6 times he would have to let them out. I would probably ask him to get our mail too but no watering plants or anything else. We only live a few houses down from him. The hardest let would be letting them out early the 2nd day. I was thinking $20 a day but wasn't sure that would be enough. I can't imagine $50 but them again we have 2 dogs. He has let them out in the past but it's been a few years. He was younger then and $20 meant more.

Edited August 5, 2017 by Only me

[Sara in AZ]

We just got home from a three week road trip. A friend's 19 year old daughter stayed in our house while we were gone and took care of our 8 month old puppy for $25/day. It would have been $40 ish/day to kennel her.

[mamaraby]

I pay my pet sitter $12/visit so $24/day when we're out of town. She takes care of my cats and my Golden Retriever. She'll also water plants and bring in packages for no extra charge. Each visit also includes her taking the dog for a walk or otherwise providing him a bit of attention and exercise.

[Just Kate]

We have a lovely neighbor who has offered to watch my dogs for free (two dogs...let them out a few times per day and feed/water them). I've always paid her $25 per day though, which she says is too much (it's not!).

[hjffkj]

I am a pet sitter and charge as little as $13/visit. That is a 15 minute visit that includes feeding, checking on water, short walk to do business, litter changing, administering simple meds, a bit of play or cuddles, bringing in mail, watering a reasonable amount of plants. A 30 minute visit would be $15, an hour is $20.

 

Nail trimmings, baths, extra long walks, watering of entire gardens, picking up poop outside, administering more difficult meds like IV fluids, shots, or meds at very specific times is all extra determined on a case by case basis.

 

I'd never take an animal to the store with me but will happily pick up meds if needed. I tend not to charge extra if I have to take the to the vet in an emergency but do charge of they ask me to take them for a routine appointment.

[mytwomonkeys]

I just got home today & we had a dog sitter stay here. We paid her $25 a day and I filled the pantry with her favorite foods. She actually stayed the night here. We have one dog & two cats - no special needs. All I ask is that she clean the litter box and feed the animals. She can come & go during the day. We have a large fenced yard so they don't need walking & can go in & out as they please. She can watch TV, rent movies, have a friend spend the night with her, I don't care.

 

My sister lives in Atlanta and pays $75 a day for a dog sitter to stay there. She has three dogs on raw food diets.

 

I wish I could pay more, but this is what we can afford & our dog sitter (19) likes the freedom of staying here away from her parents house. I feel very grateful😊

[Mimm]

A friend of mine was going to pay over $500 for a professional to come feed and let her dogs in the yard 3 times a day for a week. Instead she paid $200 for a teenager to stay at her house, who ended up leaving the place kinda trashed.

 

My daughter dog sat for someone recently. Stayed there for two nights and got $75. Three small dogs. (I made sure she cleaned up after herself.) :) That was definitely cheaper than boarding the dogs and probably cheaper than a professional, and my daughter felt like it was an easy $75. She liked the dogs, and she hung out and watched TV and read books and ate the snack food they left for her.

[zoobie]

If you want to know the going rates in your area, there's a site called rover.com that will show you (bonded?) people's rates by zip code . Nextdoor.com (register by elementary school) is big in my area. You can look up pet sitters there and see. It's useful for other things too around here anyway. We found a great mechanic based on recommendations from it. :)

[Daria]

I'm about to drop my dog off at the kennel, where I'll pay $55 a night.

[AngieW in Texas]

My 21yo took care of two dogs belonging to the mother of a friend of the family while she was in the hospital. He paid her $75/day to drive out there 2x/day to feed/medicate/water the dogs and take them out to the bathroom. It was 30 minutes each way and she generally stayed out there with them for a full hour each time, so she spent 4 hours each day for that $75. Both dogs were elderly and generally did not do well at all with strangers, but they loved my dd (dogs nearly always do). One of them was really barky and growly right at first, but once my dd snapped the leash on her collar, she became very friendly and ended up sitting in her lap and giving her kisses. She also brushed out the Pyr really well and he loved that.

 

My two younger kids took care of a neighbor's three dachshunds (and sometimes her mom's two also). They were paid $25/week to go over there around lunchtime, take off the doggie diapers (the boys never ended up house-trained), take them outside to use the bathroom, play with them, feed them, and then put the doggie diapers back on before they left. They generally spent an hour over there. If she needed them to go over a second time, she would pay extra for that. Pretty much, she paid them $5/visit. They were just 13yo and 11yo when they started and she initially offered to pay them $20/day, but I told her that was way too much for an ongoing daily job. That's a good rate for a short vacation that happens maybe 1-2x/year. That's way too much for daily, especially since it ended up going on for 6 years. If she had paid them at the rate she initially offered, I am sure that it would have lasted only a few months before she found some other option. That would have been $600/month. There's no way she could have afforded that indefinitely.

 

Later on when she moved, she did have my middle dd (who was 19yo at the time) stay at her house for 1.5 weeks while she was on vacation. She paid her $30/day for that and asked my dd what kinds of foods she wanted so she could stock up the fridge and freezer for her. 

[gardenmom5]

thanks everyone.  I'm not charging her - I was just wondering how much is the going rate if she'd had to pay someone. 

 

I'm caring for the dog in my own home.   her first choice was unable (re: unwilling) to do so - so she called me.  pretty sure I''m giving better care than her first choice would have given him.

 

she'll be getting a boatload of information about his ears, and strong advice to take him to a vet to have them checked, when she returns tomorrow.  

 

nice to know that's the source of the smell . . . .

 

even dh admitted he was a nice/good dog. . . and for all dh's protestations to the contrary - he's not pet person.

 

eta: the dog has been in my home with her a number of times - so he's familiar here.  he does keep looking for her.

I dog sat for my grandmother's neighbor when I was a teen.  sorry to hear a teen trashed a house.  I had my grandmother whispering "clean the house" the entire time I was there - so even the neighbor recognized it was cleaner when they came home than when they left.  they were good dogs - big.  they'd rest their heads on the bed and stare at me until I woke up to take them out in the morning.  you'd can sleep very long with two big dogs staring hard at you.

Edited August 6, 2017 by gardenmom5

[matrips]

Our pet sitter charges $20 a day/night (basically 24 hour period) when we leave our dog at their house. Sometimes they have other dogs there as well. We've never had one come to our house.

 

Our old sitter charged $15 (high school student) for the same (sitting the dog at their house when we were out of town.)

[kewb]

My dog sitter stays overnight. Multiple walks during the day. $60 per night.

 

I dog sit and charge $20 for an hour. This includes a 20 minute walk, play time, and a meal if it is time to eat.

[Lizzie in Ma]

I have no idea, I am super blessed that I can take the new puppy to "Nanny Camp" when I need to.  It is on my way to work which is super helpful. Of course, she spoils/ruins him and the whole next day is relearning the behaviors we are teaching him. ;)

[Lady Marmalade]

DS takes care of two dogs across the street when the family goes away for a weekend here and there.  He makes $25 a day.  He goes over 4-5 times a day to let them out to potty.  Two of those trips he feeds them, but he has to stand there and watch the dogs eat, because the big dog will eat his food up fast and then try and steal the little dogs food. 

 

He also gives the house a look when he's there to make sure there haven't been any accidents. 

[Tap]

My 18yo does it for fun, so not a set fee.  We are in Washington where minimum wage is $11/hr and dd has a regular job and school too. She does it for fun, but it needs to at least pay enough to make it worth missing out on thing with friends for. (ie Turning down impromptu invites with friends due to an hour long commitment to someone else's dog).

 

She dog sat after school for a dog that was 5 minutes from the highschool and it was $15 for 45ish minutes. There were 3 dogs  (1 puppy) that she fed/watered picked up poo from. They stayed in the large laundry room during the day. She let them out, actively played with them for 30 minutes and gave them some outdoor time in they yard if they wanted it.  The purpose of her being there was to actually exercise the dogs so they didn't go ballistic when the owner came home at 10pm and wanted to go to bed.  This was before she had a regular job, so she was happy to have the extra cash even if it was just $30 week.

 

 

She does a  daytime visit for $15 or stays overnight for $20 to take care of her aunt's dogs/cats.  Basic feeding/cleaning up after them.  The aunt lives about 15 minutes away from us, so really $15 is pretty low considering the drive time but it is family so dd doesn't mind. Sometimes dd brings her dog to our house instead of staying at her house. 

 

 

She drives 30 minutes in to the city to take care of my friend's puppy. She charges $15 for an hour long visit and $15 for the drive. (it takes her 2 hours with driving).  The friend wants the puppy socialized and was thinking about paying for doggie daycare, so dd has started taking her boyfriend's young dog with her so they can play (she only takes the 2nd dog if the boyfriend can go too, incase there are any problems). She takes him for a walk and does basic feeding/ cleanup from the pup. 

[umsami]

For boarding our dog with a well regarding dog sitter, it's cost anywhere from $25-30/night.  I provide a bag of food as well.   You can check on rover.com to get an idea of the rates in your area.