Teresa in MO Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 One of my son's employees is going on vacation for 10 days and is needing someone to dog sit her 6 month old shih-tzu puppy. My son asked me if I was interested. She would bring the dog to my house. It is not fully housetrained. She offered to pay $150 for the 10 days. I felt this was too low and said I would do it for $250. Is that reasonable or is her price more in line with the norm? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 I just paid $30 per dog, per night, for housebroken animals. Now, that was to stay at my house, so more hassle for her, but still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 18 minutes ago, Teresa in MO said: One of my son's employees is going on vacation for 10 days and is needing someone to dog sit her 6 month old shih-tzu puppy. My son asked me if I was interested. She would bring the dog to my house. It is not fully housetrained. She offered to pay $150 for the 10 days. I felt this was too low and said I would do it for $250. Is that reasonable or is her price more in line with the norm? I wouldn’t even do it. Because I couldn’t handle a non house broken dog in my house. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 I just paid $15 per day for two cats, twice daily visits with medication administration for one of them twice a day. This is for a vet tech doing undergrad, hoping to go to vet school. She is awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storygirl Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 (edited) We just paid $25 per day to board our dog at the vet for a week. I paid my niece $125 to watch her for a week earlier this spring, but she wasn't charging me; I just gave her a gift card to be nice. I paid a teenager $10 per day to visit our cat once per day and feed her some wet food. We are giving her a little gift as a bonus, because she unexpectedly had to perform a goldfish flushing funeral. If you charge $250 for 10 days, I think it's a little steep. What about $200? That is $20 per day. Edited to add -- I think that for the amount of work that it takes to watch a dog 24/7 that $25 is not out of line, really. I am just suggesting that the person who owns the pet may think it is too much and balk. Edited June 12, 2019 by Storygirl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Bunny Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 I pay $25 for my incredibly easy to look after dog to stay overnight at a farm, where basically he’s their pet while we’re gone. More than the toilet training (and are they not trained by then?), is whether it’s going to cry at night. Is it crate trained. Is it going to chew your house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storygirl Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Okay, I missed the fact that he's not house trained. I might refuse. That is an incredible amount of unpredictable and sometimes unpleasant work. I would at least ask a lot more questions about the dog's routine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 I think it's one thing when it's a friend or even a close acquaintance, but this is more like a part-time job, like rover.com, for someone you don't even know. I've paid between $25-$30 per day for rover.com... However, they also take the dog on walks several times/day, play with him, send me text message updates, etc. Maybe if you're just going to keep him behind a puppy gate in your kitchen and make sure he's fed and safe, $20/day would be reasonable? But a puppy can be a lot of work whether you plan on it or not. And as someone else mentioned, will he keep you up at night crying? Will he be chewing everything and need constant surveillance? Exactly how much is he house trained? I suppose if it's a friend of my ds and I enjoyed dogs and had the time, I might do it for less as a way to help them out. But if you're truly doing it only as a part-time job to earn a little extra money, then I certainly think you could ask more than what she offered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 $250 would be very reasonable. In my area, my pet sitter boss charges $60-75 a day for boarding at her home, and gets it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 5 hours ago, arctic_bunny said: I pay $25 for my incredibly easy to look after dog to stay overnight at a farm, where basically he’s their pet while we’re gone. More than the toilet training (and are they not trained by then?), is whether it’s going to cry at night. Is it crate trained. Is it going to chew your house. It would be unusual for a six month old Shih Tzu or other small dog to be reliably house trained by six months, especially in a new environment. By one year is much more the norm. Teresa, I really think it depends on the COL in your area. Neither what she offered nor what you countered with seem unrealistic to me. I'd probably split the difference and say $200 if the puppy is content being in a crate. If not, I'd stick to $250 (at least). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 A non-house trained dog would be even more anxious in your home I would think, and may have even more accidents. $250 is beyond reasonable. We pay our neighbors $20/day to come twice per day, doesn't matter how many dogs.....we used to have 2, we now have 1. I have told them they are more than welcome to just come let them out in our fenced yard, go back home and have their breakfast, etc....and come back in 30-60 min . to let them in, feed them, and make sure they are ok, and the same at night, just let them out for a while when you have dinner, and make sure they are fed and watered. But my neighbors love my dog(s) and my immediate neighbor has told me when they come they stay a while! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 $250 seems way too low to me, given the fact that you are not only going to be caring for the dog, you are going to be cleaning up after it for ten whole days. I would expect to pay much more than that, and I don't live in a high COL area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Do you even have a space to keep the puppy so your floors are ok? I would not even consider it otherwise. Do you have a fenced in yard? Just throwing out some thoughts on how much work it will be. Do you have other pets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 $250 for an untrained dog seems low to me as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjffkj Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 (edited) As a person who owns a pet sitting business $250 for 10 days for a puppy is on the low side. I charge $30/night for the dog to stay at my house if it is house trained and $40 if it isn't. But since you don't own a business and have no overhead then I think $250 is reasonable. $150 would not be worth the hassle of having a dog that isn't house trained yet because they are a lot of extra work. Edited June 12, 2019 by hjffkj 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
May Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Unless it was a close friend, I wouldn’t dog sit a dog that isn’t potty trained. We pay $55 a day to board our 50lb dog. We do live in a high COLA though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjffkj Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 9 hours ago, TechWife said: I just paid $15 per day for two cats, twice daily visits with medication administration for one of them twice a day. This is for a vet tech doing undergrad, hoping to go to vet school. She is awesome! Wow that is an incredible price. Don't let go of that pet sitter. I charge $15 per visit for a job like that and that is actually cheap for my area. Most would charge $20/visit. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Bunny Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 3 hours ago, Pawz4me said: It would be unusual for a six month old Shih Tzu or other small dog to be reliably house trained by six months, especially in a new environment. By one year is much more the norm. Teresa, I really think it depends on the COL in your area. Neither what she offered nor what you countered with seem unrealistic to me. I'd probably split the difference and say $200 if the puppy is content being in a crate. If not, I'd stick to $250 (at least). Thanks, I wasn’t sure, but had an idea that smaller dogs would take longer. And our lab came to us at 8 months fully trained, so no clue! We still had the first night of whining in the crate, and I’m so glad *that* wasn’t long term! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Whether you live in a low or high cost of living area, don’t do the job for less than you are willing. If $250 is what you are comfortable with, that’s what you should charge. Too often I think we undervalue ourselves. 😊 8 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmasc Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, Pawz4me said: Teresa, I really think it depends on the COL in your area. Neither what she offered nor what you countered with seem unrealistic to me. I'd probably split the difference and say $200 if the puppy is content being in a crate. If not, I'd stick to $250 (at least). ^^^This is exactly what I was thinking. If this is not a friend (doesn’t sound like it is), then I’d go with $250. If it’s not a ‘I’m just wanting to help this person out situation’ then really, just charge what would make it worth it to you. Edited June 12, 2019 by mmasc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 3 hours ago, Pawz4me said: It would be unusual for a six month old Shih Tzu or other small dog to be reliably house trained by six months, especially in a new environment. By one year is much more the norm. Teresa, I really think it depends on the COL in your area. Neither what she offered nor what you countered with seem unrealistic to me. I'd probably split the difference and say $200 if the puppy is content being in a crate. If not, I'd stick to $250 (at least). This was our experience as well. We've only had large dogs until our present one (my dd's -- but he's with us a lot). He's a little fellow, and has really only recently become trustworthy in that area. He's just over 10 months old now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 1 minute ago, Rachel said: Whether you live in a low or high cost of living area, don’t do the job for less than you are willing. If $250 is what you are comfortable with, that’s what you should charge. Too often I think we undervalue ourselves. 😊 Yes I agree with this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 10 hours ago, TechWife said: I just paid $15 per day for two cats, twice daily visits with medication administration for one of them twice a day. This is for a vet tech doing undergrad, hoping to go to vet school. She is awesome! 35 minutes ago, hjffkj said: Wow that is an incredible price. Don't let go of that pet sitter. I charge $15 per visit for a job like that and that is actually cheap for my area. Most would charge $20/visit. Boarders here charge $19 per night. And you can’t pick up on Sunday evening, so that usually adds another day. I have had several young adult friends house and pet sit for $15 per day. We have a pool and I leave some food for him/her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 It really depends where you are. A professional boarder here is like $40+ a night depending on what you want. And they charge like $29 and up for just doggie daycare. I agree with don't undervalue yourself. I wouldn't charge as much perhaps as the professional boarding places that have private crates/rooms for overnight. But for a dog that isn't fully trained and has puppy tendencies, I wouldn't go much more than $10 a day lower. And if having a semi-trained dog in the house doesn't work for you, it's ok to say no too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 I pay 50/night for someone to stay at our house. Boarding is typically around 25/day for a small dog in a basic kennel. Can be a LOT more in a fancy place. I'd say "fair" is what it's worth to you. 25/day seems like the low end, and I'd not go cheaper than that unless you really like the person and want to do them a favor. For a stranger, unless you have some charitable reason for wanting to help . . . nope. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arctic Bunny Posted June 12, 2019 Share Posted June 12, 2019 Also, what if word gets around that you are super cheap, or she goes out of town often? 😳 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 ds 15 gets between $15-20 per day depending what he needs to do. The 3 dogs are at the neighbour's house. He goes over 2 times a day, put rugs on them at night and takes them off in the morning, feeds them, makes sure they have water and throws sticks for them to run after for 10 minutes. He gets more when he needs to throw hay for the horses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 We are paying $200 for 7 days for our neighbor's ds to watch our two dogs in our home. It was $20-30 per night per dog to kennel them or hire a pet sitting service. I do not think you are being unreasonable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 Can I slightly derail this? Is anyone else surprised by the number of people IRL who ask for pet or childcare for really low prices? The latest IRL is a woman who wants 40 hours of childcare a week, and will only pay $400/month. (We are in a HCOL area and with a huge childcare shortage, so that is the average weekly price at the going rate. Even the subsidized “camps for kids” are just slightly under that. How do you politely respond to such a bold request? Especially when it comes with a plea for charity (ie—don’t know what we are going to do/this is all we can pay...) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 (edited) 12 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said: Can I slightly derail this? Is anyone else surprised by the number of people IRL who ask for pet or childcare for really low prices? The latest IRL is a woman who wants 40 hours of childcare a week, and will only pay $400/month. (We are in a HCOL area and with a huge childcare shortage, so that is the average weekly price at the going rate. Even the subsidized “camps for kids” are just slightly under that. How do you politely respond to such a bold request? Especially when it comes with a plea for charity (ie—don’t know what we are going to do/this is all we can pay...) I am not surprised. Especially for childcare. Which is a need if you can't do it yourself (working, especially if single so there is no other parent to switch hours with/pick up the economic burden), but also can be a significant chunk of the check. "no" is still polite. Edited June 13, 2019 by vonfirmath 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted June 14, 2019 Share Posted June 14, 2019 13 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said: How do you politely respond to such a bold request? Especially when it comes with a plea for charity (ie—don’t know what we are going to do/this is all we can pay...) I finally decided that if they have the cojones to ask, I can certainly summon up the cajones to decline. If it's money-related, I just usually reference the obvious fact that I have bills to pay also, and that requires a certain amount of money coming in. I usually find that the boldest of the bold are rarely actually short of money, they just really don't want to spend it on childcare or tutoring or whatever service they think they can bargain down. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted June 14, 2019 Share Posted June 14, 2019 I need to work on just saying no to things that I don’t want to do without feeling guilty about it (even if I am available). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted June 15, 2019 Share Posted June 15, 2019 Our 17 year old pet sits in our neighborhood frequently. She is typically paid around $20 day — and these are adult, housebroken pets. I would imagine puppies would be quite a bit more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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