How much should I be paid to dogsit?

Question

Its an adorable poodle, I have to bush him, clean him, play with him, walk him and keep him at my house for a little over 2 weeks. I'm not pet sitting for a friend (that I'd do for free) but for the people I babysit for. They're going on vacation and cant take the do. So how much should I tell them to pay me? I dont want to over charge them, and I dont want to get ripped off either.

Answer 1

I pay $20 per day for my friend to sit for my dogs..I tip 10% if she does a great job..keeps bowls clean, and keeps a journal for each day....The dog day care/boarding kennel where i work, charges $18 per day....(24 hour day) , and $14 per day for day care.

Answer 2

Well, I have a friend that does pet sitting at people's houses and she charges $20/day. But that may be for multiple pets, and she sleeps at their house and takes care of their plants, etc. My daughter (11 years old) was paid $5/day for watching a neighbor's cat. She would go over to their house once a day and feed the cat, play with it, and clean its box.

So maybe you should start off by charging $10 per day. This is much much cheaper than if they were to put the dog in a boarding facility where it would be basically ignored all day and subjected to illnesses from other dogs (which they'd then have a vet bill as well if their dog got sick). I'm sure they'd be willing to pay that considering their dog is with someone they know and trust, which will make them feel a lot better.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Dogs to people are like children to some. Charge them the same rate you would if you were going to babysit their kids. I mean, some people love their PETS more then they love their children.
So, asking the same price (plus a little more for keeping him overnight, each night for two weeks) is not so much in asking. Think about it: If they ask you to stay overnight to babysit and they came back in the morning, how much would you charge them (or, if already done this, how much did they pay you?).
You then figure out the fact on how much that would cost times 2 weeks.
Well, good luck. I hope you get your money's worth.

Answer 4

I paid the professional dog-sitter $7 a day to come by while I was on vacation and make sure the animals were fed/watered. I paid $25/day for my dog to be boarded at a professional kennel-operation. This was a RITZY dog-resort, as they got to play with lots of other dogs in a big fenced in area, were bathed, and had homemade barbecued treaties. This doesn't answer your question, but it gives you an idea of the low-high range for "pet sitting" services. I'd say you fall closer to the $25/day category, but not 100%, as you don't have the overhead a regular kennel would have (insurance, facilities, staff, etc.)

Answer 5

2 weeks is a long time to take on 24/7 responsibility.
I think $50 is very generous on your part...that's only $25 a week or like $3.50 a day (which compared to kennel rates is a heck of a deal for them!) Plus you have to clean up after it and take it out whenever it needs to...you are on-call the whole time.
Even $100 would be less than a kennel for 2 weeks...so don't feel too bad about asking for what you think you deserve.
See what they offer, it may be more than you were expecting.
Good Luck

Answer 6

Most professional animal sitting services charge anywhere from $25 to $35 per day. Since you are their babysitters, I would think that a reasonable amount would be substantially less than that. Ten dollars per day if they supplied the food for the dog to consume while they are away and fifteen dollars per day if you are supplying these needs. If he is difficult to deal with, and needs to be disciplined or has other problems you have to deal with; stay on the $15 per day amount. He sounds like a sweetie, and you sound like a very caring and responsible person. Have fun with your dog sitting responsibilities. Have a good night!!

Answer 7

Tough question, especially since they are the people you babysit foralso. Is he housebroken? Well behaved? Alot of trouble to keep up with? I can't tell you what to charge but if I wanted someone to watch my Pomeranian for 2 weeks I would be willing to pay them $75.00. Since you are keeping him at your house and not having to go back and forth you might want to keep that in mind. Or, you could just ask them what they think is fair and work from there.

Answer 8

My pet sitter charges $16/day. However, he is a licensed professional with insurance, etc. A few years ago, I had my sister-in-law who was 18 at the time, stay at my house to babysit my cat for two weeks and I paid her $150.

Hope that helps!

Answer 9

Find out what local boarding kennels charge - call them - (they usually charge by weight). Since you're not an established boarding kennel, deduct 10% - 20% off the average prices you are quoted. This would be fair to the folks you're babysitting for.

Answer 10

A kennel would probably charge at least $10 to 15 a day so I would ask for at least that.

You could call some kennels in the area to check what their daily rate is if you think that is too high or too low for the area in which you live.

Answer 11

Since I am a pet sitter.... If I keep a client's pet at my house, I charge $30.00 per day. It's more than a kennel, but kenne's don't give an individual dog the amount of time, care and love that you will be giving. Hope that helps.