How Much Does a Dog Sitter Make?

Providing pet care is no longer just a hobby. In fact, being a dog sitter can be a surprisingly profitable endeavor, especially if you work often and have satisfied customers who leave you gushing online reviews.

Of course, earnings vary from one dog sitter to another, and they’ll depend on a few key factors: your set rate, the type of care you provide, where you live, and the service you use to get bookings.

Your personal rate — what you can reasonably charge for your services — will come down to factors such as the amount of experience you have, your certifications, your referrals, and the local average price of pet sitters. You can also usually charge more on and around holidays, when people are willing to pay more thanks to there being fewer sitters available and because you’re taking time away from your own special plans.
The types of services you provide may include dog walking, drop-in dog and cat sitter services, overnight visits at your client’s home, overnight boarding at your own home, doggy daycare, grooming services, or obedience training. You may set different fees for each. Similarly, you may want to consider charging more to care for pets that often need more of your time and energy than others, such as puppies, large dog breeds like pitbulls, senior pets, or dogs with special needs.
Where you live plays an important role in how much you’ll make as a dog sitter. If there are a lot of other sitters in your area for customers to choose from, you’ll need to set a competitive price so you don’t get skipped over in favor of someone cheaper. If you live in a rural area where a lot of travel time is required to get to your clients’ homes, you can reflect this in your rate. Finally, if you’re in an area with a high cost of living, you’ll be able to charge more than you would somewhere with a lower cost of living.
Working with a service like Rover or Care is a great way to book clients and stay in touch with them while you’re pet sitting, but there are service fees for using them. Rover charges between 15 and 25 percent of your booking fee (depending on when you started working with the company) and Care charges $13 to $39 per month for a premium membership (which is recommended for sitters who want to build a steady business, since it’s difficult to communicate with potential customers using the site’s free membership option).

With all of these considerations, these prices reflect how much dog sitters make on average.