Love Animals? Make Money Playing with Them!

As a dog sitter or dog walker, you will earn money for feeding, playing with, walking, brushing, and caring for cute critters.
The amount of money you can make greatly depends on how much time you have, and how mobile you can be. Depending on the client’s needs you could spend as little as half an hour with their furry companion, or in some instances you might spend half a day looking after their precious pooch.

You might be wondering what kind of people actually hire others to take care of their pets. The answer is surprisingly around 50-60 million households in the U.S, and rising. Contributing to this need is the frequency with which some jobs require travel, leaving pets at home alone for days.

I shouldn’t even really have to say it, but if you can’t deal with picking up dog poop or scooping out litter boxes, don’t even think about this job. That’s definitely an aspect of it. People want their houses and pets staying cleanly, and parks require you to pick up after your pup.

That’s pretty much the worst of it!
As a dog sitter you would spend time in another person’s home doing any array of things from brushing and playing to feeding and bathing, and in some cases giving them medicine, for whatever amount of time you set or the customer requests.  The client may have other specifications.

As a dog walker you might assume some of the responsibilities of a sitter, but the time required is typically shorter. You will probably take them to a dog park (or public park, but make sure dogs are allowed), and give them some well needed exercise. You may be asked to brush them out after, or leave them food when you go.

As far as hours and pay go, it’s up to how much you want to make and how much the client is willing to pay. Obviously any experience in the field of caring for dogs is a great bonus, which you may be able to charge more for. It also depends on the market; during the summer many families are gone and prefer their animals be taken care of in the home than forced to stay in a kennel. Check craigslist in your area to get an idea of what people charge for similar services. To make things easy you may want to set a specific price for half and one hour increments, maybe with discounts for people who hire your services for more than a number of days a month.

As with anything else you will have to take into account your transportation when finding work. If you drive yourself make sure you’re alright with having animals in the car, and if someone else gives you ride make especially sure they’re cool with it.

If this sounds like a field you’d like to pursue, use the tips on the rest of this site to build your very own pet friendly biz!