How much to pay dog sitter?

[Lisa71]

Our local pets sitters are 18/visit for 30 minutes..we pay our pet sitter (friend and college student who has watched or kids for dates for 5 years) 30 a day and she stays at our house.

 

[mousestruck]

I pay my local dog sitter $30/day to watch our small dog at her home. She is very loving and watches several small dogs at a time. I believe she charges $40/day for 2 dogs. Boarding may be a little more in our area, but I much prefer this arrangement. I know my little guy is happy and spoiled!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

When it comes to our neighbors we usually give each other a gift card for a nice dinner out if we watch the dogs for longer than just a weekend. And by watching the dogs stay at their own house and someone comes couple times per day to let them in/out of fenced backyard. If it's only a weekend usually a candle or something as a gesture.

When we do our long Disney trips we do to want to ask them to watch ours that long so we do a neighborhood teen/tween and about $150 for 10 nights I'd say. That's to pop in twice a day to feed and let them in/out of backyard.

 

[sydneysmom]

Agree with PP, you give them a heck of a deal on child care, hopefully they don't expect the going rate for dog sitting. When we hire a professional, it's about $30 a day for two dogs, two visits a day.

When BIL does it, we buy him a case of beer and return the favor when he's out of town.

Maybe pay them $50-$75 or a gift card to a nice restaurant for their help?

This is exactly what we pay for our dog sitter... we have 2 basset hounds and 1 dachschund and she asks $ 15.00 per visit (30 min visit) and we do 2 visits a day, so $30 / day for all 3 dogs. She's awesome too. But she feeds them each visit and plays with them.

 

[beachbunny]

We just boarded our dog for eight nights at a local kennel. We brought our own food. Cost was $324.

 

[dpswift]

DD has been dog sitting for friends families. One family gave her a $50 gift that they knew she wanted. The other paid her $300 plus room and board for 3 dogs. I thought that it was too much until I did a dog boarding cost assessment.

 

[sydney dog]

We pay our petsitter 50/day. She comes twice a day and we have 3 cats and 3 dogs.

 

[eliza61]

Oops wrong thread. Lol

 

[akaler2010]

We pay around $30/night for our 2 dogs (also labs). It depends on time what we are leaving during the day and when we return at night. We also live in an area where that is the norm. Generally if you use a dog watching service, you are going to pay more. We have just hired college students (a perk of working at a University), and generally some $$ and a well stocked fridge are good enough for them.

 

[puffkin]

I don't know where you live, but I just wanted to comment that in my area, your price for daycare for before/after care seems pretty standard. I pay $45/week for my second grader to go to a nearby church. The bus gets him drops him off there. They limit it to 12 hours/week but they aren't horribly strict on that.

I looked into pet sitters in our area (that come to the house) and most are in the $15/visit range. I know we pay our neighbor kid $10/day to come over and feed my 2 cats and scoop their boxes once a day. He also brings in the mail. For 10 mins work, I think it is a fair wage and he always jumps at the opportunity to do it so I think it is the right price. We are fortunate that for trips longer than a day, my parents will watch our dog for free. IF we need him to stop by and the dog is home (like if we run to NYC for a day) we pay still pay him $10, since he is not doing the cat boxes then.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

We pay $15 a day to board our small dog with our vet. I would say pet sitting was worth about that per dog. I think trading daycare services would be a good idea in your case.

That is pretty cheap. Does the dog get walked? Are they able to go potty outside of their kennel?

 

[scottmel]

I pay the neighbor 35 a night to have my dog stay with their dog. Another neighbor pays my DD 25 a day for what amounts to 4 visits a day . We love walking though so we take the dog with us constantly when we babysit her.

If your dog is being well taken care of, don't spinch. Dogs are members of the family and if they are taking that good of care I would easily pay 25 a day.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Could you do a trade? Offer 2 free weeks of the morning/afterschool care (given the fact that they are coming three times a day for a week, I think two weeks is reasonable).

I like this idea a lot.


FYI, we pay $17 per day to board our dog, they provide the food.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

it's time to raise your child care rates. As you can see folks get more money for dogsitting.

Seriously with as little as they pay the OP I think a few bucks a day is plenty.

But I bet they want the $20 going rate.

I pay $20 a night for in house boarding with a man my dog just adores!

 

[kinntj]

You are underpaid by a lot. We're paying an 11 year old girl neighbor $15 per visit to come check on the cats (2) and scoop litter every 2-3 days. We'll be gone 12 days. I think she'll love making that money.

 

[pfp258]

I am a little sad to hear of people being gone for ten nights and having their dogs let out twice a day. We have a niece that will be here in our home for the 15 nights we'll be Disney. She will receive $450 in cash plus a $50 gas card, $50 Whole Foods card, $50 chipotle gift card and a $50 Office Depot card. Loving our dog and cat as we do is important to us and we feel this is fair pay.

 

[andigomeep]

We pay $20 a day per dog (2) to board with their trainer. He lets them out multiple times a day and we even get some 'free' training sessions in because he often uses them when he's training other dogs while they're there which is a real bonus for us. They are 'difficult' dogs so I feel this is a steal of a price. We also pay $20 a day for twice daily visits for our cats. So we average about $450 for a week.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I am a little sad to hear of people being gone for ten nights and having their dogs let out twice a day. We have a niece that will be here in our home for the 15 nights we'll be Disney. She will receive $450 in cash plus a $50 gas card, $50 Whole Foods card, $50 chipotle gift card and a $50 Office Depot card. Loving our dog and cat as we do is important to us and we feel this is fair pay.

Meh, our dog only goes out 2-3 times a day when we're home. This Winter, she refused to pee for almost 2 days when it was super cold

 

[sk!mom]

DD17 has pet sat frequently over the past few years. She gets $25 per day.

In your situation, I wouldn't pay more than $50 since if they think that is enough for a week's childcare it certainly should be enough for pet care unless you watch their child for a very short time each day- like an hour total. How long do you watch their child each day?

In my opinion, you should be getting at least $10 per hour for childcare and should pay at least that amount for pet sitting.

 

[mjkacmom]

Meh, our dog only goes out 2-3 times a day when we're home. This Winter, she refused to pee for almost 2 days when it was super cold

I think the lack of human interaction is what she was referring to. My dog goes out about every hour, but can hold it forever (rough winter here too!). She gets depressed if even one of the kids is gone for a couple of days.