Dog sitter pay: How Much do Dog Sitting Jobs Pay in 2024?

Introduction

Dog sitter pay usually not enough to live on. As of today, June 4, 2024, Indeed.com lists the average hourly pay for a pet sitter as $13.57/hr in Arkansas; Ziprecruiter lists an average rate of $12.41/hr; Glassdoor lists several rates but they are also in the range of $13/hr. At an average rate of $13/hr, annual compensation equates to approximately $27,000 based on full time hours. Which is not a lot of money. This is why I recommend building your own dog sitting side hustle or business. While you certainly may be able to scrimp by on $27,000 a year especially in Arkansas where I live, that is not a lot of money in today’s economy and in particular with inflation, which is why I recommend the following:

Recommendations for dog sitters

1. Get signed up on one or more of the dog sitting apps. I use Rover; Wag is also good especially for dog walking if you are in a higher population density area. If you live in an apartment this will be tough so if possible, having a house in a relatively ok neighborhood is preferred since clients are not going to want to leave their dogs in rundown neighborhoods.

2. Get a job at a local kennel for additional experience and compensation as you continue to build you own dog sitting business. When you feel you are ready to move on to being strictly self employed, while you should certainly never “steal” clients from your employer, there is also nothing wrong with mentioning to key clients that you have a relationship with at your employer that you are moving on to your own dog sitting business and where they can find you.

3. Build a social media presence whether through a website, instagram, Facebook (if that’s a thing people are still using), and Youtube. While this may not be large source of income, it is very doable to monetize a small Youtube channel or website with fun dog content documenting your dig sitting adventures.

4. When you have a few thousand saved, reinvest that money into customizing your house to optimize the set up for dog sitting whether that means getting rid of carpets, replacing furniture with dog friendly furniture, building dog friendly play areas in the yard, and fencing to split the yard into a few sections to manage multiple playgroups at the same time. Consult your tax professional on what is and is not deductible related to these improvements.

Conclusion

Dog sitting as a side hustle or full time can be a fun and rewarding experience but either way will be a lot of work, a lot of late nights and early mornings handling pickups and drop offs, and dogs whining so you should be compensated as much as possible which is easiest to do if you are self employed. Currently in Arkansas where I live, I charge $35/day per dog. I frequently sit at around 5 dogs per day and that numbers generally doubles during holiday weeks when I charge $45/day per dog. Of course, dog sitting is seasonal and the 5 dogs a day isn’t constant but assuming 5 dogs per day at the regular rate of $35/day, annual compensation equates to $63,875 less Rover fees of 20% for net pre tax income of $51,100. Holiday pricing, tips, ebbs and flows in booking requests have a dramatic impact on total compensation but in the range of $50K is what I expect to make in 2024 for dog sitting and this is still a side hustle for me and more than most Kennel workers will make in this area working a full time job.

To see how much I made dog sitting on Rover.com in 2023, click here.