Imagine a job where you get paid to play and romp with God’s littlest creatures every day, spend time outside in the park, and set your own work pace depending on your personal goals and needs—and do it all with minimal overhead and expenses. Those are some of the benefits of a career as a pet sitter or dog walker.
But despite the fact that you get to play with friendly little animals as part of your job, being a pet sitter or walker isn’t just a stroll in the park. Experienced sitters/walkers will tell you that the pace can be frenetic, and a lot of stamina is necessary to keep up with the requirements of the job. Depending on the number of regular clients you have, you could find yourself working a shift that far exceeds eight hours, which is why some pet sitters find themselves hiring part-time help relatively soon after establishing the business. But of course, the more work you have, the more successful your business will be.
Earnings Potential
So how much can you earn? Pet sitter Jerry Wentz of Raleigh, North Carolina, says it really depends on where you’re doing business and how many visits you physically can make in a day. “You can make this business whatever you want it to be and earn as much as you want,” says Wentz, who in addition to running his pet-sitting company serves as president of the board of directors of the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters (NAPPS). “I know many people who have no other means of support for their family other than a pet-sitting business, but you have to make sure you start your business in a place where there’s a good demand for the business. If you do that, it’s possible to make a good living.”
Content Continues Below
Someone who provides day dog-walking services in New York City, for example, can easily charge $25 a walk, while in a small town, you may only be able to charge $10 per visit—and some clients may balk at that. Add on some part-time staffers, and your earning potential rises quickly.
Incidentally, it’s customary to charge an additional $1 to $3 for each extra animal in the same household, which of course would improve your bottom line. For instance, a sitter who charges $18 a visit for one pet would charge $19 to $21 for a two-pet household, $20 to $24 for a three-pet household, and so on. And we’re also talking cross-species pet sitting here—one dog and two cats, for instance, would be a three-pet-household visit.
A Day in the Life
As a pet sitter or dog walker, the lion’s share of your business workday will of course be taken up with animal care you’ll provide in your clients’ homes. The number of times you’ll visit a home in a single day will depend on the type of animal you’re servicing. For instance, cats usually require one to two visits a day, while dogs will need two to four visits, and of course, each of these visits incurs an additional charge. The average visit is about 20 to 25 minutes.
Although many pet sitters specialize in the care of just one or two types of pets, like cats and dogs, some provide basic care for a wider range of animals, including birds, cats, fish, reptiles and other small animals like ferrets. Some pet sitters even specialize in the care of farm animals like horses.
Among the things pet sitters typically will do during a home visit are:
- Play with and walk pets
- Feed pets and provide fresh water
- Scoop and/or change cat litter
- Give medication and/or injections (like insulin shots and fluid therapy)
- Lavish love and attention on pets
In addition, pet sitters often provide additional services that have less to do with the pets themselves and more to do with the pet’s environment. Some of these services may include collecting mail, packages and newspapers, checking the exterior of the home to make sure all is secure, setting the alarm system properly, and watering plants. Finally, pet sitters may offer pet taxi services (usually to and from the vet), vacation house sitting (i.e., actually living in the house with the pets while the owners are away overnight), and pet-waste removal.
People who specialize in dog walking usually provide general care like exercising, walking and playing with pets, and checking food and water levels. Dog walkers normally don’t administer medication or do any of the specialized jobs a pet sitter may take on because they’re usually in and out of clients’ homes so quickly. But as a courtesy they make sure all is well in clients’ homes. For example, if a pet knocked over a potted plant the dog walker would sweep up the mess so the pooch in his or her care wouldn’t get hurt.
Pet care aside, you’ll also have a fair number of business-related activities you’ll need to attend to on a daily basis to keep the business operation running smoothly. On a typical day, you’ll take phone calls from prospective clients or answer e-mails with requests for information, then schedule those who are interested in using you. You’ll meet with prospective clients and their pets in their homes so you can assess whether the pet (and its owner!) seems friendly enough to work with. Advertising and marketing to attract new business will take up some of your time, as will networking to develop relationships with veterinarians, pet-supply store owners and other pet-related business owners who could be a source of referrals. You’ll be in charge of your business’s finance department, which means you’ll send out monthly invoices and reconcile your accounts as payments are received. Finally, when your business grows to the point where you need the assistance of a staff of part-time sitters or walkers to help service all your clients, you’ll have to devote some time every day to personnel administration tasks like scheduling, training and payroll.
Startup Costs
The cost to start a new pet-sitting or dog-walking business is quite low—no more than about $3,000 to $5,000, most of which is due to costs incurred when you set up your home office, order business cards and so on. If you already have a computer or suitable office furniture, you can get under way for even less.
Page
1 | 2 |
3 |
4 |
5 