What would be a fair charge for caring for two dogs?

[TemporaryArmadillo]

3 weeks

2 large energetic dogs

3 walks a day including early morning, afternoon and around 9-10pm at night

One rolls in dog and fox poo nearly every day so washing down at home included

Also feeding them twice a day

Keeping an eye on house, and eye on both cars.

Midlands. Family know how much it is to have put them in kennels.

Im not actually sure if I’m going to be paid, as I normally walk them for free occasionally after I’ve done nursery runs for their child!

They’re a ten minute drive across town for me, 3 times a day. My car is not fuel efficient at all.

Should I just ask for fuel costs?

Thanks!

I pay my dog sitter £45 for every over night. I have 1 x large energetic dog, 1 x small, old dog.

This is appalling!!!! They are not cats!
dogs shouldn’t be left alone in a house and just walked and fed!
this is serious neglect!
I pay £40 per day for one dog at a dog minders house. Two walks a day and company all the time.
im truly shocked.

Do you imagine an owner such as this has their dogs fully vaccinated?!

Actually, no. Have they even got medical insurance?

Good grief no - that's a ridiculous and dangerous arrangement the owners are trying to put in place. Please do not get involved in this - you could find yourself having to deal with far more than fox poo if 3 dogs are left on their own for the majority of 3 weeks. I'm not going to say how much I pay for my home boarder because it's not comparable to what they are proposing for their dogs.

@TemporaryArmadillo please get some boundaries in place with these people when they get back, they are completely taking advantage of you. Keep doing the nursery runs if you think the money is enough but drop anything else. They are clearly not good people, however friendly they may seem to you.

Not sure how you go about charging for the dog-sitting. At minimum I’d count the hours driving and caring for the dogs and charge that at minimum wage, then add fuel costs on top.

Ignore posters saying you are complicit in the neglect of the dogs. This is purely down to the owners. The best you can do on that front is contact them and say you now know it’s neglectful to leave them alone so much and do they have a relative/ friend who can come and stay for the remaining two weeks, or can they go in kennels. I doubt the RSPCA will want to know, and you’d have to be prepared to lose your nursery run job as well if you bring them in as it’s pretty obvious who informed them.

Our neighbours hired someone to dog sit, I’m not sure whether or not they realised the guy wasn’t staying at the house. He wasn’t. The builder working on the house told me that while me, him and the postie tried to stop the dogs that had escaped from the house running onto the very busy main road. You can’t leave dogs and just pop in.

Remember not to offer again.

Ask to be reimbursed for fuel.
And charge something per hour for your time.

If uncomfortable about asking for wages think of your car wear and tear and charge double for fuel.

It's too late, the OP has now revealed that she is already a week into "caring" for the dogs.

It's an absolutely ridiculous situation. Those poor dogs.

Whoops - that will teach me to RTT. Apologies.

Not a good situation at all.

Poor dogs.

Dogs cannot be left alone for 3 weeks. It is horribly neglective. You should go back to owners and say you did not realise it was for 3 weeks because of course dogs cannot be left for that long. It's either kennels, or you house sit there and they pay you £500.

Just to answer your question op...there would be someone on the premises at all time at dog kennels. Yes, they'd be left in peace to sleep for the night, but someone would be nearby and available if needed.
Dogs cannot just be abandoned for weeks, with someone just popping in for feeds and to walk them. As pp have said,they're not cats.

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

The family are lovely, but laid back, used to having staff working for them (as cheap as poss, such as Filipino workers), one has grown up with family staff.

They have filled a gap for me that my grief could not, but now I have another family tragedy that requires my full care, it is probably time to let them go.

They moved to this town knowing nobody, no nearby family, nearest friend about 45 mins away. This friend has been invited over to holiday with them now it seems as they dropped by the house after I’d got back from a dog walk to tell me so. The family have already been out there a week. That’s why I can’t offload the work to someone else. This friend is able to take time off to join them on holiday, so could have potentially housesat for them too. I am sure they would not have done so for free.

I appreciate that I can’t offer the specialised care so many of you suggest, I can only do what I can do to ensure the dogs are fed and exercised.

it’s been a learning curve, Thankyou.

Anyone who treats animals, Filipino workers and when it comes to it, YOU the way they do is not ‘lovely’
They are neglectful,cheap users who give zero craps for anything or anyone other than themselves
Im disappointed you can’t see that op.

What an awful situation both for you OP and the poor dogs! As everyone has already said, they can’t be left alone like that for three weeks. It’s very neglectful. As you’re already a week in to the arrangement I can’t see what else you could do now. I’d worry if you tried to back out now, they wouldn’t bother finding alternative arrangements leaving the poor dogs even worse off. Are you able to spend any more time with them during the day than you already are? I’d also be worried that seeing as you haven’t discussed payment with them up until now, that you won’t see a bean from them. You have an awful lot going on in your life, this is far too much to put on you!

Just ring the bloody RSPCA. Sorry this situation just makes me cross.

What’s their back up plan if something happened to you?

For all those saying to report, I’ve reported similar this week and apparently it’s not neglect unless they’re not visited for over 24 hours and they had food, water and shelter. Disgusting.

Rspca are worse than useless. Will do absolutely nothing in this circumstance. Their bar for action is so woefully low it’s an embarrassment frankly

I hate to be the one to say they saw you coming ! Agree the RSPCA are worse than useless. Just try and look after them as much as you can and pray nothing happens to them or you for that matter

I know a married couple who are professional dog sitters. One or both always stay overnight. 3 walks a day, 2 dogs looked after well. They charge £55 per day. One of the couple takes their laptop and works from home whilst there.
How much are dog walkers per hour?

Just tell them you didn't realise it would be for so long then negotiate a fair rate.

Can you not stay in the house for the time they’re away?
( edited to say I’ve read other replies so now realise you can’t )
for info my dog walker / sitter charges £35 per day for my dog , who she walks regularly so knows him , any additional dog is £10 extra . She’s cheap too .

You sound gullible and fragile and pretty much everyone here is saying you’re being taken advantage of. I hope you learn something.

As you keep reiterating that these people are ‘lovely’ what did you hope to achieve by posting here @TemporaryArmadillo?

I am a dog sitter. I would charge £1,155 for that.

That said, the dogs would be living in my home for the duration, so there is no fuel, so that £1,155 is pure profit.

It is gross neglect to do what they are proposing and I wouldn't want any part of it. Could you live in their home, if the dogs can't stay with you? My sister pays about £40 a day for someone to live in and care for a dog and cat.