Dog-sitting (in clients home)

[TeenDivided]

My DD isn't well enough to work full time and is taking a kind of 'gap year' getting work experience in a kennels having studied animal care.

I was wondering whether there might be an option for her to do casual dog sitting, especially with bonfire night and Christmas coming up. I'm thinking for people who really don't like leaving their dog for more than a couple of hours and maybe don't go out loads so need one off sitting days or evenings?

Is this a thing? Would she need insurance, and what would the going rate be?

All comments welcome.

I would imagine that insurance would be a given. She would need to protect herself against claims should an animal die while in her care. Public liability if she takes a dog for a walk. Etc.

No idea of rate as she has no experience. Could possibly do the first few at a low rate to build up reputation. Walking is £15 per hour give or take a bit in my area if that gives you a guide.

Insurance would be essential.

I charge £15 an hour for this.

Thank you both. This kind of thing is new to us.
@margotrose any recommendation as to insurer?

Theres lots of people who do it around us. The rates I’ve seen are either per hour (£12-14) or a flat rate for period of time. We paid £40 for several hours.

In my imagination pet sitting for an evening would include

• keeping dog company, making sure it stays happy and not bored/destructive
• feeding if needed
• taking outside as needed
• ?possible walking?

Hi @TeenDivided - I use a company call Pet Business Insurance but only because they cover horses and farm animals.

If it's just dog sitting then I would look at Protectivity. They also cover things like cat visits.

Thank you.

Try housesitters.Co.uk
I've just had a couple of 18 year olds sitting for us. They didn't have any reviews so I decided to give them a try.
They left the house spotless!
I don't know how much the sitter pays, (it's free for the house owner) but it's a popular site and they probably talk about insurance etc.

We use this service through Rover.com, she should be able to register there and I would assume they sort out the insurance as they take a fee.

If she is prepared to stay overnight she is likely to get more bookings.

Meant to say, most people (sitters) are not paid - but some are and advertise as so.

Rover's insurance is awful - please make sure your sitter has their own separate policy.

This would only be casual (a bit like teens babysitting).
Definitely no overnight stays.

Is this because house sitters are getting a free holiday location?
No point her dog sitting if she isn't paid!

If she's only doing evening dog sitting then I would think demand may be quite limited.

I think what people tend to do is book teenagers for ‘pop-in’ visits - it’s what we do if we’re out for more than four or five hours. So we don’t call it dog sitting as the teenager doesn’t stay with the dog, but takes them out for a little walk and a wee. We pay £10 for this. Definitely a possibility for her.

dog sitting is for when we go away and someone stays at our house with the dogs. They are registered and insured. I wouldn’t hire a teenager for that.

Honestly, she will struggle to get many bookings then.

There is practically no market for constant pet-sitting. I think I've done one in the last two years. People want overnight care.

She needs insurance. But it's not that expensive. She could register on somewhere like bark.com for clients-or just locally advertise. I do a version of this but the dogs come to me. I charge £25 a day or £30 a night for reference (I'm in the SE).

Insurance is a must. Got that!

I think there is a some demand for this as I found most local dogwalkers only want to work within school hours so it was difficult to find one that may do weekends and evenings, either for night out or because work hours are non standard. Also with lockdowns more dogs have separation anxiety so wouldn't suit a pop in visit that would fit in more with dog walker. It may require more effort to market the service.

My dog walker offered overnight pet stays while still lived with parents as was fairly easy work and they also benefitted from having own space but they already knew the dogs/owners beforehand from day job.

You'd be surprised how few people want evenings and weekends.

I've been doing this nearly four years now and honestly I've had less than 20 evening bookings in all of that time. Weekends I maybe get 4/5 requests a year for a walk or feed, never for several hours of sitting - probably because people aren't willing to pay £15 an hour for it.

Actually to add to that, what I've found is people say they want a weekend or evening walker, but in reality they mean they want the option to exist- not that they'll actually use it.

My experience is that people will book me, but then because it's an evening or weekend, they'll find a family member who can do it instead for free. Or, they don't want to pay a weekend rate (because it involves me giving up my days off).

Thank you all for your thoughts & comments. As a non dog owner I am finding them very useful.

Dog sitter with no overnights would require more effort on her part to find the custom. I would try at vets, separation support groups, local dog/breed pages. If she's physically able for walks then seen few local dog walkers advertise wanting extra help on a self-employed basis.

@margotrose Well it was a while before I even discovered dog walkers offered this service on an hoc basis as I didn't need one for routine walks as WFH or locally for years.

Perhaps it's just me, I needed the cover initially for day trips and then started a late evening shift which often over ran. I don't have many people I want to call on for favours, though I'm not sure if I did any would willing as i always had multiple large dogs. Tbh I'm a worrier so I'd rather pay a professional i know can deal with whatever crops up especially when I maybe a long drive away.

I've no idea what I'd have done if hadn't been WFH when dogs had vet treatment needing medications and supervision throughout the day, one needed eye drops every 2 hrs and not doing it risked losing the eye.

Walker had some regulars for walks over weekends then people having day trips and did overnights but has stopped offering those now she has partner she'd rather spend the time with.
I'm not surprised people don't value costs involved in price, I was quite shocked by what my walker has told me about some of her clients behaviour.

What part of the country are you in?