What do you pay for dog sitting? I care for my neighbor’s dogs when they leave town. Just 2 dogs, go over 3x a day and let out in the yard. It is not hard work but wondering if I am getting the right rate? This is not a friend, it is someone I met for pet sitting only.
I am charged $30/visit for someone to come feed the cats/dog/chickens/horse and she is way underpriced. IMO I should be paying $50 a visit for all that.
Since you don’t have to drive there, I would say $20 per visit for just the dogs. That’s kind of the minimum that would motivate me to leave the house and go do this. (But… make a price sheet at $25 and then give them a discount for being local/a neighbor.)
It’s not just about how much ‘work’ it is. It’s the fact that you can’t really plan anything else those days if you have to be available for this job. And you also need to cover your overhead – the costs of running your business, such as accounting and insurance.
(Even if this is your only customer, if you are charging for it, you are in business and you need liability insurance in case a dog gets loose or you accidentally damage something.)
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My daughter did this for a neighbor and was paid $25/day. I think $25-35/day is probably appropriate.
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$60/every 24 hours for farm sitting: 1 dog, 2 cats, 4 horses. Farm sitter stays at the house; prefer she leaves (dog) alone no more than 8 hours, to go to school, work, whatever.
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Hopefully nothing anymore: we’re using Trusted Housesitters for our next trip and it’s a free trade of accommodation for pet sitting.
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We’ve been lucky that our pet sitters over the years have been friends (or friends of friends), and just move in our house and stay while we are gone (it’s not a bad location 
) while caring for our dog and cat.
Good to know what basic pet sitter fees are though, just in case.
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Wow, really? I pay $60 for my lawns to be mowed. I think I’d have to pay $100/night minimum to get someone to stay at my house to farm sit. I am looking for someone for two trips now but expecting to pay more than $100.
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@S1969. I think location and job history give me an edge for finding farm sitters. There is a huge 4H horse club here (200 kids) and I was involved for 30 years; furthermore I was a teacher at the local HS for 40 plus years. My current sitter is a former student who lives near by. I already have an eye on her successor–a 13 year old daughter of another student . In a few years the older will be too busy, but the younger will be just the right age!!
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Are you on the hook for emergencies that might arise, like trip to and care after, if vet care is needed?
I horse sit for a friend.
She’s not paying me to scoop poop, pick feet, etc.
She’s paying me to recognize and do what it takes to insure their care in an emergency.
.
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I used to pet sit a lot and still do on a very limited basis. I charge $50/day for house pets when I stay overnight, $25/day if I’m just stopping by to walk a dog or dogs, and $20/day if I’m stopping by to take care of a cat or cats.
If I was farm sitting it would be a minimum of $100/day, depending on the # of horses or other farm animals.
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When my mom passed and we had to go across country to deal with things I paid my friend roughly $1000 for a month of chicken and cat colony care, grab the mail etc, roughly $30+ per day.
We had to go back again to snowbird, finish things off and create a new Trust etc and reduced the numbers, rehomed the chickens and trapped the newest, most feral cats (very, very difficult to make the choice) and had a friend in need (divorcing) housesit 4 cats for 5 months for the same fee. Both times the place was not in good shape when we got back and tbh I am dreading everything about snowbirding this winter as far as the critters are concerned.
I looked into kennel services previous to offering my friend the job and it was $18 per day to do one home visit for one animal, add about $5 per each other animal, I had to provide the food, the litter and livestock wasn’t even mentioned. Nor were housecleaning services for indoor-outdoor cats indoors 24/7, or the lawn, the mail, taking the trash out of the house and to the street. Really my friend deserved more than $30+ per day, I just didnt have it to give at the time. This area is lower cost than the coasts, but not by much any more.
My first friend has two young adult daughters at home and all her family nearby to deal with emergencies but has never been gone more than a week and once they moved on to the farm full time in 2018 they don’t all go on those big family vacations any more either, some family member was close by and keeping an eye on things.
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I looked up current costs, it’s now $25 per visit for up to two cats/dogs and $4 per additional, mileage charges for over 10 miles one way @ 60 cents per mile, more/ other types of animals on a case by case basis.
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Interesting…haven’t thought of that. If an emergency happened I would definitely take care of it. Hopefully she would recognize this and pay me extra. Her dogs are pretty easy and haven’t had any issues thus far. But you are definitely right in what we should be paid for!
What does that mean? They don’t have a home? On vacation?
I pay $40 a day in spring/summer and $50 a day in winter (blanketing, more hay to deal with, generally more of a pain). We have 3 dogs, 2 inside cats, an outside cat, two goats, and two horses in the pasture. I try to make it streamlined and simple for her! Oh and she comes 2-3 times a day depending on her schedule, which is great with us!
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Dang, I’m getting cheated! I babysat my sisters cats for a week and all I got was a Breyer mini whinny!
Seriously, we have a “mutual mooching” relationship so she and BIL help me out with house projects that one person can’t do. Win-win.
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Vacation, moving to a new area and want to see what it’s like first, or just working from home anywhere they like!
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I pay $25/hr for horse care when I go away and I think the same is reasonable for dog care. I’m assuming you do no more than an hour of work per day.
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I’m in Seattle. I pay $30 per day for someone to stop in once per day and check on my cat - feed / water / clean box / play for 30 min. The going rate seems to be $25-$35. So two checks a day would be $50 - $70.
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Would that include travel time? To me it is different if someone is going to a location once a day compared to multiple times a day. And yes, I’d say I am at the location for 30 minutes minimum each time I go there.
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