Dog walking/sitting rates

[acmom]

We have a golden retriever and will need someone to come take of her several weekends this summer while we are out of town. A college aged neighbor (who is a dog person) is available and willing to do it. She did it for the first time this weekend and I am trying to figure out what to pay her. I asked her rates multiple times but she hasn't given me a number.

She lives directly across the street and will just come over to walk/play with the dog 1-2x times a day, along with feeding her and letting her out in the am to pee in the am/pm. For this first time, we were gone overnight, but less than 24 hours total. Some of the future times will be longer (Fri-Sun) and some will just be long days but no overnights. How would you figure out payment? I don't want to do too much or too little for this first time - I want to make sure I am paying her enough that she wants to keep doing it!

[DualvansMommy]

Can you pay her 30 a day? I have a dog walker that walks my dog for 15 bucks each visit.

Sometimes I only need her once and other times need her 3x so she just tells me by end of day how many times and I pay her the rate.


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[m4nash]

I think the answers to this may vary based on cost of living. It sounds like your sitter would be at your house 3-4x's a day including a walk or two, so I would lean towards at least $60 a day and $30 for a partial day.

I live in a relatively HCOL area, we pay $30 a visit if they are not staying overnight. If they stay at our home we pay $80 a day and $40 for a partial day. This is for a college age pet sitter, but she is not our neighbor, so has to drive out of the way to get to our home. We have two dogs, a cat and several chickens that she is responsible for. She does not have to take our dogs on walks, just let them out in our fenced in yard and play with them. The cat and the chickens are pretty low maintenance. They just need food and water and to be cleaned up after/eggs collected for the most part.

[o_mom]

This highly depends on your COL. I was told here that $5/visit for a 13 yo who was literally next door (so 10-15 min per visit) was much too low... when I tried to pay more, his mom sent him straight back to return half the money, so YMMV.

So, college age, no drive, 4 visits per day (2 longer, 2 shorter) - I would be in the $30-40/day range, figuring about 1.5 hrs of time, somewhat flexible.

[acmom]

I was thinking of giving her $50 ($25 per day) for this first time - she probably came 2x each day based on when we left and came home. We live in an area with a lower cost of living (80) than the national average (100).

Think that sounds ok?

[m4nash]

I was thinking of giving her $50 ($25 per day) for this first time - she probably came 2x each day based on when we left and came home. We live in an area with a lower cost of living (80) than the national average (100).

Think that sounds ok?

I think that sounds very reasonable and even generous considering your COL.

[AnnieW625]

A few years back we paid a dog walking company in a vhcol area (Los Angeles metropolitan area bordering Orange County) $25 for a 25-30 minute daily walk (when we were gone for more than a night…..dog was self sufficient and didn’t need overnight care). Hourly visits are $40. I think $25 per day is almost on the generous side especially if she hasn’t told you what she charges.


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[klwa]

I would say, assume she's there for an hour each visit & figure what seems reasonable from there. So, probably $10-15 per visit. So your $25 per day, with ~2 visits each day, seems pretty reasonable.

[Snow mom]

I pay $15/visit for neighborhood kids to do pet care. I want to pay them enough that they do it happily and this seems to work. That probably works out to $1/min. Obviously if it was a more involved job we’d have to work out a different per minute rate

[carolinamama]

I pay $15/visit for neighborhood kids to do pet care. I want to pay them enough that they do it happily and this seems to work. That probably works out to $1/min. Obviously if it was a more involved job we’d have to work out a different per minute rate

We do the same with some neighborhood kids. Plus they are family friends of ours and we have helped them learn responsibility. They do the same for my kids when the roles are reversed and they are doing the pet care.