<p>$5 per visit is a nice sum if you make three or four visits in one day. Extra money if the visits include more than just letting the dog out or putting food down.</p>
<p>The problem with overpaying, I think, is that kids come to expect every job they get to pay out of proportion wages. Kids will quickly figure out that if it takes them 15 minutes to walk over to a house, take the dog out for short walk and return home, doing that three or four times a day is like earning $20/hour. I think it sets kids up to expect those kinds of wages from their other jobs, and let’s face it, how many middle school or high school kids make $20/hour?</p>
<p>Now, if you’re looking to instill responsibility and loyalty to a neighborhood kid who you hope to use over and over (which is good to do with middle school kids since they won’t pick and leave for college for many years), then every so often, give them a tip, but make it clear what the per visit rate will be, and trust them when they tell you how many times they came over. Also make it clear a minimal amount of time you expect them to be there (if they do extra, then compensate them for that).</p>
<p>I think $20 a day for multiple visits during the day. It is what my girls have gotten when they have taken care of neighbors’ pets (which involves 2-3 visits per day, morning and evening–and for them, entails getting up much earlier than usual and not going out with friends at times that would conflict with the feedings, so it is actually a big commitment). It makes them feel pretty special to get that much–it feels generous and thoughtful on the part of the pet-owners.</p>
<p>when i was in high school, i would watch my neighbor’s house and get $10-$15 a day. they’d usually leave for a long weekend or so and i’d end up with $40-$50. my mom paid their sons the same to watch our house. however, these guys are our next door neighbors so it takes virtually no effort to stop by their house every once in awhile. </p>
<p>if by chance they were gone the same time we were gone, we would have people from further away watch our house and animals and would pay them $5 more per day.</p>
<p>i’ll reiterate the idea of another poster: the more you pay him, the more likely he’ll be to do it for you again. that’s not to say go overboard, but don’t be stingy. i have one set of neighbors that pays me quite well (the ones described above) and one that thinks it’s neighborly duty to watch their house while they are away (read: they don’t pay me). though i still do watch the other house, you can bet your bottom dollar that i do one hell of a better job with the first house. that means that when the summer rolls around, i don’t complain about watering plants, taking out recycling, or even running by the store to replenish staples before the return home.</p>
<p>with kids, you definitely get what you pay for.</p>
<p>My son has two regulars who pay him what I consider to be too much money, but he does do a very good job. It’s $20 for a day of dog care. That would be two to three trips over to take them out and play with them. The house-watching, plant-watering, feed the hamster, take in the mail, call us if anything is awry type work usually runs about $60/week. He and my daughter once took a job where the dog was home all week while the family was away and that was considerably more work. They were paid well but it was a big commitment. Some people don’t want their dogs in kennals and knowing you have reliable kids coming in who will spoil your dog with affection while you are away offers good peace of mind.</p>
<p>Kennels charge at least $20/day here and I’d much rather have our dog at home. He’s spoiled and should be let out 4 times daily. We don’t expect him to be walked, and these 4 times may only add up to an hour. It’s much more work than babysitting because the neighbor kids have to keep coming over and unlocking the house. Good thing our dogsitter family has 6 kids!</p>
<p>Full disclosure: The one dog that my son watches the most thinks she is part of our family. She and our dog play daily and share toys. That is, she steals them from him and takes them into her house. When my husband and I go over to visit (parents of dog are our close friends) I’ll steal them back. She stops also into our house often to make sure our dog has cleaned out his dish. If not, she helps with that too.</p>
<p>So, when I say it’s no problem for our son to go over three times a day and get paid $10 for the whole day, I really mean it’s no problem. Watching this dog is as easy as it gets.</p>
<p>I think I have been paying too much and we live in a small Midwest town!<br>
My pet sitter is a young retiree from our local university. His daughter use to be our pet sitter and when she grew up and left home, we were left wondering what to do. On single days when I have to be gone, he comes up every four hours to take the dog for a short walk. During his time he will also get the mail, papers, feed the dog his meals (if it is mealtime), feed the cats. When we are gone for an extended period of time, an elderly neighbor with her own dog, takes in our dog. She won’t take any money, but now that we are empty nesters, I take her portions of our meals in single serving containers several times a week. I don’t know what we would do without her! I still hire this other fellow to come up once or twice a day (at $10 per visit) to feed the cats, check on them, get papers and mail, etc.</p>
<p>I use a personal concierge for pet sitting who charges $35/hour, but from whom I can “buy” blocks of time at a discounted rate of $25/hr. When we took a road trip (college visits!!), her charge for walking the dog 3-4 times a day plus feeding the dog and cat, taking in the newspapers and mail broke down to about $30/day. My D is a “subcontractor” for this concierge, doing mostly dog/cat feeding, and gets paid $10 per pet per day. So I’m guessing the concierge is charging her clients at the $20-25 rate…</p>
<p>The other variables that come into play are, do you want him to do this again for you even if it’s inconvenient for him?, and also, how well do you LIKE him and want to give him a little extra just because he’s trustworthy and a good kid?</p>
<p>We’re generous with our neighbor kid (cat-sitting), because we want him to make every effort to do it again and again, every time we go away even at the last minute, and also because we’re giving him our KEY.</p>
<p>I’m a junior in HS and I’ve dog-sat before for about 25 a day…I think it’s decent, I really like the dog and enjoy doing it. I would be amazed if I got $5 an hour, I usually get 40-50 for entire weekends, and that’s just fine with me. It’s $50 to play with a lovable dog for a weekend. :)</p>
<p>I just thought of something though, if the dog is a little wild or uncontrollable or if it has a medical condition…basically anything beyond a “normal” dog, I’d definitely give them more. I wouldn’t want to deal with a 200 pound, angry dog that I had to keep from chewing up the house for $20 a day.</p>
<p>BTW–I usually go over and walk the dog once during the day even when my kids go over twice as well :). That is because I like the dog, and the walking, and I always feel for the dog who is missing its family. I don’t ask for a portion of the fee…</p>
<p>I have to confess that I do one of the walks for my D too - the lunchtime one while she is at school. I can just walk over and it gets me out of the house. My D still gets paid for the walk though.</p>
<p>Like doubleplay, I like to pay enough that the kids will come back. The look on a 12 year olds face when you hand them a $50 bill is priceless! Of course, the kids are older now, but the 16 year old comes if his 14 year old sister can’t. The oldest is in college now, so I don’t expect I will have her unless she is home for the summer.</p>
<p>I do think taking care of a dog that requires walking and playing vs. a cat that you just need to clean litter and feed should receive more. My dog has it great when we are out of town; she goes to the home of the man that trained her as a puppy. For $17 a day, she get to live in his house with his family. She also has the run of the house there, whereas at home she is not allowed upstairs; the cats have the upstairs, they hate the dog! The trainer has a 7 acre fenced yard where she can run to her hearts content and play with the other dogs; at home she is an only dog. He also picks her up and brings her home for a charge of $30. He use to bathe her before she came home, but she was having trouble with the soap he used and she was really only getting bathed, not groomed. Her coat mattes very easily so I dropped the bath at the end. It is a great deal all around as the dog thinks she is away at overnight camp. She is such a regular that she has taking to sleeping in the trainer bedroom!!</p>
<p>My neighbor paid my younger kids $5 a day to check on and feed his cat when he traveled, that was fine for a younger person with no travel costs.</p>
<p>My oldest is an official pet sitter for a service, W2, taxes paid, the whole bit. She is paid $16/hour by the service, usualy a minimum of 30 minutes, plus travel time if it is more than some basic amount (10-15 minutes I think) If she does a multi visit day there may be one 15 minute visit. An overnight visit = morning & evening walk, feeding & sleeping with the critter and is based on 3 hours of pay, I think.</p>
<p>It sounds like a lot per hour, but when I wathced her over the holiday season going from job to job with 3 visits a day per stop and multiple stops and gas over $3/gallon, it was no small thing.</p>