<p>Shrinkrap, I have posted a few times but still show up as a zero. Don’t know what I am doing wrong, though I am not taking it personally. D, headed off to college in the fall did some reffing several years ago and it left me with great compassion for youth referees. “It’s only a game!” By the way, younger son receives $2 to take the garbage out and in, two doors away. Takes about five minutes on each day. Your neighbors are really, inexcusably, cheap.</p>
<p>zipyourlips-
Posts in the cafe don’t count towards the post counts. If you post int he forums, the posts will register in your post count.</p>
<p>Thank you, jym626. I didn’t even realize I was in the cafe – shows you what I know!</p>
<p>LOL zipyourlips. Join the club-- many of us have no idea where we are. :)Thats particularly true in Sinners Alley. Come join us there too</p>
<p>$20 bucks–that’s what the ATM spits out…</p>
<p>Good kennels here are far more expensive. The last time we used them it was $100 for two dogs per day. (No, the kennel is not in the city. It is a full hour away.) I hear that babysitters here get $15 per hour for one child. </p>
<p>Let’s think of this in different terms: the puppy has to stick around the house all day or go out in increments. I am assuming that the sitter is a nice kid who plays with the dog. Five dollars is very low. I do have an inflated idea of how wonderful/social/special my dogs are but other people may not relish the poop and water patrol. I want someone special who understands how special our dogs are to us.</p>
<p>We “hire” our kids. My son puppy sat (lived in our home) during our last vacation. He came home during the day (his office is 4 minutes from our house), and slept here at night. We gave him new furniture for his den. Excellent price for emotional peace.</p>
<p>LMNO, this is an old thread. Why’d you pull it up? Anyway, I just read an article on this in the St. Paul, MN newspaper, and they quoted a dogsitter as saying she gets paid $10 every time she lets out the dog. My dog is a 4 times a day dog. Yikes!</p>
<p>I pay college students $10 a day to come a.m. & p.m. and let the dog out/feed her. They are welcome to stay as little or as long as they need and take advantage of free cable/internet and are welcome to any food in the refrigerator. I just ask that they don’t go much more than 12 hours without letting her out.</p>
<p>I just paid $65/day for three dogs in a backyard “kennel.” She’s a licensed kennel, but it’s more of a side business in her home. The $65 isn’t so bad … but she charges for the day in and the day out … in other words she counts days like day care, not nights like a hotel. On a trip where I need to leave first thing in the morning, they get dropped off the night before … and then I get home late so they get picked up the next morning. So if I leave Saturday and come back Sunday, I would pay an at-home pet sitter for 2 days (or maybe even just for 2 visits) whereas I have to pay the backyard kennel for 4 days.</p>
<p>I also use a backyard kennel, a friend of a friend who has a business as a dog walker and also boards dogs at her house. I paid $60/day when I had 2 dogs (she said that was the discounted rate) and now pay $50/day for 1 dog. The advantage is that my dog gets to go on walks with her “day” dogs. A typical outing is to a 2-acre fenced house with pool where the dogs seem to do nothing but run, play fetch or jump in the pool for 2+ hours. I love going out to her SUV when she drops my dog off as she typically has 8-12 other dogs in the back. They all sit up to say hello and then one by one their eyes close and they fall sound asleep.</p>
<p>It’s expensive and I wish there were cheaper options for when I take longer trips, but I do like the socialization and exercise that my dog gets when I’m gone.</p>
<p>I leave the cat at home and pay a neighbor girl $5/day to stop by and say hello</p>
<p>I pay college boys in neighborhood 100.00 a day.When we boarded dogs it was very expensive and dogs hated it. Boys day starts at 7:30 or 8:am and ends around 11 at night.My one lab will not go outside by self,not even to pee so boys let go out when they come then feed and take for “big” walk about an hour later,then walk again at 12:30 then at 4:30 feed supper walk at 7:30 pm and sit with them while they eat their dingo then walk before bed at 11pm They don"t have to stay here but they do by choice they think dogs are lonely.The boy this year didn’t have summer job so was happy to have 600 cash .They walk dogs on my property (4 acres off leash)As it turns out the whole family helps so if boy is busy parents or brothers will take a turn They all love labs.</p>
<p>My 16 year old D has been pet sitting in our neighborhood for the past 6 years and has a pretty good business with some customers she has had since she began. Right now she only has one dog that she walks on a regular basis, but she has many cats. We live in a townhome community so the animals D watches are all indoor cats and dogs.</p>
<p>D gets $10 per walk for the dog which needs to be walked 2 times per day while the owners are away. D spends an hour twice a day with the dog and plays with her after she walks and feeds her. </p>
<p>D charges $10 per day for the cats she takes care of and only comes once per day. She feeds the cats, plays with them and cleans the litterbox. For all of her customers D also brings in the paper, the mail and waters plants while they are gone.</p>
<p>D has one customer that has only been paying her $5 per day for watching her two cats for several years and now this woman has a 3rd cat. D is going to tell her the next time she calls that the cost is now $10 per day which is still very reasonable. If this woman had to have a pet sitting service come to her house she would pay much more than this for 3 cats.</p>
<p>I have no idea what to pay a kid. I house sat when I was in college for my friends parents while their whole family was in Florida for a week - a rather well off family with a giant house and 3 cats. They gave me $300 or $400 to stay there for the week and take care of their cats and keep an eye on their house. They also gave me $100 to spend on food. I didn’t come close to spending it all and they told me to keep the change. It was kind of funny because my friends mom labeled every drawer for me so I knew where to find everything. I also used to work for my friends dad and he runs his business out of his house… so I worked when I was there too and got paid for that as well. All in all it was a very profitable week. Their house is about 5000 sq foot so it was a bit weird having it to myself. I had a couple friends over and we watched movies and ate pizza. Also enjoyed the hot tub. My best friend has since married their son so I still see them all the time. :)</p>
<p>I pay $5 a day if it is just the cat, $10 if cat and dog. The kennel charges $15 a day.</p>