<p>To live in the house while we’re on vacation. I have one dog (labrador, 10 years old- best dog in the world, no issues at all) I’d like walked twice a day, once for at least 45 minutes). No house plants, no other duties. What is a reasonable daily rate?</p>
<p>Hi Yalemom. My husband and I are Yale alums! We have two vizslas and two cats. We pay our house/dog sitter $60 per day and she doesn’t take the dogs for a walk as we have three fenced acres. They are lively and needy, so we expect her to be attentive to them and play with them when she’s here.</p>
<p>You’re asking someone to live in your house and walk the dog twice a day for a total of an hour? Can they have friends over? What are your rules? How much of each day do you expect them to be there?</p>
<p>I pay a dog sitter that I take the dogs to $25/day/dog (so $50/day for my two). </p>
<p>If I wanted someone to be present in my house overnight as well as walking the dogs, I’d expect to pay considerably more for that service. However, if it was a friend who had no place to stay for a while and was looking for work… I might only go with the $50/day.</p>
<p>I pay $35 a night for a pet resort I and my dog love. </p>
<p>It’s funny because running throught this, for ME, is more about you and the other person than about the “job” per se. </p>
<p>For example is this an adult or young person? Are they to have the total freedom of your house (food, pool, cable whatever)? IS there an advantage to the person to being in your house as opposed to their own house? What other things are going on in their life? How upset are you going to be if they don’t actually stay all nights or come and go or have a party—and how upset will that make your pet? Is there a pre-existing relationship between the pet and the person?</p>
<p>My D was making $100/night when she did this regularly before she got married 4 years ago. That was for 1 dog and 1 cat. She was allowed to have friends over (but did not). They supplied her food. She took the dog for walks a couple of times a day plus let him out regularly (couldn’t leave the dog out because of coyotes). Both the dog and cat had to sleep with her.</p>
<p>Goskid housesat and dog sat for two dogs, one old and slow, one young and lively, requiring separate walks twice a day. $200 a day! But, owners adore Goskid…and we live in expensive Bay Area…where they would have spent $75/dog/day at kennel…</p>
<p>ymmv…</p>
<p>Yow. Our house sitter only spent nights here and charged about $25/day. (No responsibilities except showing the house was inhabited.) My niece checks on the neighbor’s elderly dog twice/day, when those folks travel- feeds him both times. lets him out and walks him to the park for more play and exercise, once/day- for $20/day.<br>
Clearly, mileage varies.</p>
<p>Dogsitters here, for two dogs, usually get around $150/day. This includes feeding, walking, playtime and living in.</p>
<p>$75/day when we had 3 dogs, but now only 2:( No walking needed as yard is fenced, old dog does nothing but sleep all day/night - dog we had to put to sleep had many behavioral issues but dogsitter knew what not to do - and other dog is lap dog and is very, very easy. None of my dogs need playing with. </p>
<p>Even though there is one less dog I will likely still pay $75.</p>
<p>$30/day. Two old dogs who enjoy a short walk but don’t need it everyday because they have outside access. The house sitter also needs to let the chickens out in the morning and lock them back in at night. We used to have a cat and probably will again in the future. They need to spend (most) nights at the house.</p>
<p>They are welcome to invite friends (in small numbers). I hire college students …who are thrilled to get a place to themselves for a bit. They’ve all been via word of mouth or had been tutors for my kids. We have very very watchful neighbors…and I make this clear to the sitter.</p>
<p>(you’d have to pay me WAY more than $30 to deal with the chickens!)</p>
<p>Holy cow, I can’t believe how much money people pay for house sitting. I should have been doing that all through grad school instead of TAing. Could’ve made more in a week than I do in a month.</p>
<p>My dog/house sitter charges $30 a day. Pups sometimes goes to camp aka the kennel which is also $30 a day.</p>
<p>$10 an hour for a dog walker when we travel. It’s above minimum wage :-)</p>
<p>I think you will get a huge range in answers depending on where folks live. We live in Florida and pay our friends college kids to house sit and take care of our very old lab $30 per day. Like dietz199 said, they are thrilled to get away from their homes and have their own space. Our usual sitter can use the pool and have a few friends over and it’s a huge relief knowing somebody is keeping an eye on the house and there with our dog. I need to find somebody to use during the school year when my usual ones are off at their schools!</p>
<p>Wow–what a range! My D, who graduated from college in May and is job hunting, was hired by her friend’s parents (who have known her for years) to dog and house sit for 10 days. They have 2 active, large dogs who require lots of attention. She needs to give one medicine and walk them twice a day, the first time at 7 am so no sleeping in, and one wants to play just about 100% of the time. She was thrilled to be paid $35 a day.</p>
<p>Gosmom, we are also in the Bay Area and, if Goskid is ever unavailable, feel free to pass that gig on to my D!!</p>
<p>^^^Ditto…we are Bay Area South…and as mentioned $30/day. To heck with Goskid…I will take that gig :D</p>
<p>We had a house sitter who charged based on avoided cost at the kennel, so it was more if you had more than one pet.</p>
<p>I stopped using the service after we changed our alarm system to one that gave us entry and exit data, and found that the house sitter only showed up every other day, but billed us for every day. We had cats and not dogs, but that wasn’t the deal we had signed up for.</p>
<p>Trusted friends have some advantages over commercial services, I think, but there are drawbacks as well. Overpaying a younger person sometimes works decently.</p>
<p>1 large dog, 4 cats. Our pet/house sitter has a business (concierge services besides pet and house sitting). She charges $32 a day which I think is too low. We are in the Nashville area.</p>
<p>I have had a lot of luck with the website rover.com. Hopefully they’re in your area. They will tell you all about the dog sitters on the site. Whether they’ll come over to your house, or your dog goes there, the cost, location, if they have other dogs, about their house, yard, reviews. It is great! I’ve gone to meet a few people at their houses, and decided not to go with them based on feeling it wasn’t the right place for my dogs (ie they had big, antsy, aggressive seeming dogs). A few people I’ve found were absolutely wonderful!!</p>