I’m looking for any experiences folks here have had as petsitters. Anyone here do it? Are you affiliated with a company, or do you work on your own? Good thoughts/bad thoughts about the experiences?
Please share what you think – my temp job is running out quicker than I thought it would, and I’ll need to be thinking about finding something else to do. I’d really like to work with animals and animal people, I think.
TeenSthrnAccent pet sits fairly regularly. It’s not a “career” though. He’s a high school student and has a part time job aside from the pet care. When he’s caring for the dog, the dog comes for a sleepover. The visits range from a day or two to long weekends or in the summer for as much as a month at a time. The pets owner is a pilot and the family travels quite a bit. There doesn’t seem to be a downside to this arrangement although it’s kinda difficult if the dog doesn’t take to our family dog and we have to keep them separated and he has to walk them and play with them separately. He also gets the familys mail and makes sure the newpapers are kept off the lawn.
I meant to mention that they pay him about $7 a day for one pet, $10 a day for two.
I’ve looked into pet sitting as a retirement gig, not that I’ll be able to retire any time soon but it’s a great fantasy on bad days. A friend pet sits my dog when I’m out of town and it’s been great, for all of us. It’s peace of mind for me, my pup is much happier at home and it’s spare cash for my friend. I pay her $10 to $15 a day. She stops in at least twice day, walks the pooch, feeds and waters her and plays with her. She’s been great whenever it’s been necessary to give her meds. (Usually a Benadryl capsule for allergies, wrapped in a bit of shaved turkey.) My friend’s unoffical gig has spread to several other people, just because it’s such it answers so many needs.
I bought some books from Amazon on pet sitting as a profession. I found Moran’s book to be the most useful. It’s general but a good overview.
Several things…I discovered that there’s no licensing agency for pet sitters so establishing credentials has to be done other ways. Pet first aid classes were offered several places here, so that was one good one. The thing my friend and I discovered was that communication was crucial. She knows us well, but I still leave detailed written notes for her about how to contact me, name and phone number of the vet, any feeding needs, behavior quirks, etc. She’ll also bring in the newspaper for me, water the plants, etc. which is nice. Actually (she and her teenaged son do it) I don’t care if they live here while I’m gone–they live in a small apt.–so in some ways they’re also house sitters.
I still think it’d be a great thing to do. FWIW my vet’s office has little holder for business cards of a pet sitter they particularly recommend. Great way to get business!
Veb
I have never done it but I know a women who has set up an entire business and makes her living (a decent one from what I can tell) from it. She started by posting flyers and leaving business cards everywhere she could think of-the gym, the library, womens groups, travel agencies, bulletin boards but her biggest marketing success was by word of mouth. Basically you need to have people telling their friends what a great job you did with their fifi and how they should get you to babysit their own fluffy.
I think part of her success is that she is the only one in our small town so I would research your market, find out how competitive it is so you know how good a chance you stand. Good Luck!
Thanks for the ideas, folks! I know there are a bunch of petsitting outfits here in the Atlanta area. I’ll have to check out the Moran book – I know I looked at an earlier version, but it’s time to get serious about thinking about this stuff.
Anybody else have any thoughts or experiences?
I have friends who do this as a business, in the Minnesota Twin Cities area. Here’s what I know about, based on conversations with them.
Their business is almost entirely on-site care – while you are on vacation, they come to your home once or twice a day to check that you pets have food & water, to take the dog out for a walk, to spend a half-hour playing with the cat, etc. – whatever services you want to pay for. The advantage they advertise is that your pets stay in their familiar surroundings, not transported to a strange kennel with lots of other unknown animals. And they eat the same food they are used to, etc.
The business seems to be going very well. They have about 7 employees now, and have started another office in Rochester, MN lately.
You really have to love animals, and dealing with them every day, to do this. But if you do, it’ll probably be much more fun than a regular job. You will spend a lot of time driving from one house to another. And workload is variable – you will be very busy, almost overloaded, at holidays & vacation times.
Their website is http://www.mspcrittercare.com/index.shtml
I do occasional petsitting jobs and it’s a nice way to earn a little bit of extra money. I usually get about $10 to $15 a day. The main thing for me is getting to be with the pets since I don’t have any of my own. I just love them! One advantage that I have is that I used to be a dog groomer but there are certainly lots of petsitters that aren’t.
You can put a free ad in craigslist.org for the Atlanta area or you can see who is looking for a petsitter there. It’s a great resource for this kind of thing. Right now, I’m waiting to hear from someone who wants someone to look after their puppy two days a week. I also have a Jack Russel lined up. Plus, you might look into the part-time and et cetera jobs. There are often people who are looking for someone to do a bit of gardening or helping move or a little computer work.
Now, here’s an interesting story. I got to talking with a fellow today who has a wonderful beagle. I told him I’d love to petsit him. Later, he asked me if I could keep him for two days next week and he offered me $100! He’s a lawyer and can afford it but I told him that was too much. I might consider $50 for an overnighter but wow! He said he’d pay the $100 but I won’t hold him to it if he doesn’t. I just want to be with the beagle. 
Tikki, your friends’ website looks good! If I was in the other Duluth (I live in the one in GA) I’d call them!
Archergal, there’s Craig’s Lists for a bunch of cities. I should have told you to hit the Cities link. Here is the one that will take you to the Atlanta one: http://atlanta.craigslist.org/http://atlanta.craigslist.org/
The Craig in question lives in San Fransico and I don’t know him personally. However, I found out yesterday that one of my neighbors does. Interesting!
OK. So I double-posted the link. But click on either one and it will still work. At least it did for me.