If you love animals and live where people work long hours or travel, pet care is one of the most approachable side gigs there is. You don’t need a degree or equipment, the demand is local, and good sitters get booked again and again. Here’s how to start well.

Getting your first bookings: the apps

Pet-care apps such as Rover and Wag connect you with owners nearby, handle payments, and give you a profile where reviews build up. In return they keep a share of each booking. The share depends on the app, the type of service and when you signed up, and it’s often a fifth or more of what the owner pays. Your app shows exactly what you’ll receive before you accept a booking. Use that number when you decide what to charge.

The apps are a good way to get your first reviews and learn what owners in your area expect. Read their policies on cancellations, emergencies, and what their protection or guarantee programme actually covers. Those programmes aren’t the same as insurance in your own name.

Before the first booking

Meet first. A short meet-and-greet with the owner and pet, before you agree to anything, saves a lot of trouble. Ask about:

  • Feeding: what, how much, when
  • Medication and how to give it
  • Habits, fears, and how the pet behaves on a lead or with other dogs
  • Their vet’s name and number, and an emergency contact
  • What to do if the pet gets sick or hurt and you can’t reach them

Write it down. Even on an app, keep your own short care sheet for each pet, and confirm dates, times and price in writing.

Handle keys carefully. Know how you’ll get in and how you’ll return the key. Never label keys with the owner’s address.

Pricing

Look at what sitters near you charge for the same service, whether that’s a 30-minute walk, a drop-in visit or an overnight stay. Then think about your own costs: travel between visits, time, and anything you supply. Don’t race to the bottom on price. Reliability and good reviews matter more to owners than saving a few dollars.

Going independent

Once you have regular clients, many sitters take some bookings directly, with no app fee. If you do:

  • Get insurance. Specialist pet-sitter insurance, often with bonding, covers things like a pet being injured in your care or damage to a client’s home. When you work outside an app, any protection it offered no longer applies.
  • Check local rules. Some cities require a business licence, and some require a permit to walk several dogs at once in public parks. Check your city or county website.
  • Use a simple written agreement covering dates, rates, cancellations and emergency vet authorisation.
  • Take payment properly, with an invoice or payment app in your own name, and keep records.

Get found where owners look

Most new clients start with a search or a recommendation in a neighbourhood group, so a few things make you easy to find and easy to trust:

  • A Google Business Profile, if you serve a local area. It’s free, it puts you on Google Maps and in local search results, and it’s where happy clients leave reviews. You don’t need a storefront: you can show a service area instead of an address.
  • One social profile, kept current. Photos of happy dogs (with their owners’ permission) do the selling for you. Pick the platform your neighbours actually use.
  • An email list of past and current clients. Ask each client if they’d like the occasional update: holiday booking dates, a new service, a spot opening up. It’s the one channel you keep if an app changes its fees or its rules, and one short email before each holiday season can fill your calendar.

More on this in how to get your side gig found online.

Taxes

Pet-care income is self-employment income, whether it comes through an app or straight from clients. See our side-income tax basics before your first busy month.

App fees vary by service, by when you joined, and by country, and they change. Your app shows the exact amount you'll receive before you accept a booking. That figure is the one to go by.

Sources

  1. NerdWallet: Rover vs. Wag, which app is better for making money?: overview of how the two apps pay and what they keep
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