Over 3 years ago, we started offering dog sitting and daycare in our home, as well as dog walking and drop-ins for feeding/playing with dogs and cats using Rover.com. We started it because we love dogs and hate kennels, and the extra money was a bonus.
The extra money soon became a necessity when the Hubs was laid off. In the first year, it was paying for our mortgage and groceries every month. (That was back in the midwest–it wouldn’t have quite paid the mortgage here in New England).
So how much money can you make on Rover?
We don’t like to take on so many dogs that it distracts us from work, so aside from our regular daycare dogs, we usually only take on one family at a time.
Last month, we made $1,058.80.
Around $1,000 a month is average for us. That’s after Rover’s fees too.
Last month, we had 7 different dogs, but 3 sets of siblings.
$752.80 was for overnight boardings. $266 was for 7 days of daycare for a set of siblings that we keep every Monday and Thursday. We had no walks or drop-ins last month.
How can you make just $300 extra month on Rover:
If you only wanted an extra $300 a month, you could just have:
- one week-long overnight stay, plus
- 3 days of daycare.
That would be $300 after fees if your rates are average. And you didn’t even have to leave the house for it.
You can read our recommendations for getting started here.
Sign up to become a sitter and make some extra money using this link and you’ll also get a $20 credit to use the service yourself.
They will run a background check on you to make sure everyone will be safe, and then you’ll be able to start sitting dogs and making money pretty quickly!
Dog sitting FAQs:
Yes! You could easily make $3,500 to $4,00 a month if you wanted it to be a full-time job.
If you don’t want quite that much work, you can take in just a few dogs a month and still earn about $1,000.
Definitely, Rover brings in the customers for you. This is especially important when you’re just getting started. We never would have gotten all the business we have now without them.
They keep 20%. With Rover, you set your own prices, and you take home 80% of it.
Whatever you would like to charge, minus the 20% they keep. We currently charge $20 for a 30 minute walk, so we take home $16.
Sometimes it seems like it’s not worth it to me, until I remember it forces me to get out of the house AND get exercise and I get paid for it. Without that, I might end up wandering around a store and spending money instead.
We charge $280 for one adult dog for 7 days. One puppy for 7 days is $350. Two dogs from the same family for 7 days are $350. For you, it depends on the average rate of the market you’re in, so do some research. But if you’re offering very personal, high quality service, charge more than average to match.
First, make sure you have a professional, but friendly profile. Use a high quality photo of yourself, and essentially don’t sound like a crazy person in your profile. Let people you know you love dogs, but you take their care seriously.
Rover gives you a code to give people $20 off their first stay. Give that code to EVERYONE and tell them they can use it for a free, or nearly free first walk or day of daycare. The more stays and reviews you get on Rover, the more clients they’ll send to you.
Join the Conversation