LEGIT Make 1000s of Dollars as a Pet-Sitter - Scam or Legit?

[Bess]

Six Pet-Sitting Sites To Inspire You To Start Your Own Business

The pet food industry alone is already a multi-billion dollar one, thanks to the growing awareness and compassion for the needs of our four-legged furry friends. Today, caring for pets has spawned a formidable conglomerate that covers pet supplies, veterinary care, animal grooming, gourmet food, pet fashion, and even last minute pet-sitting.

Many startups are now focusing on being temporary pet carers. You also have a chance to get a slice from this multi-billion dollar pie by starting your own pet-sitting business. I’ve discovered that pet-sitting is a great way to make money while interacting with cute animals.

To help you start your own business, I’ve rounded up half a dozen trustworthy pet-sitting sites to use as inspiration, or as places to get jobs. These companies have services ranging from pet boarding to dog-walking, and just about anything that covers a furbaby’s needs while the owner is away.

I added unique takeaways from each to inspire you for your own venture. If you are or want to be in the business of pet-sitting in the future, these would be great pegs and resources for it as well.

1. PetBacker

PetBacker’s menu of services include dog and cat boarding, pet sitting, dog walking, pet taxi (pick-up and drop-off), grooming, and veterinary needs. Available on both the App Store and on Google Play, PetBacker offers its services for free, including price estimates, reviews, and chats with potential dog walkers or pet-sitters. You simply need to make a request, get matched with a sitter, then book, pay, and schedule a meeting.

A good takeaway from this business? Covered by a premium insurance, PetBacker also boasts a reservation guarantee that covers even last-minute cancellations. They are especially proud of having sitters that pass stringent background checks, and have been reviewed by other clients who have booked them before.

Link: https://www.petbacker.com/pet-sitter-job

2. Fetch!

I personally found the website of Fetch! very enjoyable and informative because right away, it launches a video showcasing the quality and array of services they offer (also, the cats and dogs look very happy being walked, played with, and fed!). Assistance offered range from dog walking, pet sitting, overnight visits, and specialty services (including puppy/kitten and senior care).

What makes Fetch! Unique? They promise three things for their clients: peace of mind, convenience, and satisfaction guaranteed. With its tagline “We’ve got your tail covered!”, this site has a 24/7 booking service, experienced staff, client satisfaction surveys, pet insurance, backup walkers and sitters, text, email, and phone call updates, free in-home consultations, and glowing reviews to convince you to pick them.

Link: https://www.fetchpetcare.com/dog-walking-and-pet-sitting-jobs/#how-to-become-a-sitter

3. DogVacay

It’s not fair that when you go on a vacation where pets aren’t allowed that they should be left all alone at home. DogVacay wants to remedy this by offering a cozy home (yours or the sitter’s - your pick) for your beloved pooch while you’re away. They welcome every type of dog, from puppies to seniors, through to special-needs ones.

A stand-out feature of DogVacay is that they offer pet insurance and additional home insurance if you choose to have a sitter in your own house. Boasting of a coverage of 10,000 cities across the USA and Canada, DogVacay has even bigger resources for both clients and job-seekers, easier booking, and better 24/7 customer support.

But please note: DogVacay is merging with Rover and current and future bookings will be migrated to the Rover site after June 12, when the DogVacay site gets retired.

Link: https://www.rover.com/become-a-sitter/

4. Pawshake

Pawshake offers home dog boarding, doggy day care, dog walking, home visits, cat sitting, and even house sitting services in over 19 countries (unfortunately, not in the USA...yet). The site is aptly named after that magical moment when a dog and a potential sitter meet for the first time, and the former raises its paw to have the latter shake it in a friendly gesture of trust.

If you want to add a personal touch in your pet-sitting business, do what this service does. Pawshake aims for the perfect fit between pet and sitter. They do this by sharing client reviews with headshots of the sitters, and compatibility factors that include photos, descriptions, expertise and history, plus verification (all sitters are registered on the site) of both the pet and the sitter.

If you’re interested in the pet-sitting business, Pawshake also has great resources for you, including blog tips on how to sell yourself as a pet-sitter, knowing how to act in a pet meet-and-greet, and dealing with cheeky cat behavior!

Link: https://en.pawshake.ca/user/register/host?destination=register/host

5. Trusted House Sitters

By its name alone, Trusted House Sitters aims to be a service provider built on trust. The site has a description that goes “Helping pet lovers travel; keeping pets happy at home, sitters stay for free & owners travel without worry.” Potential clients or sitters can sign up on the site for an annual membership fee, then swap free accommodations while pets and the house get cared for when the owner needs to travel.

It’s Trusted House Sitters’ belief that pets are quicker to adapt to a new carer than to a new environment, hence the pet/house-sitting concept. It’s a setup that definitely relies on a lot of trust for both parties. The site underlines this reliability with 5-star member ratings, verifications using criminal background checks, ID document cross-checks, and global identity checks. If you are trustworthy and don’t mind the strict background checks, then you’d be a shoo-in as a pet sitter for them.

Link: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/accounts/signup/join-now/create-account/

6. Care

WIth a slightly different take on the entire pet-sitting service concept, Care throws in senior caregiving, nanny and babysitting services, tutorials, housekeeping, and child care in the mix. And why not? Everyone at home is a family member, be it an elderly dog owner who needs both caregiving and a helping hand to make sure his puppy gets to play in the dog park everyday, or a busy mom who needs someone else to help her look after both the kids and the pets at home.

You can browse the site for the kind of carer you can be for someone else’s home, with drop-down menus for specific caregiving needs for children, seniors, pets, home, and military families. Care has been around for over a decade now. It’s a service that truly believes in the basic human (and pet!) need of caring for each other.

Link: https://www.care.com/en-ca/join-now

The verdict?

For my own pet-sitting business to be legit, I have several main takeaways from this list:

• get good pet insurance
• aim for client satisfaction
• have 24-hour customer support
• closely match sitters to pets
• earn the clients’ (and pets’) trust
• have a good website (and maybe an app)
• throw in some extra services

Most, if not all, of the sites I listed in this article cater to a wide clientele spanning states, cities, and even countries. That kind of coverage will result in a good gauge of favorable or negative reviews, compared to smaller pet-sitting services found in just a single state or town. However, I believe that user experience is still the best source of feedback, especially when it comes to reliable carers for furbabies.

Your turn!

Do you prefer your own pet-sitting services to have a wide coverage, or be a specialized, local one that’s recommended by family and friends? If you have any suggestions and recommendations for a pet-sitting business, I would love to hear all about them!

 

[June]

Ohhh...how and why did I miss this great review on how to make money as a pet sitter? I mean, it’s the perfect job for me! I know, I’ve been saying that about events coordination, blogging, and other tasks haha! But since I’m the mom to three kids and several furbabies, I figure I will be a shoo-in for some of the tasks mentioned in this great blog post!

Reading through the awesome services offered by the sites mentioned here, I am now seriously considering putting up a pet-sitting business myself. So many of my co-parents and friends also have furbabies and during vacation time, often have a similar problem of where to board their beloved pets. We don’t really have a suitable pet lodging service where we live, although the local vet does accommodate overnight stays. I don’t really like this practice because my cats get too jittery if they know they have to share the same premises with dogs!

So thanks, Bess, for this post. Now I have resources to consider if my family and I need to go away where we can’t bring our furbabies! I also like that you summarized the main takeaways for us who may want to launch our own pet-sitting services, and also for furparents who are looking for good qualities in future pet care services. I especially like the 24-hour service option because when I get emergencies, I panic at the thought of leaving my cats in the dead of night to someone who doesn't know how to behave around them. Also, I would really like my pet-sitter to have a personality that matches those of my cats’ since they can get really feisty and challenging to handle!

 

[Holden]

You know what they say: find a job that you love to do and you’ll never work for the rest of your life. Taking care and “babysitting” other fur parents’ beloved pets are closest things to that that I’ve found!

Interacting with animals (especially dogs!) reduces stress – It’s widely accepted that dogs have a calming effect on us people. I mean, if they didn’t we wouldn’t have spent all this time domesticating them, right? And even if they’re kind of a hassle to deal with, I wouldn’t trade that for “regular” office work!

You can exercise while walking other people’s pets – I usually work from home (my main source of income is the various earning methods I’ve written about in this forum), which means that my work days can get pretty sedentary. But the great thing is, I’ve found walking dogs to be a nice way to earn money while exercising my legs. I’m no longer holed-up in my own office.

It’s fun! – At the end of the day, who needs all these reasons? The only thing that matters is that pet sitting is super fun! I recommend anyone who loves animals to give this a try!

 

[Amos]

Unpopular opinion time! I tried the whole nine yards: pet-sitting, dog-walking, even pet grooming when I was in college. I ended up hating the entire experience. People look at me funny when I tell them I became pet-averse.

I started out being an animal lover just like most of you. But I got burnt-out majorly after a few years of doing that. These days, I can’t see a Siberian Husky or Labrador Retriever without getting squeamish.

The human owners were easy enough to work with, but I saw the worst behavior of pets imaginable. I’ve gotten bitten, pooped on and peed on. I went home with clumps of fur covering my jacket. My partner commented on how I had a distinct “dog smell” about me.

I initially loved this type of work for reasons that are obvious to everyone. But eventually it became just another job for me.

If you wanna give dog-walking and pet-sitting a shot, I recommend taking it slow and easy first. Give yourself the chance to miss the dogs you work with. That way, you avoid the burn-out and continue to enjoy the work.

But that said, this is still a fun job to do. Good luck and don’t forget to have fun!