How much for watching our dog?

DH and I are going to be out of town for 5 days and our neighbor is going to be watching our dog for us while we are gone. Our neighbor takes care of a lot of her friends dogs when they are out of town for some "easy money". We have only been neighbors for a little over a year so we don't know her to well and she is going to be moving out of the state next month. So my ? to you is how much should we pay her? I am not sure how much boarding a dog costs so I don't have those figures to go off of. Thanks for any suggestions.

Boarding is usually about $15 per day. We pay a professional petsitter about $15 per visit (depending on how many animals - it's $2 for each extra - that's the base rate for one). I'd think somewhere in the middle for a neighbor - maybe $30 (since she doesn't have to drive anywhere).

CA

We use a professional pet sitter for our cats. She charges $12/day for cats and $15/day for dogs. We pay her more than she asks because the cats are happy and content when she sits and to cover increases in gas costs.

Around here, they charge based on the size of the dog, and they board them in a kennel so they are caged all the time except when they are being walked. I would rather pay a person to come in even if I payed the same amount just because my pets are at home and not stressed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DDH

Around here, they charge based on the size of the dog, and they board them in a kennel so they are caged all the time except when they are being walked. I would rather pay a person to come in even if I payed the same amount just because my pets are at home and not stressed.

---

I agrre. She is an 11 year old, 13# full of love Shih Tzu. She is our child, so we would do anything for her. Some people think this bread is a barky dog, but she does not bark unless DH gets her all excited playing. Even when she wants to go outside she will run to the door then back to us. Thanks for responding.

The kennel our dog stays at just went up to $12 per day recently, plus $1 per extra walk. You could ask her how much she usually gets (or ask people who she's done this for before).

We're getting a housesitter when we go to Alaska for 9 days (we have one dog and 2 cats), and we're going to pay her $20 per day. She'll have to feed and walk the dog, feed the cats, scoop the litter, possibly clean up fur balls, keep an eye on things, in general. Well worth the extra dough to have the animals happy (the dog could go to the kennel, but that is a long time, and we could get somebody to look in on the kitties every couple of days, but, once again, it's a long time without a lap), and have somebody here to notice if something goes wrong. In the winter the job requires a lot more (we get lots of snow).

She's a college student, so she could use the money - plus she lives, works, and goes to school 20 miles away.

When we're gone for more than a few days, we like to know somebody responsible is here, and (as others have said) the pets are a lot happier.

I take my dog to my friend's house when I go out of town. I pay her $15 a night.

Wow, I need to move to a different part of the country! I pay $18 for a half hour visit/walk, regardless of how many dogs. When the pet sitter stays in my house, I pay $60/night (which includes a mid-day walk). Taking them to a boarding kennel varies by size, but is around $25-30/day (I think, haven't used a kennel in a few years.)

Thanks for your advice. As you can tell I was trying to multi-task in my above post..what the heck is "agrre" supposed to be??? Agree, and I hope I don't have a 13# bread....breed would be better. Whooops...I was on the phone with my Mom at that time.:o

We pay $16/dog to be boarded at the vet. This is a 8 lb miniature schanuzer and a 18 lb miniature schnauzer. We also pay an extra $2/day to have the bigger one get her thyroid supplement. And this is for sharing a cage since they cannot stand to be separated. My vet doesn't charge based on weight which is bad for me, good for my mom with a Rottweiler. Mostly they stay with my parents, on a long trip we usually give them some money to have a night out.

I pay $15/dog/day at the kennel I use. I hire the young girl across the street (11years old) to take care of my cats, rabbit and chinchilla. I gave her $7.50/day. Pet sitters in this area charge $20 per day and add on extra fees for extra services.

My son is housesitting for $15 per day and food! For a 20 year old that's a good deal, he makes extra money in addition to his day job, plus the stock the fridge for him so he doesn't buy food all week. He does have other chores, they fill 3 hummingbird feeders twice a day, several plants to take care of and a cat. But like he said, it's easy money and great FOOD!

I pay $22/one hour visit. If they're watching Zack, I want them to stay because he doesn't have a doggie door. That is $125 per 18-24 hour visit. For our vacation in August the pet sitter will cost the same as our plane tickets.

BUT - I don't worry about them and that is priceless.

Wow. We have three large dogs. We are going on vacation soon, and for a week away it is going to cost us over $500 to board them. That is partly because the kennel has odd ours so they will wind up being there for ten days -- every kennel we've used has had this issue, it seems, they open late, are closed on some weird day in the middle of the week, etc., so the dogs' vacation is always longer than ours.

When we used to have a pet sitter stay here to watch the dogs and our two cats, we paid her $45 a day, the same that our old kennel used to charge (before they raised their rates to about $90 a day for the three dogs). We aren't using her anymore because last time she did not feed our cats.

Boarding the animals always costs us more than whatever we pay for our own hotel. I will never have three dogs again.

(When our neighbors watch the cats, they don't charge. We all trade off cat watching. Dogs are more labor intensive, though.)

I was toying with the idea of perhaps eventually maybe possibly getting a dog from the pound when I move into my house. This thread is a good one, because I do like to travel. I think I'll wait until my travel bug subsides, if that ever happens. Plus, the last time I had a dog, you just let it do its business and kept moving. I'm really glad dogowners cleanup after their dogs, but I really don't know if I'd be up to that task. Makes me appreciate paying dogwalkers $$ for doing it instead.

The neighbor has a nice cat who seems to like to hang out on the porch. I've only been to the house a few times for the inspection, etc., but that cat has come to visit almost every time. I think I'll borrow it.

You are lucky to have a neighbor that will do it. I miss my neighbor in Tahoe right now because they would do it for free! I had to board my dog (yes I dragged her to the East coast via car!) it was $24 a day plus $4 for walking and extra play time. I have to say I'm in the market to find a reliable trustworthy person to do it now because that was probably her first and last kennel stay. I interviewed people to do it and they almost seemed like it was something they would 'fit in'. They asked between $16 to $20 to make the visit and it was about a 30 min visit as they said. To give meds was more. I would rather have someone just stay here (I have a cute house on the water) and well...forget that...people wanted $70 per night. I thought, they should be paying me! as one was excited to get away from her roommates! :confused: so I'm still in the market. Sigh...I wish my neighbors were more friendly...

With that giant ramble...I would say if she's coming over twice a day, I would give her between $16 and $20 because she's right there, and no gas to burn!

One thing I would suggest is to please take your valuables like jewelry, cash (aka small stuff) that you have in the house to a security deposit box or other place. Not that you shouldn't trust your neighbor but a long time ago I had someone I didn't know that well check on my dog and I still have a watch and necklace missing. It just makes it so you don't get put in a bad position...have a good trip!!!

Another Northern Californian here, and I agree that boarding prices are insane here. When we lived in AZ, a woman from our church boarded dogs in her home (she had us sign a contract and everything . . . very professional, but provided the TLC we wanted our "kids" to have while we were away). She charged us $25/day for both dogs! We never knew what a bargain that was until moving here. The people who watch pets in their homes charge AT LEAST $30/day PER DOG. So, that would be a minimum of $60/day for our two small beagles. Boarding them at the PetSmart Hotel would be $30/day as well. This does not include play times, food, etc. That is all extra. We've settled on a place in West Sac, about 25 miles away. Both dogs are allowed to board together in the same small room (it is their smallest room, but it is bigger than the crate they sleep in at home). They get two full hours of play time with other dogs their size (two one-hour play times per day). Also, the food is included. They come home WORN OUT. It still comes out to a little under $60/day, so we only use them about once a year. We try to plan as many trips with the dogs as possible. A new place is supposed to be opening here in Folsom soon. Sounds like they'll be charging the going rate of $30/dog/day, but we'll see if they offer a discount for "roomates" and include playtime, food, etc. If so, it would sure be nice to have a place close by . . .

For someone to watch your dog in your home or theirs, I would say $20-$30/day is fair . . .

TahoeDirtGirl, I'll drive up to Tahoe and watch your dogs for a week, for free, in exchange for a place to stay in Tahoe! :)

Actually, I know lots of people who do that in the homeschooling community. House trades and/or house sitting for free, for the chance to try a new place. I'll bet there's an online network like warm showers for that kind of traveler.

Karen

Our local kennel charges $35/24hr/dog. The trainer that we used when we first got the dogs will board select dogs that she knows. She charges $35 for the first dog and $25 for the second. The dog sitter visits for $20/visit to feed and walk both dogs.

When we've had someone house sit we paid $25/day.

I usually trade boarding with some of my dog training friends now, but several years ago I used an outfit called Pet Vacations. They maintained a list of families willing to watch your dog in their home and paired you up with someone close to you. An advance visit made sure that you felt comfortable with the home and they were fine with your dog. I don't remember the cost but it was very reasonable for 2 dogs and my dogs came home much happier than they would have been at a kennel. Maybe there is a service like that near you.

Kathy

I pay the neighborhood girl about $12/day to feed my dogs. She rides her bike to my house and feeds all 3 dogs- which takes about 20 min. total. She's a former student of mine, and I feel quite comfortable with her in my house. I was wondering myself if that's an OK amount to pay her, and judging from your responses- it's not too bad.
Now I have a new neighbor next door who offers to feed them for free when we're gone. I just buy him a bottle of wine and he's paid in full. :)

MicheleM, it sounds like we are using the same kennel. This is our first time using that one in West Sac and I have no idea how it is working out. Our three dogs had to be separated -- two together, one on his own -- and they are used to boarding together.

A friend uses that kennel and loves it, and it is much more convenient to our house than the very expensive and totally fabulous kennel we used to use. That one is out in Loomis, and we love it, but they doubled their prices and it is now about $100/day to board our dogs, plus a half hour drive each way.

I count myself as being very lucky to have a relative of a friend that is happy to just hang out at our house with the puppers. He comes self contained with a tote of his food, paper goods, videos, and laptop. He launders, vacuums and cleans the house and in return he's content to be paid whatever amount we bestow (which is about $15/day). We usually leave him cash for pizza and emergencies as well.