Puppy Sitter Compensation

[Melissa Bissell]

We are going on a 6 night/7 day vacation and our college-age niece has been kind enough to agree to puppy sit for us.  She will be staying at our home while we are out of town.  What is the going rate for puppy sitting services (in puppy's home, with family member as sitter).  She has not asked of compensation, but taking care of a young puppy is an enormous amount of work, so we want to compensate her fairly, and hopefully she will be happy to do it again!

[Kate, Mel, Tenley & Harper]

When my sister watched 11 week old Tenley for a week while I was at work (so 9-5), I paid her $200 for the week. 

I had a friend come watch 13 week old Tenley from 7pm-3am two nights in a row, and I paid her $150 (she didn't spend the night, I drove her home at 3am.)

We pay our dog walker $24/day for 2 30-minute walks.

Hopefully a few points of reference for you!

[Patti Engle]

At those rates....I'm available!!  Have doodle will travel!

[Michelle & Ruepunzel]

LOL ME TOO!!!

[Jordan & Daisy]

Lol me too!!!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

ME TOO!

[Malenie Piscetelli]

They charge between $35 to $65 a day for people who go away on a vacation. I checked a few places when we are ready to go on a vacation. It doesn't matter if it's a puppy or an adult.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Wow... that's the same rates for home daycare around here for a human "puppy"!  

[Jennifer & Truffle]

We're going away this summer for a couple of weeks and are contemplating boarding Truffle w/ a lovely retired couple in the next town over.  They came highly recommended both by a friend and a local dog trainer.  He charges $35/day, which seems reasonable to me.  He also gets to know the dogs free of charge before they come (in our case, he's taking Truffle for a bonus sleepover next week to see how it goes).  We looked into "pet hotels" (aka kennels), but many of them in our area charge a base fee just for the sleeping space and then offer lots of a la carte extras, including things that really should be part of the base price, like walks outside or group play (!) that can easily bring the daily rate to $75-$80!  

[Jordan & Daisy]

If my little sister watches Daisy for a day or night I usually throw her 20 bucks!! So a week, maybe 100 bucks? 150?

[Patti Engle]

I was paying $15/day to board Shelby....no extra charges and included a bath before going home.  They started getting more and more dogs and started crating them more and more so I switched to another place.  $35/day....NO add ons...and NO crates.  It is a house where every room is open to the dogs, and designed for the dogs....doggie beds everywhere and someone is there 24/7 and dogs are welcome to sleep on any bed they choose...sleep all day...watch tv all day or play all day.  Lots of outdoor time and constant supervision.  Amazing staff...amazing place.  I start away from places with add ons.  

[Melissa Bissell]

Thanks for all of your input!  I am thinking from reading all of your posts, that probably something in the $200+ range will be reasonable.

[Susan, Coby & Chloe]

I actually hired a pet sitter for our puppy when we travel out of town to watch her in our rental cottage when we go out and we're paying $15/hour! But it's worth it for our peace of mind since she'll be in an unfamiliar location. It's a one night type of thing so….hopefully worth the crazy expense!