Hi everyone! I need advice please. I will be dog sitting for a neighbor for 12 days, and she has 4 dogs. I’ve only pet sat for family before, so payment was either cheap or traded for something else. How much would you charge if it were you or how much would you pay? I was thinking $50/day ($10/dog and $10 for overnight) because I will be there from 6 pm-7am, but I feel like I’m undercharging. We haven’t discussed a price yet, but I want to make sure I don’t get taken advantage of either!

Also, if it makes a difference, on the four weekend days that I will be watching them, it will be 6pm-7am with maybe 2-3 check ins during the day.

We pay $50 per night for our dog sitter to watch our one dog, so I think you're entitled to charge a bit more because it's 4 dogs. You can also look on the rover and wag apps in your area to see the rates that other people are charging.

@aurielle thank you! I will take a look at them!

I’d ask at least 80 a night when dealing with 4 dogs

@Yi_eune thanks! I will be meeting with her later today and so far I was considering between $70-$80…she did mention one of them is not potty trained, and one is “half-potty trained” and assured me she stocks up on paper towels so $80 may be the goal.

She's leaving her not-potty-trained dog alone for 12 days? That's...a choice

@aurielle yeah…apparently her usual sitter wasn’t available this time. I wonder if she was tired of cleaning up messes 😭 this will probably be one and done for me

@Kiwi_00 having to clean your after possibly two dogs.. I would probably increase price even further 😅

Alrighty y’all, it went about as bad as expected! She’s only giving me $250 but then they started guilt tripping me and I felt bad saying never mind the day before they leave. I was also partly in shock that she would underpay me so much considering they had kept mentioning how much they appreciated me helping out. Lesson learned on my part, and needless to say, I will not be helping them again 🙄 I don’t know their finances but if you “can’t afford” to pay what it’s worth to have someone stay over and care for 4 dogs (plus a stray cat I also have to feed now!), then maybe prioritize some things

@Kiwi_00 wait she tried to pay you $250 total? For nearly 2 weeks of effort? Don’t feel bad for dropping out. It’s not your problem their poor planning may affect their trip.

@Yi_eune not tried to, but is! :( I ultimately agreed because their guilt trip, and immediately after that they tried asking me to watch them for new years (I said no)?? Part of my not wanting to cause problems was I didn’t want it to affect their relationship with my parents, but they ended up being equally as upset as me so it wasn’t worth agreeing to. Today is Day 1, so we’ll see how it goes but I’m definitely not doing anything extra 🙄

@Kiwi_00 do the bare minimum, best thing you can do now is make sure the dogs don’t suffer because of their owners. It’s honestly concerning they have multiple dogs that aren’t potty trained. I can fully understand a puppy or an old dog having an accident but having multiple dogs that don’t have basic training is serious neglect 😭 I know it’s your business at the end of the day but maybe it is an idea for your parents to talk to the owners so they can make sure how they are treating you is not okay. They manipulated you into agreeing by using time pressure, I assure you they knew what they were doing and giving you a last minute notice of payment. Disgusting honestly.

@Yi_eune it’s very concerning! They make it sound like it’s no big deal to be cleaning up constantly after multiple dogs, but it sounds like they spend more time spoiling them than training. I remember they had dogs when I was little too and those guys were real jerks but at least they didn’t pee everywhere. I’m sure my dad will say something to them when they come back since they don’t have service where they’re at, but luckily that will give him time to choose his words carefully instead of going off like yesterday when I told him 😬 I definitely won’t be sitting for them again. Apparently their usual person is her sister-in-law, and I have a slight feeling they probably still pay her more, although they didn’t confirm it. This won’t even be enough to cover my books for spring semester :(