Im pet sitting for 2 dogs for a week. During that time they want me to stay at their house for and ask that i give the one dog its medication, walk the dogs at least once a day, pick up mail/ paper, turn on the sprinkler for the lawn, and water the plants at least once during the week. They are family friends so im not trying to bleed them but how much would you all say is appropriate? I was thinking $20 or $25 a day

7/28/2009 5:54:50 PM

My girlfriend does something like this for $25/day.

7/28/2009 5:56:56 PM

id say $200 for the week

there are 2 dogs, one needs medication
plants are a one time deal, thats easy, as is the mail and newspaper

boarding the dogs alone would bleed them dry, plus you're going to end up walking the dogs more than once per day if you're staying there because they'll want to go out. and they prefer to keep their dogs at home because its more comfortable for them. i'd assume you're welcome to the food in their home, within reason but i feel $200 is reasonable, since you're likely to eat a few more meals out.

7/28/2009 6:06:24 PM

anyone?

7/29/2009 5:09:56 PM

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like there are two answers on this page already....

7/29/2009 5:21:56 PM

I think 25$ is reasonable. I used to do something similar in the past, and they generally paid me $50 a day, but since it's your family...I think that'd be too high.

7/29/2009 5:23:17 PM

There is already more than one helpful response. Did you miss them?

7/29/2009 5:23:23 PM

we pay our guy 20 a night for 2 dogs, mail pick up and watering plants.

7/29/2009 5:30:41 PM

Another question - how much is reasonable for one visit/day for cat and guinea pig feeding? We were thinking 10-15 a day, only because there's almost nothing to be done.

This is for 7 days, so there will be at least one litterbox cleaning during that week, but nothing too tough or demanding. Is 10 bucks a day reasonable to pay a neighbor?

7/29/2009 5:50:58 PM

$100/week. That covers food and gas to get to their house. The rest you are doing as a a good friend/favor to them.

7/29/2009 5:56:59 PM

For a cat and guinea pig that's reasonable, considering it's your neighbor so there's no driving over involved. If it was a friend that had to drive over there I'd pay more.

Thankfully my roommates didn't mind taking care of my cat, I guess she's not as annoying as I am.

7/29/2009 6:04:41 PM

free bowl pack

[Edited on July 29, 2009 at 6:24 PM. Reason : per day]

7/29/2009 6:24:01 PM

I'd pay ^ not to watch my dogs

7/29/2009 6:31:44 PM

i watched my neighbors dogs like 2 weeks ago

[Edited on July 29, 2009 at 6:33 PM. Reason : but by all means pay me not to do it lol]

7/29/2009 6:33:09 PM

EDIT: after more closely reading the OP, what with the walking dogs and medication, that's pretty significant, and anyone would have to pay at least $20.

we paid one person $15/day to just walk our one dog for an hour, nothing else.









[Edited on July 29, 2009 at 7:04 PM. Reason : ]

7/29/2009 7:01:46 PM

last time i paid someone to walk my dogs they ended up punching my puppy in the face.

if they are family friends then why would you even charge them? You never know when you'll need them for a week or so.

[Edited on July 30, 2009 at 9:09 AM. Reason : ]

7/30/2009 9:07:18 AM

Quote :

"You never know when you'll need them for a week or so. "

if they are willing to pay her, it's a nice gesture and they most likely don't want to owe her anything.

plus the puppy probably deserved it.

i dunno what pro housesitters charge, but $25 seems too low. for family friends, yeah why not (take one for the team - unless they are wealthy ).

7/30/2009 10:06:17 AM

for a pro it's a minimum $10 per visit (and that's usually just checking to make sure a single animal is still alive) Staying at their place would be $40+ a day. Jen's friends are still getting a deal, but they aren't getting an insured pro either (yes, to be a pro pet sitter you have to have insurance in case a dog escapes during a walk or something).

7/30/2009 10:20:36 AM

^^ why would they owe her anything. She's staying at their house; if anything, she's getting room/board as payment.

IT'S FAMILY FRIENDS!!! Nothing should be owed and if I were them I'd disown if you asked for $$. The ONLY exception is if for some reason they don't provide dog food or medicine and you have to pay for it yourself.

7/30/2009 12:29:30 PM

My parents are paying a friend $200 to stay at their house for 10 days in October. Watch 1 dog and 2 cats.

And it's not that they're giving her a free place to stay for 2 weeks... pretty sure she's still paying rent on her own place for the time she's not there. It actually is an inconvenience not to be staying at your own place. But for a friend, i would think $20-$25 is fair.

7/30/2009 12:34:50 PM

a friend, ok ask for money.
but to me, a family friend is a lifelong friend, not just a facebook buddy. exactly how inconvenient would it be? would you have to travel a further for work?

7/30/2009 12:46:12 PM

I should clarify this, they are NOT really family friends, at least in the traditional sense. We met about a year ago when they adopted a dog we were fostering. They live near us and are truly wonderful people so they have become family friends and people I have no desire to make an unreasonably large profit from (aka why i termed them family friends). Sense they adopted him they have always asked me to petsit for them if they need him let out or were going to be gone the weekend, which although they pay me, i would happy do for free. A week..... well that's a different story

Quote :

"It actually is an inconvenience not to be staying at your own place. "

Exactly. Thats my biggest thing, not sleeping in my own bed, no wireless internet, having to schlep bathroom & hair stuff over, cant have friends stop by,

[Edited on August 1, 2009 at 9:37 AM. Reason : sa]

8/1/2009 9:30:56 AM

Quote :

"It actually is an inconvenience not to be staying at your own place. "

and

the last time I dog sat i was compensated $400 for the week.

8/1/2009 2:03:03 PM

Quote :

"^^ why would they owe her anything. She's staying at their house; if anything, she's getting room/board as payment."

seriously, that is one of the dumbest things i've heard.

Quote :

"And it's not that they're giving her a free place to stay for 2 weeks... pretty sure she's still paying rent on her own place for the time she's not there. It actually is an inconvenience not to be staying at your own place. But for a friend, i would think $20-$25 is fair."

This is exactly what I thought of after reading katiencbabe's post.

8/1/2009 3:20:40 PM

Seriously

8/1/2009 8:16:42 PM

seriously

i thought byy mentioning they are family friends that meant you treated them like family, but guess i was wrong!

8/2/2009 1:31:38 PM

Quote :

"But for a friend, i would think $20-$25 is fair."

We have someone on here watch our dog+cat when we're out of town usually, and its in that range.

[Edited on August 2, 2009 at 2:11 PM. Reason : bah]

8/2/2009 2:11:18 PM

I used to get 100 a week like 3 years ago. I didn't have to give them any meds or walk them though.

8/4/2009 2:11:13 AM

My advice in this thread is to ignore everything katiecbabe has said.

I watched my brother and his girlfriend's two dogs for 10 days back in December. I stayed at their house and took care of them. I didn't ask them for anything, but they bought me two Christmas gifts instead of one as a way to say thanks. Again this was my brother. If it was someone else $25/day sounds fair. $25/day is pretty much the standard rate to board a dog anyway.

8/4/2009 9:54:12 AM

I guess if you're just looking for moral reinforcement on charging some family friends for a service that you should really be offering as a kind gesture of friendship, then TWW has the group of people who will support you.

As for regular friends, I pay ~$20/day in money or booze and food.

[Edited on August 4, 2009 at 11:51 AM. Reason : ]

8/4/2009 11:50:44 AM

How about 6 cats (3 have medical issues that need care twice a day) and 3 litter boxes and 1 dog with ADD for 10 days. My coworker asked me my second day on the job to do this last week, and I have to say I admire her strategy b/c how could I say no to someone who is my superior? It was Hell, seriously thought about drowning all the cats in a pillow case in the tub. Money was never discussed, but I found out afterwards that she was going to pay someone else to do it. Now I keep checking the mirror to see if SUCKER appears on my forehead. And she never said thank you after I returned the key. P.S. I never stayed the night because I hate cats and pictured them eating my face in my sleep.

8/4/2009 3:05:12 PM

^was your boss katiencbabe?

It's not that family wouldn't do it for free, it's that anyone who isn't an outrageous cheapass wouldn't allow their family or close friends to do it for free. (or their employees, for that matter)

8/4/2009 3:43:29 PM

^ha, no but someone wicked

8/4/2009 3:54:32 PM

IF I had 6 cats, 1 dog, and 3 on meds I would make sure to pay the person well, even if they didn't ask for the money. People tend to take things more seriously when getting paid and I'd be afraid someone would blow off giving the cats meds if they were doing it for free. Plus you are never going to get someone to do all that more than once unless you pay well.

8/4/2009 3:54:48 PM

My superior and her BF went to Sweden for 10 days, so 2 of the cats and the dog were his, and he was going to pay his buddy to watch them, but felt his buddy wouldn't take good care of them. I half hoped that she would pay me when she returned, but NOT EVEN A THANK YOU at work today when I gave her the key, even after I went through all the things they did (like getting into trash, eating a control, pissing/shitting everywhere, shit knocked off counters/shelves, etc)

8/4/2009 4:00:11 PM

^

Are you a floormat? I would be much more assertive and approach this person and say "you're welcome." Never let anyone treat you like that. Maybe I'm an asshole, but fuck that bs. Anyone and everyone would get an earfull from me if they pulled that shit.


OP:

I did this exact same thing for my Brother and his Wife as they went to Maine for a week. All I asked for was an ample amount of food and drink.

If I was doing this for a friend, but not a relative, I would wait for them to offer and accept whatever they think is reasonable.

Hopefully your friends made you an offer and didn't expect you to set the price. If so, go with 25/day.

[Edited on August 4, 2009 at 4:49 PM. Reason : -]

8/4/2009 4:45:24 PM

Quote :

"1 dog with ADD"

:carlface:

for once, lewoods makes a good point.

mcfluffle is our petsitter. My cat is easy: feed her twice a day, make sure she has water, and scoop the litterbox once in a while. My husband's dog, however, is another story...

While we know she would take care of these two critters well no matter what, we pay her, because she is an excellent petsitter (actually, BEYOND excellent), and we want to continue to have her services available.

Hell, when the dog got sick while we were gone, she took him to the vet. When I picked him up from a followup, the vet techs kept going on and on about how great a petsitter she is, and how they were totally floored by the fact that she gave him a sincere kiss when she dropped him off. (He's NOT a loveable dog when he's sick or having complications. He could make Mother Teresa dropkick him into a quarry.)

Just because she would do it for free once in a while doesn't mean we'd ever dream of asking her to. Tuscarora, ask your boss if she thinks she'll want you to petsit ever again. If she says yes, indicate that you expect to be compensated fairly. If she says no, say 'good'. Well, depending on how much you can sass your boss

8/4/2009 5:38:43 PM

8/5/2009 6:18:28 PM

the people in sitting for ended up saying they were planning to pay me between 40 to 50 a day.

8/5/2009 8:42:39 PM

If they are a family friend, what is stopping you from doing it for free?

8/6/2009 12:23:46 PM

^ you are outnumbered. Don't even bother.

8/6/2009 12:55:21 PM

So my boss surprised me today with $400 and some gifts from Sweden, after I sent an email explaining my discomfort and asking whether this was a favor or for payment, she said she completely forgot to talk about the $$$ before she left. All is good in my world again.

8/6/2009 7:32:22 PM

^^ These are people i only met a year ago and only because they adopted the dog we were fostering. I dont want to screw them over and we do consider them family friends but its not like ive known them 10 years or have any intimate associations so I expect to be paid for my time

8/7/2009 1:43:48 AM