How To Become A Dog Sitter: What It Is and Career Path

What is a dog sitter and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Dog sitters provide dogs with regular care when their parents are on holiday. Usually, they live in the owner's house so that the dogs can stay in their familiar territory. They also provide necessary resources for the user and care for dogs, such as receiving mail and vacuuming dog fur.

When their customers are on holiday or traveling for work, pet sitters usually take charge of their pet's primary care and health. They provide food and water, brush fur and teeth, and carry out other types of tasks, such as walking them.

When their customers need them, dog sitters are always ready to provide them the support they seek; so, on average, dog sitters bill $25 to $30 a day depending on the facilities involved. The approximate cost of a 30-minute stay is $25; although, it costs $75 to $85 for an overnight dog-sitting.

ScoreDog SitterUS Average

Salary

2.0

Avg. Salary $25,532

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.7

Growth Rate 28%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.48%

Asian 2.63%

Black or African American 4.29%

Hispanic or Latino 18.13%

Unknown 6.41%

White 68.06%

Gender

female 77.96%

male 22.04%

Age - 29

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 29

Stress Level

6.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.0

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

8.1

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a dog sitter

Explore dog sitter education requirements

Most common dog sitter degrees

Bachelor's

38.5 %

High School Diploma

33.4 %

Associate

18.3 %

Start to develop specific dog sitter skills

Skills	Percentages
PET	66.44%
Customer Service	19.62%
Dog Care	10.34%
Fresh Water	0.83%
Clients Homes	0.47%

Complete relevant dog sitter training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New dog sitters learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a dog sitter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real dog sitter resumes.

Research dog sitter duties and responsibilities

Manage all breeding, whelping, raising of puppies, grooming and showing of dogs for owners in the AKC.
Groom, trim, and clip animals' coats.
Provide smaller services such as cleaning ears, clipping nails, and small scissoring around eyes and paws.
Bath a variety of dog breeds, and provide basic grooming sanitary needs such as clipping nails and cleaning ears.

Prepare your dog sitter resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your dog sitter resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a dog sitter resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Dog Sitter Resume templates

Build a professional Dog Sitter resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Dog Sitter resume.