Starting your business with DogVacay or Rover

UPDATE: As of June 12th, both Rover and DogVacay will be merging.

How to start your own business with DogVacay and Rover.

Starting a pet business is super easy depending on how you want to go about it. If you love pets and caring for them this might be the job for you! It’s a lot of fun and a great way to make some extra income. Currently, I am hosting dogs at my home. I have boarded dogs from one day to as long as one month. So far I have loved the experience and have met some great people!

There are many ways one can go about this. You can work with sites such as Rover or DogVacay, they pretty much do all the leg work for you. You can download their apps on your phone and literally run your business from your phone. You can seamlessly track details of the dogs stay and send updates, and/or pictures and videos to the owners, something that they absolutely love.

To start, you must first open an account with them and fill out an application. Once approved which typically takes about 48 hours you can go ahead and create your profile. The beauty about working with these sites is that you can create your business the way you want. For example, I have set my own rates, and indicated on my profile what dogs I will and will not take. For example, right now I do not accept puppies because Ginger doesn’t have the patience.

When creating your profile be as honest as you can. If you have other pets such as cats, indicate that. I also do not take dogs that are over 40 lbs. and do not accept last minute bookings. Those are just my personal preferences. This way people know beforehand whether or not to contact me.

I do want to elaborate on rates. You will see a lot of advertisement stating that you can make as much as $2,000.00 a month. Perhaps, but it really depends on how many dogs you are willing to take in at once and where you live. You should base your rates on the area that you live in. If the average rate in your area is $30 and you charge $50, you may not get many clients.   Keep it competitive. I did raise my rate a bit this year but that’s because I became pet first aid/CPR certified.

Once you have created your profile just sit and wait. My first client contacted me less than 2 weeks of my creating a profile. I set up a meet and greet, this is when you meet the family and the dog that you are being asked to care for. This is very important and I highly suggest you not skip this. It’s important that your pets meet the client beforehand. You want to make sure that you get along with the dog and get a feel for their demeanor. Everyone who contacts you will tell you how great and well-behaved their dog is but this may not always be the case. That is the main reason I do not book last-minute stays, I have a dog at home that I care about and no amount of money in the world is worth her health and safety.

If all goes well during the meet and greet and you mutually agree, the clients can go ahead and book the stay through the website. No money’s are ever exchanged. Once they decide to book with you, their credit card is charged. You will get paid two days after the stay has ended. Because you are utilizing the services from the site they will take a 15% cut from your payment. Your payout is always listed beforehand reflecting the 15% percent reduction. I currently get paid via PayPal and I believe you can also receive a check but there is a processing fee.

The sites provide all sitters with premium insurance. Refer to the websites to get more information, you can even call their 1-800 number. Being insured does give one peace of mind and again you are automatically covered when you book through them. This within itself is a plus for me.

Lastly, clients have the option of leaving you a review. I always remind my clients to leave one as this is a great tool to use to obtain new clients. I have scored new clients because of my reviews so this is a plus.   New clients have come to me because of recommendations.

Which leads me to discuss how important it is to keep your clients happy but most importantly updated.  Many people have utilized these services for the first time and are very nervous, understandably so. Send pictures often and text messages or emails letting them know how their dog is doing. I send updates in the morning and then again in the early evening. I always update them on how their pet is eating, sleeping, socializing, and just letting the client know that their pet is happy and healthy. Many clients will appreciate this, they just want peace of mind so that they can enjoy their vacation.

I’d just like to close by adding that I think starting a business this way with the support of these websites is a great starter. In the future I would like to venture on my own but for now this has been working great for me.  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask or comment below.