Job Description

What Does a Pet Sitter Do?

You own your own business right...so you can offer whatever services you want to offer!

Pet sitters usually offer an array of services from pet sitting, dog walking, pooper scooper, pet taxi and even house sitting. The most advertised is the pet sitting aspect of the business.

Pet sitting consists of taking care of all types of pets in the comfort of their own surroundings. Pet sitting does not mean taking the pets into your home. That would be considered animal boarding.

The purpose of pet sitting is to limit the stress to the pet while the owners are away for the weekend or on a long vacation. Most pets do better when they are in their own home with their own bed and blanket, their own toys and their own buds (other pets). Pet sitters provide this luxury by making daily visits to their homes.

The following is a list of common pet sitting duties during regular visits:

• Potty Break for dogs (can consist of a walk)
• Feed/Treats
• Refill water dishes
• Play time
• Snuggle time
• Petting time
• Clean any messes / litter box / cages
• Administer Medications
• Getting Mail
• Taking Garbage to the curb
• Watering Plants

This is what most pet sitters will do on most visits.  The purpose is to keep the pet in his regular routine. So, if the dog normally gets a treat when he wakes up, you would give a treat when you arrive in the a.m.  f the pet normally takes a walk around the block daily, you would do the same. If the pet likes to get read to (birds like this), you would read to it.  This minimizes stress and allows the pet owners to relax more while they are away.  If the pet needs a pill everyday at 6pm, you would be sure to arrange your schedule accordingly.

Pet sitters can also offer many other services to supplement their income.  Many pet sitters will also offer daily dog walking to help those clients who work long hours, have an elderly dog or have a new puppy.  Pet sitters may also offer pet taxi to the vet or pet taxi to the groomer.  Pet sitters may also offer pooper scooper.  This is picking up what the dog did while you were not there.  This is a nice convenience since you are already there.  You can use their scooper, plastic bag and throw it in the trash.  You can make a nice $15 or so for just 20 minutes of work or less depending on the size of the yard.  Basically any service you can think of which is pet related you can add on to a pet sitting service.  You can even add on errand services.  The possibilities are endless!

It is recommended to start off with just pet sitting and start building your business based on customer requests.  This way you will learn what your area is in need of and start advertising based on that.  The bulk of your requests and client bookings will more than likely be derived from pet sitting and dog walking.

Now that you know what a pet sitter does, you can determine if this is the right business for you.  Remember you are taking care of pets.  You may have some messes to clean up and you should have some basic knowledge of pet care and breeds.

Once you have determined if this is the right job for you and you have thought about which service you would like to offer within the pet sitting industry, it will be time to set up your business. 

The first step in setting up your pet sitting business is picking a business name.

We will discuss how to pick a business name in the next installment.

Pet Sitting Business

Business Structure

What Type of Business Structure Should You Set Up?

There are 5 different business structures in which you can set up your business as.

These are:

1. Sole Proprietor -Most common
2. Partnership
3. Corporation (Inc. or Ltd.)
4. S Corporation
5. Limited Liability Company (LLC) - Second most common

Let's talk about the Sole Proprietor first: The sole proprietorship is the most common structure to form amongst pet sitters. It is inexpensive to form. It is usually owned by a single person or a married couple. The owner is personally liable for all business debts and may file on their personal income tax.

Next is the Partnership: Partnerships are also inexpensive to form. They usually require an agreement between two or more individuals to jointly own and operate the business. The partners share all aspects of the business (good and bad) in accordance to the agreement. It could be a 50/50 partnership or anything else agreed to in writing. Partnerships do not pay taxes, but must file an informational return. Individual partners would then report their share of profits and losses on their personal return.

Next is a Limited Liability Corporation or LLC: This is very common amongst pet sitters. It is advantageous for small businesses because it reduces the risk of losing all your personal assets should you be faced with a law suit. It separates your business and personal assets. You can also elect to be taxed like a corporation which saves you at tax time.

Next is a C Corporation: This is a complex business structure with more start up costs than many others. This is not a very common structure amongst pet sitters since there are shares of stocks involved. Profits are taxed both at the corporate level and again when distributed to shareholders. Lawyers are usually involved at this level.

And Finally is a S Corporation: This is more common than the C Corporation since it avoids double taxation. It is taxed like a Partnership. A business must be approved to be classified as such, so it is not a very common entity amongst pet sitters.

There are also other structures which are specific to certain states. Some of these include Limited Partnership and Limited Liability Partnership. As always, we recommend getting professional advice from your accountant and lawyer as to which would be more advantageous to your business from a legal and taxable point of view.

In the next installment we will talk about where to purchase insurance and bonding.

Business Forms for your Pet Sitting Business

Rates and Services

What to Offer and What to Charge?

Now that you have the knowledge about what a pet sitter does and you have chosen a business name, it is time to write down exactly what you will offer and what you will charge. 

Get out a piece of paper and start writing.

What services do you want to offer?

Do you want to start out with just pet sitting?

Will you offer other services such as:
· Dog Walking
· Pooper Scooper
· Overnight Care
· Taxi Services
· House Sitting

Now that you have written down what you are going to offer, it is time to determine what you will charge.

In my opinion, it is best to charge for your time. Have time slots set up with a rate for each.

For example:
A 15 minute visit is $15; a 30 minute visit is $20 and so on.

This is for as many pets they have in a single household. In my opinion, I don't think it is wise to charge extra fees for more than 1 pet or 3 pets. It turns out being a turnoff for your client when you start to add on more and more fees. If your client has more pets than you feel you can handle in the time slot they request, they would have to purchase a longer time slot.

Many pet sitters will charge a small fee for administering meds (injectible meds or difficult to handle pets).

A nice up sell is to add on Pooper Scooping. Cleaning up what the dog does while you are there is included, however, you can offer to clean the remaining yard for another small fee.

Next we will be discussing getting a business license.

Business Forms for your Pet Sitting Business