Dog walker vs animal care provider

The differences between dog walkers and animal care providers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-3 months to become both a dog walker and an animal care provider. Additionally, a dog walker has an average salary of $30,893, which is higher than the $24,866 average annual salary of an animal care provider.

The top three skills for a dog walker include PET, walkers and clients homes. The most important skills for an animal care provider are PET, administer medications, and husbandry.

Dog walker vs animal care provider overview

	Dog Walker	Animal Care Provider
Yearly salary	$30,893	$24,866
Hourly rate	$14.85	$11.95
Growth rate	28%	28%
Number of jobs	5,474	70,701
Job satisfaction	5	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 47%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Average age	32	32
Years of experience	3	3

What does a dog walker do?

A dog walker provides dog walking services to pet owners at scheduled times, ensuring their safety. They first meet with pet owners to discuss their preferred schedule and use this opportunity to learn more about the dog and understand its needs. There are instances where a dog walker may walk multiple dogs, consider weather conditions, pick-up and dispose of waste properly, and feed dogs with water or food. Moreover, a dog walker regularly updates pet owners with the duration or location of walks, including the dog's behavior.

What does an animal care provider do?

An animal care provider is someone who provides care and attention to pets. Usually, this person is part of a veterinary clinic and offers all kinds of care pets ranging from grooming, medical attention, and hygienic care. The animal care provider is an essential contact person for animal lovers, which makes the position important. Part of an animal care provider's responsibilities is exercising animals, monitoring their health and nutrition, treating wounds, sicknesses, and other ailments, and giving owners advice on how to take care of their pets better.

Dog walker vs animal care provider salary

Dog walkers and animal care providers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Dog Walker	Animal Care Provider
Average salary	$30,893	$24,866
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $44,000	Between $14,000 And $41,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	-
Highest paying state	Oregon	-
Best paying company	CARE	-
Best paying industry	Professional	-

Differences between dog walker and animal care provider education

There are a few differences between a dog walker and an animal care provider in terms of educational background:

	Dog Walker	Animal Care Provider
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 47%	Bachelor's Degree, 44%
Most common major	Psychology	Biology
Most common college	University of Massachusetts Amherst	Stanford University

Dog walker vs animal care provider demographics

Here are the differences between dog walkers' and animal care providers' demographics:

	Dog Walker	Animal Care Provider
Average age	32	32
Gender ratio	Male, 29.2% Female, 70.8%	Male, 25.1% Female, 74.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 6.4% Hispanic or Latino, 18.4% Asian, 2.6% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 6.4% Hispanic or Latino, 18.2% Asian, 2.6% White, 68.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between dog walker and animal care provider duties and responsibilities

Dog walker example responsibilities.

Manage all breeding, whelping, raising of puppies, grooming and showing of dogs for owners in the AKC.
Head groomer, use of dremel, clippers, dryers, hemostats.
Provide in-home grooming services such as bathing, nail trimming, and clipping for all breeds and sizes of dogs.
Provide general bathing and preventative services, such as nail clipping and ear cleaning to maintain and improve clients health.
Assist pet owners by transporting animals to grooming and veterinary appointments.
Assure proper annotation of administrative MWD utilization and training records used for legal reviews.

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Animal care provider example responsibilities.

Maintain care on the horses, pigs, goats and sheep.
Work with turtles, snakes, frogs, skunk and owl.
Fed and water horses, chickens, goats, pigs, cows and dogs.
Locate pet product merchants willing to donate food/ toys/ litter to families struggling to financially provide for their pets.
Complete physical checks and monitor patients to detect unusual or harmful behavior and report observations to professional staff.
Milk animals such as cows and goats, by hand or using milking machines.

Dog walker vs animal care provider skills

Common dog walker skills

PET, 50%
Walkers, 44%
Clients Homes, 2%
Fresh Water, 1%
Minute Walk, 1%
Customer Service, 0%

Common animal care provider skills

PET, 35%
Administer Medications, 17%
Husbandry, 9%
Animal Housing, 7%
Customer Service, 7%
Laboratory Animals, 6%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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