What is a Dog Walker/Pet Sitter?

For many pet owners, their dog walker/pet sitter is one of the most important people in their lives. After all, the dog walker/pet sitter is responsible for keeping Fido or Fluffy happy and healthy while the owners are at work or on vacation. The dog walker/pet sitter helps give pet owners peace of mind while they are away from home.

Dog walkers/pet sitters do whatever is necessary to help take care of a pet while the owner is not home. They walk dogs and make sure that they get enough exercise. When the owner is away, they often stay in their house to be able to feed the pets, keep the dog company, and immediately take them to the vet if there is an emergency.

A gig as a dog walker/pet sitter sounds like a great job. Who wouldn't want to spend all day with cuddly animals? However, it's harder than it seems. The dog walker/pet sitter needs to be responsible and highly knowledgeable about animals to take care of pets properly. They also need to have a strong stomach for the less glamorous parts of the job, like disposing of waste.

What Does a Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Do

There are certain skills that many dog walker/pet sitters have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed compassion, customer-service skills and detail oriented.

Learn more about what a Dog Walker/Pet Sitter does

How To Become a Dog Walker/Pet Sitter

If you're interested in becoming a dog walker/pet sitter, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 46.8% of dog walker/pet sitters have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 3.6% of dog walker/pet sitters have master's degrees. Even though most dog walker/pet sitters have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Dog Walker/Pet Sitter
Top Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Jobs Near You

Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Career Paths

In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of nanny you might progress to a role such as lead teacher eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title owner.

Dog Walker/Pet Sitter

Average Salary for a Dog Walker/Pet Sitter

Dog Walker/Pet Sitters in America make an average salary of $30,871 per year or $15 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $45,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $20,000 per year.
Average Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Salary
$30,871 Yearly
$14.84 hourly
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Roles and Types of Dog Walker/Pet Sitter

There are several types of dog walker/pet sitter, including:

Sitter

Role:

A sitter is responsible for assisting medical needs under the supervision of an attending physician, registered nurses, and other health professionals. Sitters monitor the patients' daily activities and perform medical duties such as taking the patient's temperature, administering medications, monitoring food intake, helping with bathing needs, and responding to the patients' inquiries, concerns, and requests. You will also keep track of medical charts to report the patients' health condition and progress to the senior staff. In addition, you are to provide emotional support and companionship to patients, keep patients' information confidential, and adhere to the hospital policies and standards.

To be a sitter, you need a high school diploma and experience performing basic functions, such as checking vital signs. You should also have exceptional listening and communication skills and the ability to handle emotionally distressing situations. As a sitter, you will earn an average of $27,625 per annum.

  • Average Salary: $28,724
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Animal Daycare Provider

Role:

It does not get any more fun than this. As an animal daycare provider, you get to hang out all day with a bunch of pets that their owners drop off on their way to work; feeding and entertaining them, taking them on walks, and supervising their playtime.

You get trained on the job to get up to speed with safety measures, what to do with aggressive dogs, and how to restrain the ones that go overboard. You will learn how to spot an injury and know when it is time to call a vet. You will have to feed the babies... ahem, I mean animals, clean their spaces indoors and outdoors, and give medications to the ones who need them.

Animal daycare providers might have to work odd hours, early mornings, and late nights, weekends, and holidays. But on the upside, part-time options are usually available. Getting bitten or scratched and stepping in poo is part of the package, but if you love animals, none of this will be too much of a problem.

  • Average Salary: $30,390
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Kennel Attendant

Role:

The role of a Kennel Attendant, also known as a Kennel Assistant, as the name implies, is to provide care, such as food, warmth, and water, to animals found in shelters and veterinary clinics and centers.

Their tasks might range from simple ones to more complicated ones. They often transport animals from one kennel to another, check on animals regularly, clean up around the kennel and the center, providing company to these animals so that they do not feel mistreated or lonely, and reporting on the animals' health and state, should any change occur, to higher management or the local veterinarian.

A prospect in this field should have a high school diploma or a GED. Prior experience with animals and animal care is always preferred but not necessarily a must. Strong organizational skills and a strong passion for animal welfare are key to doing well in this position.

  • Average Salary: $26,373
  • Degree: High School Diploma
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States With The Most Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active dog walker/pet sitter jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where dog walker/pet sitters earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California1,424$36,645
2Florida857$24,937
3Texas758$27,705
4Illinois549$30,094
5New York477$37,811
6Pennsylvania463$24,511
7Michigan424$27,459
8Washington415$33,470
9Virginia386$25,016
10Ohio379$22,431
11Massachusetts377$31,152
12Georgia364$27,797
13North Carolina324$27,436
14Maryland318$28,926
15Colorado316$29,554
16Arizona307$30,795
17New Jersey280$24,034
18Wisconsin263$28,140
19Indiana258$27,725
20Connecticut249$32,919
21Missouri232$27,115
22Tennessee225$22,289
23Minnesota218$32,846
24South Carolina168$22,727
25Alabama136$24,770
26Oregon135$32,303
27Louisiana131$25,648
28Utah125$29,026
29Kentucky118$33,043
30Iowa115$28,428
31Kansas114$27,182
32Arkansas98$25,950
33Oklahoma94$28,292
34Idaho93$33,138
35Nevada87$31,706
36Hawaii76$26,942
37New Hampshire73$32,295
38West Virginia67$34,466
39Mississippi67$27,493
40Delaware60$32,380
41Maine58$33,596
42Rhode Island55$30,768
43Montana54$26,479
44Nebraska52$28,257
45Alaska49$31,759
46New Mexico46$24,409
47Wyoming36$28,740
48Vermont32$30,758
49North Dakota29$34,868
50South Dakota23$29,291

Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Education

Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Majors

Psychology
13.1 %
Medical Assisting Services
8.5 %
Business
7.8 %

Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Degrees

Bachelors

46.8 %

Associate

20.6 %

High School Diploma

20.1 %

Top Colleges for Dog Walker/Pet Sitters

1. Duke University

Durham, NC • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,695

Enrollment

6,596

2. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI • Private

In-State Tuition

$15,262

Enrollment

30,079

3. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

4. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$59,430

Enrollment

8,216

5. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,740

Enrollment

5,567

6. Becker College

Worcester, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$39,200

Enrollment

1,725

7. Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,465

Enrollment

6,483

8. Washington University in St Louis

Saint Louis, MO • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,399

Enrollment

7,356

9. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$6,798

Enrollment

31,503

10. University of California - San Diego

La Jolla, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$14,167

Enrollment

30,279

Top Skills For a Dog Walker/Pet Sitter

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 72.9% of dog walker/pet sitters listed pet on their resume, but soft skills such as compassion and customer-service skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Dog Walker/Pet Sitter templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Dog Walker/Pet Sitter resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Dog Walker/Pet Sitter diversity

Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Gender Distribution

Female
Female
81%
Male
Male
19%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among dog walker/pet sitters, 81.1% of them are women, while 18.9% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among dog walker/pet sitters is White, which makes up 68.1% of all dog walker/pet sitters.

  • The most common foreign language among dog walker/pet sitters is Spanish at 61.0%.

Online Courses For Dog Walker/Pet Sitter That You May Like

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Essential training to keep your dogs safe, attract clients & gain skills & confidence to take action in an emergency...

3. Animal Psychology/ Pets Behaviour - ACCREDITED CERTIFICATE

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Learn about behaviour in dogs, dealing with cats, rabbit behaviour, cats and dogs psychology, aggression in dogs, pet...

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Best States For a Dog Walker/Pet Sitter

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a dog walker/pet sitter. The best states for people in this position are New York, California, North Dakota, and West Virginia. Dog walker/pet sitters make the most in New York with an average salary of $37,811. Whereas in California and North Dakota, they would average $36,645 and $34,868, respectively. While dog walker/pet sitters would only make an average of $34,466 in West Virginia, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Idaho

Total Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Jobs: 93
Highest 10% Earn:
$47,000
Location Quotient:
1.34

$33,138

Avg. Salary

View 93 Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Jobs In ID

2. West Virginia

Total Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Jobs: 67
Highest 10% Earn:
$48,000
Location Quotient:
1.04

$34,466

Avg. Salary

View 67 Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Jobs In WV

3. Washington

Total Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Jobs: 415
Highest 10% Earn:
$46,000
Location Quotient:
1.34

$33,470

Avg. Salary

View 415 Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Jobs In WA
Full List Of Best States For Dog Walker/Pet Sitters

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Top Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Employers

Most Common Employers For Dog Walker/Pet Sitter

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Independent Contractor$34,193$16.443
2Washingtonian$34,175$16.432
3Client Services$33,247$15.984
4Animal Humane Society$31,167$14.982
5Camp Bow Wow$31,104$14.955
6Homes.com$31,045$14.934
7Biscuits & Bath$30,926$14.876
8Care.com$30,833$14.8213
9DogVacay$30,816$14.824
10Wag$30,805$14.8138
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Dog Walker/Pet Sitter Videos

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Updated April 6, 2023