What's a reasonable price for ten days of dog-sitting?

Is he coming to live with you or are you going to him? How many times a day? Will you spend the night together or will he be on his own?

My friend pays $$40/day for someone to come three times a day for feeding, walking and playing. She has to drive about 25 minutes round trip each time. There is no training involved. You could certainly charge extra for any serious training.

This is a rural area so the rates might be low compared to a city. I bet dog walkers and trainers in Manhattan have higher rates.

What difference does your choice of abode make? Yurt or mansion, your job description is still the same.

@gailcalled
I should have said…he’ll be living with me, and I will spend pretty much all my time with him.

I live in a city. I know that doggy day-cares charge about $20 a day for minimum care – no playtime and often not even any proper exercise.

I am supposed to keep working on his behavioral issues (lunging and barking at strange dogs, most importantly).

My job would be the same regardless of where they live, yes. In the past, though, I did think about the owners’ financial situation before deciding on a price. I charge less when I know people are struggling. The problem is that this time, I don’t know anything about them.

Thanks for your advice, it was very helpful. Also, thanks for teaching me the word “yurt”!

1— It is a poodle.

2— You need to discuss details.

Sounds like someones little princess, I say $5000 should cover it.

It sounds to me like you’re about to undervalue your time – your life, in other words – and sell yourself short to present a “reasonable” rate. The hell with “reasonable”. What is your time worth to you, and how much time will you spend on this project? (It doesn’t matter what the project is, whether it is building a rocket ship or walking a dog.) Based on that analysis, @poisonedantidote has it priced about right.

On the other side, you need to mitigate that rate a bit – temper your demands, that is – with the answer to the question “How easy would it be for these folks to replace my services with someone else or simply make other plans for the dog?” So that’s where I might start: How much would it cost these folks to put the dog in a full-service kennel that would give the dog personal attention? Would pricing your services slightly under that work for you? If so, then you’ve arrived at a figure that should enable you to feel that you haven’t underpriced your service, but give you a figure that you can also defend, to the extent that you might have to when they counter-offer with a lower number.

@poisonedantidote Good point ;)

@CWOTUS I’ve just found a full-service kennel in my area, they charge $35, apparently. Seems a lot to me, but good to know. You’re right, I do tend to sell myself short.
Great advice!

Given the age, energy and difficulties that this doggie is going to present, plus your plan to work on training, I don’t think $100/day is unreasonable. That’s, of course, $1000. You really are offering high-end valet service compared to the $35 for parking him in a kennel with minimum daily requirements offered.

If this is a service you plan to provide in future to other dog owners, you want to set precendent and establish your bona fides. If an owner in future does not want training, for example, you could use a sliding scale.

(Of course, when the owner returns, he will expect his poodle to be trained, at least somewhat. You will have to make sure that Fluffy will perform on demand.)

Poodles tend to have idiot owners that think they have a awesome dog. Price accordingly.

I am paying &25 a day for one dog ($45 for 2) for cage free boarding. If I had someone I trusted who would stay at my house and take my babies with them when they went out I would have no problem paying $50–60 per day.

I charge £10 a day if the dogs stay with me. If I live in their house and look after their home and any other animals they may have as well, I charge (or the company I work charges in actual fact) £25 per night.

I forgot to say, our doggy daycare costs £15 per day and they spend a lot of time playing, getting exercised, a bit of training with rest times in between.

I think the training part could be tricky. Perhaps work your charge as per regular housing and feeding. If they feel you have not solved their dogs behavioral issues they could demand a refund. Unless of course you are a qualified trainer then yeah charge away!

@gailcalled
“If this is a service you plan to provide in future to other dog owners, you want to set precendent and establish your bona fides.”
Yes, that’s one thing I was worried about.

@Leanne1986 Wow, that’s extremely low rates, isn’t it? How’s the “competition” in your area?

Thank you your help, everyone.
Turns out the poodle is not a poodle, but a “Schafspudel” – an old German sheepdog. Looks a little like a Bearded Collie, only shaggier and larger.

He is also strong, and spent most of our walk barking and throwing himself at buses, dogs, joggers, cats and bikers.

I’ve decided to take him anyway, but I felt entirely justified in asking for $40 a night… The owner was overjoyed at those news. I would definitely not have had the courage to go that high without your words of wisdom, but I’m glad I did. It will be a lot of work.

The owner says he is very quiet at home. I hope that’s true, because after a week of this dog behaving as he did today, I would be finished.

She also absolved me of the training dilemma – I am not to train him, as he will be the perfect dog in four weeks’ time. Yeah… ~

I had a friend once with an old German sheepdog. Whenever we visited and drove up the drive, Paws would rush out, woof a lot, and spin around in circles in one spot until he dropped from either vertigo or exhaustion. Not the brightest bulb but disarming and harmless.

…because after a week of this dog behaving as he did today, I would be finished. Are you prepared for ten days of this? You believe his owner? Hahaha.

@gailcalled “You believe his owner?”
Not a chance. I’ve arranged for several try-out sessions.
Yes, I’m not sure this one is exceptionally bright, either. We’ll see.

@longgone There’s a little bit of competition in the area but not a great deal but yes, we are quite cheap.