How much to charge a friend to sit her boxer for at least a month?

If it is a friend, I would either refuse or charge nothing. At no stage in my life have I asked for any form of payment from a friend. They can certainly meet expenses – that is normal – but not be charged.

Acquaintances are a different matter – although in a world where people can have several thousand friends on facebook/twitter etc., I think that possibly the boundaries between friends and acquaintances has become somewhat blurred.

@DarkScribe, Great answer, exactly my thoughts. We call people friends too early. I have many acquaintances, but a friend, in my opinion, is someone that comes through for me when I need it most. While this might not be a matter of life or death, it still seems to me that this is an excellent opportunity to build a stronger friendship on.

So is this really a friend? If it is, there is no way they would not make sure you are financially compensated for your costs. Who knows, maybe your friend even gets you a great gift after the month is up.

Than again I’m a bit biased, because I would welcome the experience of owning a dog for a month. I would have selfish motivations to accept anyway.

I agree with the gentlemen above. If she were my friend I would do it as a favor. She can supply food and whatever the dog is used to eating but I wouldn’t charge for anything else. I would just tell her she can return the favor when I am in need.

The only thing I can add to this thread besides the fact that I agree with @DarkScribe is if it is more than you feel you can take on, you could always politely refuse.

But if you do decide to charge, you might find some suggestions in
this question.

My neighbor always watches our 4 pets when we go out of town, and he has never charged us a penny. As a thank you, we usually take him out to dinner or do something special for him.

Do you love the dog, and love spending time with it? If you don’t, then don’t dog sit. Let her hire a professional dog sitter. Taking care of someone else’s dog for a month requires the pet’s needs to dictate your life for a month. You have to be there for it, and plan your life and actions around it.

This is why people keep speaking to their parents and siblings. Often you can cajole them into things like pet-watching, moving furniture, etc.

If it’s really gonna cause so much stress for you and suck so bad for you, you could always just (politely) say no.

Judge Judy would say ‘DON’T DO IT!’ – it always ends badly when a friend tries to help a friend in a situation like this. Unless you want to end up on her show, I would suggest your friend find a dogsitter.

You are sweet to consider it, but seriously, you have a lot going on in your life, and graduating from college should be the most important thing on your mind. and what if the dog eats your homework?!

This sounds like an arrangement where you my very well loose a friend and possibly gain a dog. Are you ready for that?

I agree with what everyone has said. It seems to be like you consider this a huge burden and are dreading having to do it. I would explain to her your thoughts and if she is a good friend she should understand and ask somebody else. Otherwise you may grow to resent her, which frankly just the thought of the favor seems to have already done a little.

I’d say no, i’ve done this very thing with a boxer and jack russell for a fortnight, (twice) boxer’s are great, intelligent dogs, but they are full on they require a lot of time and energy, and are a nagging responsibility (not being your dog and all)

It’s not that I don’t want to watch the dog, I love the dog and love my friend and I want to help her anyway I can. As I said, I would still watch the dog even if she couldn’t pay me anything. But the reason I was contemplating compensation is because I’ll have to forgo alot of opportunities that I would normally seize, like traveling or being able to go out and do general stuff. I always watch all of my friends dogs and all of my friend’s friends dogs and have never asked for money in return. I am the exact person you would want to watch your dog, I absolutely adore dogs. But an entire month to take over someone’s responsibility and donate my own time seems like a long time. I love for people to drop their dogs off at my place for weekends or even weeks at a time. Am I a bad friend to ask that I be compensated? I know I would certainly want to help my friend if they were helping me, especially with such a large task. I do believe in karma and always treat others the way I would want to be treated. Are these comments how you guys would actually approach the situation if you were in my shoes? Because if I was just reading a post like this on the web I would say the same things you all said without actually considering being the needs of the caregiver. Then again, maybe the reason this is weighing so heavily on me and why I’ve been freaking out about this and doing research for an entire day is because I know I shouldn’t ask for anything and simply help a friend out. THIS IS KILLING ME!!!

I have three dogs and often watch other peoples dogs.

Once, (and ONLY once) we took in a friends boxer for 10 days. Those were a LOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooong 10 days. Boxers are incredible hyper. MUCH more hyper than my Jack Russell ever thought of being.

We walked & ran the dog daily, and yet, he still ruined our wood floor and part of our door trim with his want of more activity. He dug a large hole in the garden….Let’s just say he cost us time, energy, and money I’d rather have pocketed than expended on him (& I ADORE all animals)

I would politely decline your friends offer. Help said friend find a good place (like a great vet) to board her dog at.