Oh we've had this discussion before. Might want to search for those opinions. Folks will say 10 a day. I don't think that's fair. If it would cost $25 or $50 a day to board them, pay at least the same amount to the pet sitter. The advantage is your dogs get to stay in their own home, and that should be worth the money.

We pay a neighbor girl $10/day. She feeds the 2 indoor cats, an outside cat, brings in mail, & waters plants every other day outside. She lives a couple houses away from us, on the other side of the street, & her parents are pretty protective of her, so I feel secure she's not up to many shenanigans while she's here.

She spends approx. 20 min/day working, so I respectfully disagree with cynthia on price, this is a cash business after all, and the 'employee' has no overhead like a kennel does, plus she can go on the computer, watch whatever tv she wants to & help herself to food, etc.

I'm not too keen on the idea of the petsitter staying overnight, but your situation may be different. We always take our dogs so she only has to care for cats, that's less work. DH always says he doesn't want to see the petsitter having a baby 9 months after our vacation (this was more of an issue when his nephews petsat, which always meant overnight stays tho they live maybe a mile away lol).

Cute story about the neighbor girl...
Last year there was a boy walking her home from school every day & he seemed a little older then her (she's 8th grade now), after a few weeks, her mom asked him to take a bicycle ride with her. Mom & dad are Detroit cops, very nice but no bologna type folks. We never saw that boy come around again, DH says maybe mom killed him, lol, but I'm pretty sure she had a frank talk with him, and he lost interest.

I paid $10/day to a high school girl though my other professional (former vet tech) pet sitter charges about $20. This is for a short visit not an overnight. This was a while back and to this day she and her parents still talk about how it was the best job she ever had. She was more than happy with the compensation which equated to about $20/hour - a lot for a high school student.

I think I've decided on $10/hr for walking the dogs, and maybe $30/day for when she stays over and has to feed everyone (2 dogs, 5 cats, 1 pig) AND walk the dogs. They are, after all, my precious "children," so I do want them well cared for, especially when I'm gone overnight. They ALL need their snuggling and attention. I haven't really discussed with her parents yet whether or not staying over is ok with them, but they only live a few houses away. I'll leave food for her to eat too. I should think having my house to herself would be a treat. Thx for your input everyone. Love the story about the bikeride, jomuir.

I think that's a fair rate since my pet sitter used to charge $35/day just to show up and feed the dogs, get in the mail and feed the wild birds. She was also a vet tech so I knew she'd be able to get them to the clinic if it became necessary. Overnight stays are always more expensive.

Be sure to leave all vet info for the sitter and let the vet's front office know if the neighbors bring your pets to the clinic that you approve treatment if you can't be reached.