As a pet lover, one of the most rewarding job experiences that you can have is one that connects you with pets every day. Being a professional pet sitter or dog walker is the perfect way to make money while pursuing your passion for animals.
While there are services like Rover that allow you to sign up to be a dog walker or pet sitter at any time, these apps have their downsides. If you want the best experience as a pet sitter or dog walker, working for a local company that specializes in these pet services provides many benefits.
Here are 8 reasons you should work for a pet sitting or dog walking company instead of a digital marketplace service like Rover or Wag.
1. Worker’s Comp Insurance and Liability Coverage
Dog walking and pet sitting can be high-risk and high-liability jobs. They require you to be active, outside, and responsible for someone else’s pet.
In the event of an accident, whether you’re hurt, the dog you’re caring for is hurt, or a dog hurt someone else, as a service provider on one of the popular marketplace apps, you are not covered in any way.
Dog walkers and sitters on Rover, Wag, and other popular platforms are not insured and bonded. This is a disadvantage for both you and your clients.
When you work with a professional pet sitting and dog walking company, your employer will be properly insured and bonded, giving everyone involved peace of mind. You also have access to Worker’s Compensation in the event that you’re injured on the job and need time to recuperate.
2. No Need to Market Yourself
One of the toughest parts of being an independent dog walker or pet sitter is having to constantly be marketing yourself to bring in new clients.
Marketplace apps are full of competition, and you need to market your services to keep income coming in—unfortunately, this also often means undercutting your own prices and taking up a lot of your valuable time.
With a professional company, they will take care of all the marketing efforts for you. Your clients will be assigned to you, and you can spend more time focusing on the parts of the job you love: spending time with and caring for pets.
3. Customer Service Provided by Company
As a solo service provider on a marketplace website, you’re responsible for handling every customer issue.
While they may provide some support for their dog walkers and pet sitters, with so many on the platform, the personal connection is lacking, and many issues are handled passively without any nuance or investigation into your actual problem.
With a local, professional company, you have a management team that is there to support you and handle any client issues, including complaints, difficult clients, and unique client situations.
4. Paid Training
A reputable pet sitting or dog walking company will invest in its employees to make sure they can provide the best possible service for clients. This includes paid Pet CPR and First Aid training, as well as additional safety and behavior training that can make you more successful in your role.
As an independent service provider on Rover or Wag, you are responsible for paying for and booking your own continued education.
5. The Best Furry Coworkers
A list of the pros of becoming a professional pet sitter or dog walker would not be complete without mentioning the best benefit of the job: working with lots of dogs and cats. With regular clients, you can build special connections with the pets that you work with.
Because you’re not responsible for the marketing and client management side of the business, you can spend more time hanging out, walking, and petting animals every day instead of worrying about administrative tasks.
Getting treated like a rockstar by a dog every time you walk in the door? Nothing could be better.
6. Flexible Schedule
Being a pet sitter or dog walker is perfect for students, freelancers, retirees, or other people with flexible schedules. When you work with a company, you have some freedom to decide how many hours a week you’re available, as well as the times and days that you’re available.
Because the marketplace environment is so competitive, there are many times you have to sacrifice your schedule to ensure you have consistent clients.
With a professional company, you can have true flexibility with your schedule, especially as a pet sitter.
7. Work-Life Balance
With services like Rover or Wag, you’re only paid as much as you can work. If you’re sick or you want to take time off to spend with family or go on vacation, you’re sacrificing your paycheck, which makes having a healthy work-life balance difficult.
With many professional pet sitting and dog walking companies, you get the same benefits as other traditional employees, including paid time off. If you work more than 30 hours per week, you also get access to health insurance.
8. Discounted Pet Care
As someone interested in becoming a pet sitter or dog walker, you’re most likely a pet parent yourself. One of the best things about working for a professional company is that your pet gets perks too!
When you work for a pet sitting or dog walking company, you and your pet get access to discounted pet care.
Interested in Becoming a Professional Pet Sitter or Dog Walker?
Pup Culture is hiring pet sitters and dog walkers in our service areas! If you enjoy being outside, spending time with pets, and taking advantage of all the awesome perks mentioned in this article, then this job is for you.
Click here to learn more about our exciting job opportunities. We can’t wait to work with you!
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