Welcome to the latest post in my side hustle series, looking at tried and tested methods to earn extra income. There are so many ways to make extra cash when you need to. This week Francesca, who blogs at The Money Fox, shares her advice about how to make money dog boarding.
What is dog boarding?
Dog boarding is where you will ‘board’ dogs in your home whilst their owners are away. Basically, you are getting paid to have doggy sleepovers! It’s one of my favourite ways of earning extra money, and I hope that it can be for you too.
How much can you get paid?
When you’re looking for some extra cash, you’re going to want to know how much you are able to earn! With dog boarding, I found that when I looked into my competitors (others in my local area), they were either charging far too little or way too much, so I decided to ignore their fees and think of what I would be happy with.
I personally charge £30 per dog, per day (including overnight). The way that I got to this amount was thinking that I would love to earn £1000 a month from it, so I divided £1000 by 30 days, and that was the approximate amount.
The average charges tend to be around £10 – £50 per day, per dog. If you have more than one dog at a time you will make a lot more money this way.
Where can I find work to make money dog boarding?
There are a few decent sites that you can use to find dog boarding jobs, but I’ve personally only ever used Tailster. The thing that I love most about using a site like this is because they bring the clients to you, but you are also able to pick and choose your clients and work.
There is a list of jobs that are available. You can look at the information on the dog and how long they want the boarding for, then if you are happy you can send them a quote. If that particular job doesn’t appeal to you then you can just ignore that one and move on.
You could also set yourself up a website or Facebook page and advertise that way.
What is the process?
If you want to make money dog boarding you will need to get yourself set up on Tailster first, which will require filling in some information about yourself and your home, as well as providing identification.
Once you’re all set up, you’re ready to get quoting! If you are using the Tailster site, you will receive emails when there are new bookings on there but you can also do some brow. I recommend this, as you will want to be the first one who contacts the owner!
You will be able to quote your price and leave a short message where you can introduce yourself. If they are interested in your quote and service, then they will arrange to come over to your home with their dogs so that they can meet you and check out your home.
All being well, after that they can book in with you. When the owner confirms the booking they will have to pay the money upfront, but Tailster will hold this until after the booking is complete and both parties have agreed it all went well. This is a great part of the process on both side; you know that you are getting the money, but they know that you will not be getting it if you do not deliver.
What if I work full-time?
When I suggest dog boarding as a potential side hustle, most people tend to say that they couldn’t do it as they have a full-time job already. However, I found that there were many dog owners who like to go away for weekends, so this could still be done around a full-time job.
Can I make money dog boarding if I already have pets?
If you already have pets then this is something that you will want to take into account. Your home is your pet’s territory after all, but if they are friendly and would be fine you could still do it.
Is there anything similar that I can do?
If you’re thinking that this sounds good, but you aren’t sure about having dogs in your home then that’s ok. There are some other similar options that you could consider.
Here are some examples of other jobs that are on the website that I use:
- Dog sitting (where you stay at the owner’s house with their dogs whilst they are away)
- Cat sitting (where you pop in and feed the cats/clean the litter tray)
- Small animal care (e.g. feeding rabbits or chickens, etc)
What do I need to make money dog boarding?
You will need to have a licence with your local council, which you can read more about here. But the thing that I love about dog boarding is that there are hardly any costs involved, as you can ask the owners to bring all of the stuff needed for their dog. This saves you money but is also good for the dogs to have familiar items in your house.
Some things to ask the owner to bring round for their pooch:
- Dog bowls
- Food
- Lead/harness
- Toys
- Treats
- Bed
- Blanket and towel
Francesca helps young women take control of their money through good budgeting. She also shares ways of earning extra cash that can be done from home around the kids, even with little spare time. As well as on her blog, you can find her over at Instagram.
Many thanks to Francesca for this interesting idea to earn extra money. I would definitely be up for this, but I think our cats would have something to say! For more money making ideas see other posts in the side hustle series here, here and here.
Pauline says
We have neighbours who are doing running a dog sitting service (two doors down) from the front room of their terraced house. They have three dogs of their own and other dogs who come and stay. They also take dogs out for walks local to where they live. I primarily work from home and it a symphony of dog barking from morning to night – then all through the night. They react when someone walks past the house, a car drives by etc. (not uncommon in a city). I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in months being woken up four or five times each night by barking. So yep, it’s a way to make money but it needs some thinking about and an good location to work from. They’re nice people trying to make a living but I’m at wit’s end.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
That sounds like a nightmare!