Both Ping Lim and Rachele Santoni are dog sitters/walkers with Rover. Ping started pet sitting because she wanted to find the perfect type of dog to adopt. Even after adopting her own dog, she couldn’t stop, she loves doing this job! And Rachele is an international student who manages to pay her rent and help her family with this amazing part-time job.
How did you discover Rover?
I came to Sweden because my husband and I were working with electronics, and we have been living here for almost 4 and a half years old. We love dogs, and had always wanted to have them. But we had never had the opportunity because we were always traveling and moving so many times, so now was the perfect time. We moved into a new apartment, a new place, so we thought “okay, let’s see what kind of dog we’re going to get”. And we discovered the Roverapp!
How are you doing? Do you have a lot of reservations?
We have had 28 bookings since we started in May. It’s fantastic. I don’t even have to advertise it. They come to
me because as of today I have nineteen 5 star reviews. Every week I got a dog. And the summer was perfect because some people went away for 10 days, so we had like 6 dogs over the summer break. it was awesome!
And the first one was a puppy (French Mastiff). He was only 4 months old when I took care of him. It was so much fun, we fell in love with him, and now we take care of him on a regular basis. Now we are going to take care of him also at Christmas for sixteen days. He is wonderful, we love him! So we have a visit from him at least once a week, we spend time with him, and his owner has become a good friend.
What are the main benefits of being a pet sitter?
Having a good time with a dog and earning money in return. That’s what I love. And I’m also getting to know everything different kind of dogs. Now we can’t think about not having a dog. Right now we are looking for more space to
be able to have more dogs. Our own dogs but also for those who come and go.
What is the biggest challenge?
The real challenge is not being able to say ‘No’. For example, when you have a triple booking. “OMG I have all these dogs but I can’t take care of them because I don’t have enough space and it’s hard, so…” And today I found out that I can only have two dogs.
How does the Rover app work?
Pet owners request a reservation, and you can choose whether to respond or not. If you do respond, you get agreement to get to know each other, and if you like each other, so much the better. But most of the time they (the owners) don’t have the time to get to know you and I just go to get their dog or the owners bring it to me. They come to your house and you just spend some time with the dog. Usually an hour goes by so they can calm down. And you do your business. This way I have time to do my own thing while the dog adjusts to the new place. It’s like having your own dog. And when we don’t have it, we miss it.
Start working today!
Work as a pet sitter/walker in the U.S.
All dog sitting and dog walking apps in Orlando, NewYork, Austin, LosAngeles, SanFrancisco and Chicago. Visit AppJobs to see what opportunities are available in your city!
Working as a pet sitter/walker in Europe
All the dog sitting and dog walking apps in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, etc. Visit AppJobs to see what opportunities are available in your city!
Work as a pet sitter/walker in South America
All the apps to take care of and walk dogs in the rest of the world BuenosAires and Bogota.
What does this job mean to you?
As a student it was very helpful for me because I have to deal with all the challenges of student life and
I also have to help my family. Everything in Sweden is beautiful, the people are friendly and I’m enjoying it. But it also means that there are some costs to deal with. So I am helping my family through this app. Also, people are asking more and more for dog day care, which means they need you to stay with their dog for a whole morning or afternoon. This is great for me because it’s part time and I need to study.
Why Pet Sitting?
I had this idea to start working on this because my mother is a dog trainer. So I started to
And I was surprised because I discovered that I have certain skills that I hadn’t experienced before. For example, organization, keeping in touch with people, providing photos and videos of their dogs, making the dogs have a good time. I am enjoying it, I will do it more often and I also advise it to other students.
What are the benefits of the app?
I’ve been trying to get clients through Facebook, but it’s not the same. I remember one time a woman
contacted me about her dog and she was a bit disappointed because I asked for 20 euros per day as it is on the app and she thought half the price would be enough . In fact, it depends on the needs of your dog. If you just want me to stay with the dog in the house, if you want to housebreak it. Because some people need help with their dog’s behavior.
What’s that like?
It’s similar to caring for a child. It’s helpful when someone can give you a different perspective on raising them. Sometimes the people say, “my dog is getting better with you, he used to have this intense behavior and now with you, he’s better”.
Usually people ask me what it’s like to work with dogs. And apparently it’s easy, but if you want to do a good job, it’s not easy at all.
What does it take to be a good pet sitter?
In this work it is very important to be updating the notifications because there is a great demand, and as soon as the how you respond, you’ll get the job. How you respond to potential clients is also important.
You have to be a positive and open person even if you don’t have a close relationship with them. After receiving the notification, you have to approve the purpose of the dog care (walking, day care, etc) and the clients can answer you positively or not. Then they go to your house, or you can go to theirs to receive the keys. It is also a job with responsibility, people put faith in you.
It is important that you send pictures and videos of you playing with the dog to show them that their pet is
having a good time and you are educating them. This is very important to succeed in this job because they can leave you a good review that will help you grow in the process of having new clients.
What are the biggest challenges?
In my case, what was a bit complicated is that I had an Italian bank account and not a Swedish one. But you can order borrow an account from a close friend.
What about profits?
I can actually pay my rent by pet sitting. One thing I’ve learned about this job is that
you have to be very organized with your calendar. Because if you want to earn more in one day you have to fit all the bookings to have more jobs in the same day or week. Honestly, I advise that if you have a big dog, work separately.