Are you looking for your perfect side hustle? Are you trying to find an amazing new part-time gig? If you love dogs, there’s a good chance you’ve heard about Rover.
Offering dog-walking and other pet services, Rover.com is one of the nation’s leading dog walking jobs among gig workers – a great way to earn some extra money and spend time taking care of other people’s pets.
But, like all gigs, everyone wants to know how they can make the most amount of money doing the job.
Whether you’re looking to make Rover a full-time gig or just trying to put extra income in your pocket, keep reading.
We’ve got seven great tips for how you can make more money as a Rover walker.
Jump To:
- How Much Do Rover Walkers Make?
- How To Make More As A Rover Walker
- #1 Create a strong profile
- #2 Offer more services
- #3 Pet sit and house sit at the same time
- #4 Sign up for RoverGO
- #5 Focus on a specific neighborhood
- #6 Keep your calendar up to date
- #7 Promote your business
- How do I sign up to work with Rover?
How Much Do Rover Walkers Make?
Like most jobs in the gig economy, how much you make as a Rover walker depends on how often you work.
Rover walkers get to set their own prices depending on their level of experience and what services they provide.
It’s crucial to set competitive prices for your area, so where you work likely dictates how much you can charge.
For example, dog walkers on Glassdoor report earning between $12 and $25 per hour. However, dog sitters can charge more for their services. And, according to Rover, dog boarders can earn twice as much as regular dog sitters can.
So it all boils down to this:
You determine how much money you make. Depending on the services you provide and the amount of work you put in, you can earn as much or as little as you want.
How To Make More As A Rover Walker
If you’re looking to increase your earnings with Rover, there are some easy ways to do so. Check out these 7 tips to put more money in your pocket.
#1 Create a strong profile
Getting hired on Rover all starts with creating a strong profile – and a strong profile requires a lot more than just listing your own rates and availability.
Make sure you include a professional photo of yourself. Dog owners want sitters, walkers, and boarders who are trustworthy – so make sure your picture presents you in that way.
Detail your experience and show your love for animals. Yes, price and availability are important factors in choosing a Rover sitter. But most pet owners are focused on finding someone who will be able to treat their dog with love and care.
If you have pets of your own, include photos of them on your page. It shows your love and dedication for animals, and some pet owners prefer to hire walkers and boarders who have a dog of their own.
Once you’ve gotten a few jobs on Rover, you can start including testimonials on your profile page. It will be easier to get booked for new jobs when you can prove that you’ve completed similar jobs in the past.
When you have a great experience with a particular dog or a particular owner, ask them to add a testimonial or review to your profile. Many will be happy to do so.
Make your profile look even more professional by adding a Rover badge to your page. You can earn the Rover badge by taking (and passing) the Rover quiz online.
The badge will demonstrate that you have some experience and know how to treat dogs with compassion and care.
#2 Offer more services
As a Rover worker, you have the option to provide as few or as many services as you want. You can choose to be a dog walker. You can choose to be a dog sitter.
You can choose to be a dog boarder. You can opt to dog sit (and house sit) at the same time. The services you want to offer are up to you.
However, as we mentioned earlier, some services pay more than others. So it goes without saying that the more services you provide, the more opportunity you’ll have to make more money.
Keep in mind, if you plan to do overnight dog boarding, you’ll need to ensure a safe and secure environment for the dog.
You’ll be responsible for the dog the entire time that it’s in your care, so make sure you can handle it.
Not sure if you’re ready to do overnight boarding? If you work from home, you might want to consider offering doggie daycare services for a few hours during the day.
Remember, dog walkers earn the least and dog boarders earn the most.
#3 Pet sit and house sit at the same time
You can increase your earnings if you double up and do more than one job at a time – and with Rover, that’s easier to do than you may think.
Many dog owners prefer to have their pets cared for in their own home, where their pets are most comfortable. So when people travel or go out of town, they often hire pet sitters to double as house sitters.
With dog boarding, a dog stays overnight in your home. With house sitting, you’ll stay overnight in the dog’s home, which means you can charge more for your services.
Pet sitting and house sitting at the same time still allows you the opportunity to do dog walking for other dogs throughout the day.
Some people find house sitting to be pretty exciting. It’s an opportunity to stay in a stranger’s home, enjoy new surroundings, or spend time in a new neighborhood.
To ensure your safety and the safety of the dog, Rover suggests booking a meet and greet with any client before you agree to do the job.
We’ve heard some pretty impressive stories from dog sitters and house sitters who have turned this gig into an interesting lifestyle.
If you want to get inspired, check out this article. It’s a rather interesting story of how one woman lives rent-free in NYC by house sitting and walking dogs through the Rover app.
#4 Sign up for RoverGO
RoverGO is a premium version of the standard Rover app. It’s ideal for anyone who’s seriously thinking about starting their own dog walking or pet sitting business.
It comes at a cost, but it also comes with a variety of perks that will make it easier to grow your business.
With the standard Rover service, Rover takes 20% of your earnings. That means, for every job you book Rover takes a 20% cut for themselves. The downside with RoverGO is that you’ll have to shell out 25% per job.
So why does RoverGO take a higher commission?
The higher commission may seem like a negative thing for many dog walkers and sitters. But in reality, RoverGO gives you more access to more clients.
And with more access to more clients, you’re likely to get more bookings (and repeat clients).
You’ll need to have previous dog care experience to use the RoverGO platform, and you’ll need to be willing to care for dogs of all sizes.
If you’re approved to work through RoverGO, you’ll enjoy a variety of unique benefits.
The RoverGO perks include the following to help you market yourself better:
- Profile photos taken by a professional photographer
- Expertly created content for your profile
- Boosted search rankings
- A welcome package that includes a variety of promotional accessories
- Coaching and advice from RoverGO experts
- Free gifts such as Rover apparel
#5 Focus on a specific neighborhood
With Rover, you’ll be paid for the jobs you do – but you won’t be paid for the time (or gas) that it takes you to get from one job to another.
It’s best to focus on a specific neighborhood to keep your expenses small and to make the most of your time.
Look for jobs that are within proximity of where you live, so you don’t have to spend an hour in traffic to get there. At the very least, try to book jobs that are near one another.
Remember, your gas expenses and the wear and tear you put on your car are your responsibility. So to earn the most profits you’ll need to keep those expenses as low as possible.
By sticking to jobs within the same neighborhood, you can eliminate a lengthy commute and reduce your costs at the same time.
#6 Keep your calendar up to date
Keeping your Rover calendar up to date is vital, so make sure you’re always on top of it.
On your calendar, you can list the number of dogs that you can handle on each day. So make sure that once a job is booked, you confirm it, so it shows in your calendar.
With an accurate schedule, you can accept more requests and book more gigs. And the more jobs you book, the better your booking rating will be. (Better booking ratings = more jobs).
If you want to maintain the same schedule from week to week, you can create a calendar with ongoing availability.
If you want to work different amounts on different days, you can edit your availability on specific days.
You can also create a calendar to reflect what services you want to offer on which days. This makes it easy for people who want to dog walk and dog sit during the week but only provide boarding services on the weekends.
And remember this: with an up-to-date calendar you won’t have to cancel booking requests. Canceled bookings reflect negatively on your performance and can make it harder to get jobs.
#7 Promote your business
As with any business, self-promotion and marketing are essential to growth. And Rover makes it easy to do so.
You can order lawn signs to advertise your services. You can order business cards to pass out to potential clients, family, and friends.
With a Rover profile, you can also spread the word on social media. Just share your profile link for all of your friends and followers to see.
When you sign up to work with Rover, you’ll also get a promo code. You can use that Rover promo code to send to prospective new clients to entice them to try your services.
How do I sign up to work with Rover?
To get started as a Rover walker or Rover sitter, click here. You have to be 18 years old to apply, and you need to live in one of the 14,000+ cities that Rover services.
You’ll need to provide proof of experience, set up a profile, and submit to (and pass) a background check.
If your profile is approved, you’ll be able to start booking jobs and earning money playing with and caring for the dogs you love.
We’ve talked a lot about the services Rover provides for dogs and dog owners. But the truth is, they are cat people, too. And that means that cat sitting is an option as well.
If you’re looking to make more money with Rover, there are some easy things you can do.
Create a strong profile that details your experience and includes testimonials. Increase your service offerings so you can charge higher prices for higher levels of service.
Focus on working in a specific neighborhood to save time and gas, and make sure your calendar is always up to date, so you don’t lose out on bookings.
And if you’re serious about growing your business, market yourself. Promote your services. Consider signing up for RoverGO so you’ll have more access to more clients.
With a bit of hard work and a genuine love for animals, you can make money with Rover and do what you love.
