Do you want to sign up to be a dog sitter on Rover? Right on — it’s super easy! You’ll be on your way to hosting new dog friends in your home in no time.
Walter waiting for a Rover friend to come by.
First, a little background: Rover.com is a site where you, as a dog owner/pet parent, can search for local dog sitters when you’re going away and can’t bring your fur baby. My fiancé and I first used Rover back in November when we went away for a week. We had only had our pug, Walter, for about a month and were super nervous to leave him behind. The Rover site was so easy to navigate and helpful that it put our minds at ease. Plus, with their 24/7 support and premium pet insurance, we knew we were in good hands. If you’re looking for a sitter in addition to becoming one (or just looking for a sitter), check out my Rover sitter profile and use my code PJSITS20 at checkout for $20 off your first booking!
A few months later, when I was preparing to leave my day job, we talked about it and decided that it would be super fun to become Rover sitters. Not only would this be a source of a little extra income (gotta hustle, right???), but — selfishly — it would allow us to have extra dogs around so Walter could have some friends sometimes. Win-win in my book!
Sign up to be a dog sitter on Rover
Step 1: Create an account on Rover.com.
This is the easiest part, but I promise the rest really isn’t so bad, either. The neat part about all of this is you can use the same account as a sitter as you do in “Owner Mode.” One huge benefit to this that I’ve found is that I can leave some of my Rover balance in my account (instead of transferring to PayPal and then to my bank) and use that to pay for Walter’s stays if we go away. I realize this isn’t incredibly significant and it’s just as easy when your credit card is attached, but — to me — it just takes one step out of the process and I don’t have to worry about it happening.
Step 2: Fill out the services questionnaire (this becomes your profile).
This page is a little more in depth, but still pretty simple to fill out. Basically, you write about yourself and fill in some information that will be used to populate your sitter profile. Here, you’ll fill out a little headline tag, describe yourself and your home, and then answer some questions to let potential customers know if you have dogs, cats, other animals, or kids, in addition to a little information about your home — if it’s an apartment or a house, if there’s outside space, etc. Essentially, anything that you’d want to know as a pet parent having your pet stay at someone else’s home is on this page. If that seems daunting, it truly isn’t — this should only take a few minutes to complete. For me, the hardest part was coming up with a fun and catchy headline that fit within the character restrictions.
Step 3: Add some photos.
This is a way for potential customers/pet parents to see you and your home. Your main profile picture should show you clearly and maybe your pet if you have one (a smile goes a long way here!). Other good pictures to add are pictures of the inside and outside of your home — that way, pet parents can see what your place looks like and where their dog will be staying. When you sign up to be a dog sitter on Rover, you can start with just a few photos, but the more the better! Additionally, once you start sitting, you can choose to have the pictures you send to pet parents automatically show up on your public profile. This is great for other potential customers because they see you with different dogs and see that you’re all having a great time.
Step 4: Ask some friends for testimonials.
At this point, Rover takes your info and looks over it internally to make sure everything is good. In the meantime, they ask that you get some reviews to populate your profile. You should try to get at least two and, once you’ve reached out to a couple friends or — even better — people whose dogs you’ve watched, you’re on to the next step.
Step 5: Waiting time.
At this point, you have nothing left to do and it’s time to wait. Rover will go over your profile and — once approved — send you an email and you’re ready to start sitting.
What to do after you sign up to be a dog sitter on Rover
Once you’ve been approved and are ready to start, you should set your rate and maybe do a little advertising.
Setting your rate.
Rover recommends checking out other sitters in your area and starting out by charging a little less than the average. It may seem slightly shady to “undercut” your competition, but isn’t that what business is all about? Ha! Really, this is just a great way to get noticed for your first bit of time on the site. I did this and, after a few clients, I raised my rate a bit but remain competitive. I’ve found that my repeat customers don’t mind paying a little extra (taking good care of their dogs, being attentive and responsive, and sending lots of photos are all great ways of making a good impression!), but my rate is still low enough to attract new customers.
Advertising
The best way I’ve found to advertise so far is using Craigslist. This is one of the recommended ways from Rover, and they actually have a
Walter and one of our dog friends hanging out.
push-button process for you to essentially export your entire profile to Craigslist. From your Rover dashboard, you’ll see a “Promote your business” section with buttons to easily share your profile. For Craigslist, you select that option and it brings you to a second page. From there, there are instructions on how to post. You’ll need a Craigslist account and, after you’ve logged in, you just copy the code for the title and the body and paste it into a new post. Lastly, choose a few photos and you’re good to go.
Other ways to advertise include sharing your link on Facebook, Twitter, email, etc. You can even get business cards for handing out at the dog park or when you’re on a walk!
Finally, you should set up your own coupon code. These coupon codes allow first time users to get $20 off their first stay. If the customer books with you, you still get your full rate. Even if they book with another Rover sitter, you still get a $10 referral bonus. Love it! Here’s my coupon code once again, in case you want to try out Rover for your pet:
PJSITS20
So, all-in-all, dog sitting for Rover is a great way to make a little extra cash while playing with dogs in your home. It’s especially good if you work from home like me because you’re always around while you’re working, but you get a fun way to break up your day when it’s time for a walk or a potty break. Working from home is certainly not a prerequisite, though, and anyone can do it!
Click here to sign up to be a dog sitter on Rover. Now — full disclosure — that is my personal referral link and I’ll receive a little bonus if you become a sitter and book two clients within your first two months. So, THANK YOU in advance for using my link!