No possible way to legally Dog Sit in Las Vegas?
Since sitting with Rover, we have had a great time with the dogs but an AWFUL time with the authorities of Clark County. We had been sitting 2-3 dogs at a single time total.
After a few months, one of our lovely neighbors reported us to animal control for having too many dogs on the property. They were incorrect in reporting us, but the Clark County government have given us so much grief, false information and hassle ever since.
We looked into the Clark County rules and regulations on dog sitting, and while a little vague, we have finally got to the bottom of it all.
Clark County Rules on Dog Sitting: - You cannot house more than 3 dogs and/or cats on your property at any one time. - Dogs/cats staying up to 72 hours WITHOUT renumeration (for money) are not counted in this figure. - All dogs/cats on a Clark County premises must have an up to date rabies vaccination. Certificate must be provided when asked for (Even for visiting dogs/cats). They also must be identified in some way to link the animal to it's owner. - You CANNOT Dog Sit for money without a Business Licence. - You CANNOT start a Business without getting Zoning permission Clark County Comprehensive Planning (Land Use Application form). They will let you get a Business Licence, however, it would not be valid without with permission. - You CANNOT get Zoning permission on a residential property in Clark County for this type of business (NAICS Code: 812910: Pet Care (except Veterinary) Services). - You CAN get Zoning permission (and then a Business Licence) if you are commercially Zoned.... Which defeats the point (or at least, my understanding) of http://Rover.com to be honest.
When looking up on http://Rover.com for Dog Sitters in Las Vegas, I can see so many people in residential homes dog sitting... I asked Animal Control this question, to which they responded: "We are slowly catching them all and taking them to court".
We have a court date scheduled for a couple of months time, and to be honest, I'm pretty pissed off! Firstly because there are active sitters doing exactly the same thing as we did, and secondly, because I reached out to http://Rover.com and they gave me a one-liner: "You are responsible for checking and conforming to your local laws". While this is true, why doesn't http://Rover.com check for Business Licences in certain areas? or at least do more to warn users of these potential issues. They could message everybody in Clark Country and say: "By the way, thanks for your patronage on http://Rover.com, but I thought I should tell you that you can't dog sit on here in Clark County unless you're a business". Might be useful!
As an independent contractor you are required to be sure it is legal to run a pet care business where you live. I'd bet many sitters in LV comply, and many do not. This is not a Rover thing but a community one!
I think you are missing the point of my message, unless you only skimmed it?? Making sure it's legal here means owning a business in a commerically zoned area (NOT from home). aka $3000+ a month upfront. Rover's core values aka Mission Statement suggest something different ENTIRELY. THATS my point