How do I explain to Pet owners that pet/house sitting doesn't mean I stay with the pet 24 hours a day?

When it comes to boarding and house sitting, you can't look at the implied hourly rate--compared to walking--because it is way too depressing. ;-)

One idea is to explain to clients that having a house sitter (or boarding their dog at a Rover sitter's home) is supposed to replicate their own care. Owners go out, and run errands, often leaving their pet home alone for very long periods of time. You, however, guarantee that a pet under your care would not be left alone for, say, 4 hours or more. In the evening, you will be at their home from 6 pm to 8 am, providing the necessary overnight coverage and protection for their home. Anymore than that, then you would have to tack on a fee to represent a surcharge for exclusivity.

I would explain that the only way to have 24/7 supervision is at a kennel. But those kinds of facilities have shifts of employees who work no more than 8 hours/day. Asking someone to work 24/7 is unrealistic.

House sitting should always be considered a "premium"-type service because it requires you to uproot yourself and move into someone else's home. Moreover, they look to you as an added layer of protection for their home while they are away.

Look at what other house sitters charge in your area. I would think it should be higher.

Even prior to this pandemic, there were pets who needed (and/or pet parents who wanted their pet to have) 24 x 7 care. It's best to discuss each pets' needs candidly at, or before, the meet & greet. If a pet has medical issues or severe separation anxiety that will escalate in absence of human contact, it's in the best interest of all concerned to understand if it will be a good match.

At $3/hr x 24 (including sleeping hours just for easy math) = $72. so perhaps your $65 rate already reflects that you've decided to promote this? Or maybe you are still considering increase?

Good Question, I would be curious on how others answer. I don't specifically point it out to them but I do broach the topic. During the meet and Greet I will ask the owner if the dog has free range of the house when they are not there or are they locked up in a certain area? I then follow up with how long can their dog be left alone? I tell them that I am there majority of the day and always at night but I do have drop in Visits throughout the day so this gives me a good idea on how to plan my schedule or make sure that their dog would fit into my schedule? As long as you bring it up during the Meet and Greet you can not go wrong. You both are on the same page, The owners knows what to expect and you know what is expected of you! Best of Luck!

Just wanted to give the perspective of a pet owner who is new to this site and looking for that house sitter to stay with my pets. I got very confused reading profiles of people who were listed to offer that service but also had several pets of their own. I wondered how they would be able to house sit while still caring for their own pets--especially since one person said they walk their dog at least 3x a day. I read more about what this meant and noticed it did say 'up to 24 hours' so it gives that wiggle room. However, no one actually puts the info on their profiles of what 'house sitting' is to them, and I think that would have wasted a lot less time, to be honest. Of course I agree with someone else who said it should mimic what your own home life with a pet looks like, where you do go out and aren't literally with the pets 24/7, but again, I am skeptical that is even feasible for many sitters given what i noted about their own pets at home and the conversations I've had with several sitters about how much time they can spend at my home. Only one of 4 that I reached out to would do overnight stays a tall, and that was honestly surprising. So, transparency on profiles would be my vote, even if it's not super specific--it could at least say no or minimal overnights, or some kind of availability.