How Much Does a Dog Walker Make? (2025 Edition)

Why is Setting the Right Price Important?

Pricing your services properly is crucial for the success of your pet care business because it directly impacts your profitability, client perception, and long-term sustainability. Setting rates for dog walking too low may attract clients quickly, but it can also undermine your value and leave you struggling to cover expenses. On the other hand, overpricing without proven experience or exceptional service can deter potential clients. Striking the right balance allows you to fairly compensate yourself for your time and effort while positioning your dog walking business as a reliable, professional service provider. Proper pricing also helps you establish clear expectations with clients and ensures that your business can grow steadily over time.

Research Current Services Offered in Your Area

Before you start setting your own prices for dog walking services, do some research on what the going-rate is for those services in your area. I like to use apps like Rover to do this. Simply download the app and use their platform as a customer and scroll through the people offering those services near you.

Get an idea of the ranges for each service that you want to offer. For instance, in my area a 30-minute dog walk usually goes for around $20 CAD, with a 1-hour dog walk is priced somewhere in the range of $35 CAD.

Something else that is important to research is what the rate for any additional pets is in your area. For instance, many pet owners have multiple dogs so it is important to note how much other dog walkers are charging to walk that dog on top of the first. For me, the magic number seems to be $10 CAD per additional dog.

Here are some bullet points for the pricing that you need to research in your area:

• Cost per 30/60 minute walk for 1 dog.

• Cost per additional dog walked.

• What bonuses do others in your area offer to legitimize their pricing - for example, insured services, pet CPR/First Aid, runs instead of walks, group walks, hikes, pick up/drop off service.

Should You Price Your Services Lower Than the Competition?

You might be thinking that you can undercut your pricing to set yourself apart from the other people offering dog walking in your area, but there are a couple of problems with this. If you set your pricing super low, that sends a message to potential clients that you're the "bargain" option and that is not what we are going for here. While low(er) pricing is a good way to attract potential clients at the outset, eventually your costs will overrun the low pricing that you have set your services at and you'll have to make increases.

In an effort to respect our time and effort, while still giving new clients incentive to sign up with you, try offering your services at the regular cost determined above, but give them a sign up discount or offer referral incentives. This way, you're not only maintaining pricing transparency, but you're also offering your first services at a "deal". I find that this is a great middle ground.

Pricing Transparency is Key

I'm a firm believer that honesty and transparency will go a long way with clients. Make sure to post your pricing offers while you're marketing and have them easily accessible on your website. Clients will likely still ask you for your prices, so when they do, make sure that you break down what you're charging for a dog walk pr pet sit and why. This should be in line with the pricing structure that you have already set out.

The caveat here is when a pet has some kind of special need that requires additional effort and attention. For instance, if a dog is super reactive, difficult to walk, requires a lot of medication, etc. there is some pretense in the pet industry for charging a premium for services offered. Use your discretion with this. Many of my clients have reactivity or aggression issues and I do not charge a premium, but the owners continue to book over and over again - so it evens out.

Final Thoughts

Pricing can make or break a business! If you do nothing else, make sure that you research the rates that others are charging for dog walking in your area. Charge the median price for your services and see where it takes you. You can always make adjustments -increases or decreases -Just be transparent and honest. You got this.