What: Online platform connecting dog-walkers with dog owners
Expected pay: $12 – $21/hour
Commission: 40%
Requirements: Age 18 or older, smart phone, experience with dogs, active lifestyle, reliable transportation
Review:
PROS:
- Flexible schedule
- Fun work
- Easy tasks
- On-demand walks so you are able to schedule work the same day
CONS:
- Too competitive
- Difficult to communicate with clients to form relationships
- You are tracked
- Have to be okay working alone
- Terrible support for pet caregivers and really bad pay
- High commission cut (40%)
Dog walkers have complained they are given little information about the pets in advance, leading to unpleasant surprises like aggressive dogs.
Also, Wag gives out coupons that reduce walker earnings. The $12 listed above is the net pay for each half-hour walk with one dog (after Wag’s commission). If you walk multiple dogs or a client books an hour-long walk, you get paid more.
Competitor site, Rover also offers dog walking services, as well as dog-sitting, and they charge workers a smaller percentage of their earnings.
What Their Walkers Say: (From Indeed)
“Working with Wag you have to really build a relationship with the dog owners in order to be marked as a priority walker. If not, getting walks (especially in a big busy city) can be hard because there’s not an even walker to dog ratio! However, Wag gives you the opportunity to interact with animals and build up customer service experience which can help you progress to a more consistent and better paying job. Overall, Wag is perfect as a side job to make some extra money.”
“First of all, Wag takes 40% of what the owner pays you and they already set the prices pretty low. They also offered no support to me when I had a terrible experience with a pet owner and only said they are following company policy. They are a company that seems to only care about the pet owners’ experience and not their walkers’ experience in order to make more profit. If you are thinking of working for them as a pet caregiver I’d recommend go to work for Rover instead. They are much more respectful and helpful.”
“I am very disappointed with Wag! I apply to be a dog walker one year ago and they asked me to pay in advance. They sent me an email saying they would review my application, and 3 months later I told them I wanted my money back to which they responded via email saying again they would review my application. One year later I call them and ask for my money back and say there is no one to talk about over this issue but that a person will contact me via email. Today I got 5 dollars refunded, when my original payment was close to $40.00 this makes me angry because they are taking advantage of people, is not that it is a lot of money, but it is my money, I wonder how many people’s money they just take and never get back to.”
“I have loved every second of this job! I enjoyed earning the trust of the owners, being with the dogs, and having the flexibility to make my own schedule. The most enjoyable part of the job is making the owner’s lives easier and putting them at ease knowing their dog is getting taken care of while they are away. The relationships you build through this process are very strong because they are completely trusting you with their beloved dog.”
