Guide

How to become a dog walker: app, company, or your own clients

How to become a dog walker by app, walking company, or your own clients, with Rover's rules, optional certification, and the paperwork for going independent.

Become a dog walker on one of three routes: an app such as Rover, a job with a walking company, or your own clients. Thimble's guide names the same three paths: a platform or app, a local agency, or working for yourself. Rover's own FAQ, saved by the Internet Archive, says you must be at least 18 years of age, that sitters and walkers are independent contractors, and that you are running a small business on Rover rather than working as a Rover employee.

Pick the app if you want bookings before you have a flyer, and you can live with their rules and their cut. Pick a company if you want a steadier week and you accept that they keep part of the fee. Pick your own clients if you want the full fee and you will do the finding, the registration, and the awkward ask for a signature. Certification is optional. A city license is a different question, covered in the dog walking business license guide. This page is not legal advice, and an app profile is not an insurance policy.

Route 1: an app such as Rover

Thimble describes the appeal plainly: the platform finds the dog owners, and you can choose the schedule, the rates, and the clients you accept. The same paragraph says some apps require a background check, proof that you are at least 18, and legal permission to work in the U.S., and that they take a hefty cut. Thimble also says these platforms may not offer insurance to their walkers, so you may still buy your own liability coverage.

Rover's pages are more specific than that summary, and they are the rules if Rover is the app you want. The sitter FAQ sets the age at 18 and calls you an independent contractor running a small business on the app. Rover's current background-check article, updated October 6, 2026, says all pet sitters and dog walkers who list on Rover complete a background check. First Advantage, a third-party provider, confirms citizenship, a Social Security number for U.S. sitters, driving record, and criminal history. Credit history and score are not part of that review. Have your full legal name, including a middle name, ready before you start. A passing check earns a badge on the profile. It is not a city license.

On licensing, Rover's help article says Rover requires you to follow local laws and regulations, and that requirements vary by location, so you check with your local government. An app account does not answer that question for you. Where the app is stronger: the first booking can arrive before you have printed a flyer. Where it is weaker: you keep only part of the fee, and the local-rules homework stays on your desk.

Route 2: a walking company

Thimble's agency section says a small local dog-walking agency usually knows its clients and its market, and that it provides more consistent schedules than hustling for your own bookings. The trade is money and room to grow. Thimble says you still sacrifice a significant portion of the money from each walk, and that professional growth on your end may be thin.

What that company will ask of you is on their application, not on a national form. Before you accept a shift, ask three things in writing: who carries the liability policy while the dog is with you, what share of the fee you keep, and whether you are an employee or a contractor. Those answers change your taxes and your risk. This route is stronger when you want a set week and someone else to answer the phone. It is weaker when you want your name on the door and the full fee in your account.

Route 3: your own clients

This is the route where you set the price, the area, and the rules. It is also the route with the paperwork. If you take payment and you register no other kind of business, the SBA treats the work as a sole proprietorship automatically, and you can be held personally liable for business debts. The IRS describes a sole proprietor as someone who owns an unincorporated business by themselves and files Schedule C. An LLC is a later choice if you want a liability shield. The ordered version of that setup is how to start a dog walking business.

You will also need prices people can see, a way to fill the week, and a signature before the first walk. Use the dog walking rates guide for the price, and the dog walking contract sample for what the client signs. Insurance belongs in the conversation before the first paid visit; the dog walking business insurance page is the question list, not a policy you can download here.

Where this route is stronger: the client pays you, and the terms are yours. Where it is weaker: nobody sends you the first dog. You find them. The advertise dog walking guide starts after the offer is clear.

For that route, the Complete Dog Walking Business Kit includes contracts: service agreement and liability waiver. It includes onboarding: new client intake form, dog profile and walk instructions, vet care authorization, and key and home access form. It includes a price list and a dog walking flyer. They are a plain-English starting point for the agreement, waiver, vet authorization, key form and incident report, not legal advice.

Certification is optional

Pet Sitters International calls pet sitting a largely unregulated industry and offers the CPPS exam as a way to show you know the work, not as a government license. The certification page says you must be a PSI member to apply, and that the standard application fee for the CPPS exam is $275. The same organization's why-certify page says the initial certification is valid for three years and that continuing education is required to keep it. Skip it until you want the credential. It will not replace a city business license or a liability policy.

A walking company or an app may still like the letters on a profile. That is a marketing choice. It is not the first step on any of the three routes.

What to do this week

If you want the app, open Rover's sitter FAQ, confirm you are 18, and gather the ID the background-check article names. Then read your city's rules, because Rover tells you to.

If you want a company, apply only after you know the fee split and whose insurance covers the walk.

If you want your own clients, do the start-up order in the start guide, put a price on a page, and do not walk a new dog until the agreement is signed. Pay for that route is whatever you charge. Figures for what walkers make sit in the how much dog walkers make guide, which is a better place for a number than a guess in this one.