SILVER SPRING, Md. –

By Linda Lombardi
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Walking a dog on a beautiful day, playing with kittens — for money. Sound better than the job you have now?Whether you’re interested in working for an established company or starting your own, pet-sitting is a growing business. Combined membership in two major professional pet sitters associations doubled from 1999 to 2005, according to David Lummis, a senior pet-market analyst with market-research firm Packaged Facts. Part of a much bigger picture, consumers spent $4.73 billion last year on non-veterinary pet-care services, including pet-sitting, or 32 percent more than they did in 2001, he said.

Those in the industry say people see their pets more as family members these days. They need extra care while their humans lead busier lives, and they need more than just a kennel when the people go on vacation.

Jaime Deason started a Fetch! pet-sitting franchise in Silver Spring partly because she had trouble getting quality care for her own dog and cat.

“We struggled to find people who were reliable enough,” she says, and it was difficult to accommodate last-minute changes in their complicated schedule.

Besides dog-walking, Fetch! offers overnight visits in which a sitter will stay at clients’ homes from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m., as well as boarding in sitters’ own homes.

When hiring, “our main requirement is that people love animals,” Deason says.

But spend a day with a pet sitter and you’ll see it’s more than cuddling puppies.

Gabe Schneider, 21, of Silver Spring works for Deason’s service.

“It’s always different, not the set nine to five,” Schneider says. “It’s always something new.”

One recent day started with Jake, an energetic year-old yellow Labrador retriever. Schneider’s job is to take him out for an hour “and tire him out.”

Jake bounds out of the house, but at the van, he doesn’t want to jump in. He sits, lies down, hangs out, everything but get into the car despite Schneider’s repeated coaxing. After a while, Schneider gives up and lifts the nearly full-grown dog into the back of the van.

They drive to Rock Creek Park, where they walk, play fetch and greet other dogs. Best of all, Jake goes for a swim in the creek.

Now Jake is tired and even more reluctant to jump into the van. Jake’s wet and muddy, but Schneider has no choice but to pick him up again.

As Deason says, in this job, “you’re going to do a lot of laundry.”

Schneider’s next visit is to Pepper, a 17-year-old cockapoo. Pepper also needs to be carried: He’s blind and deaf, and his stiff legs won’t let him walk down stairs anymore. Schneider sets him on the ground gently and guides him down the block and back.

Pepper can take only a five-minute walk, but Schneider helps the dog in other ways. One time, he came to the rescue when Pepper was stuck in the corner of a room, unable to find his way out.

Dealing with such special needs is not uncommon — one client has a cat with diabetes that needs an injection exactly every 12 hours.

Demands of the job
Loving animals is not all there is to being a pet sitter.Be ready for lots of exercise in all kinds of weather. In the summer, “I definitely take two showers a day,” says Jaime Deason, who owns a pet-sitting franchise.

You’ll be driving. Pet sitter Gabe Schneider said he spends about 20 percent of his time driving.

Working from home. Deason encourages her sitters to call her with problems day or night.

Demand for your services is highest on weekends, summers and holidays. Business naturally fluctuates, so hours vary.

Expect the unexpected. Assignments can come up or change at the last minute.

Pet-sitting is a people business. Some people are laid back, some people are finicky.

“Some people like their dog food mixed by hand,” Deason says.