6 Best Jobs for Dog Lovers: Making a Career Out of Caring For Canines

Do you love spending time with your precious pooches? Maybe you should consider turning your love for dogs into a career on the side – or even a full-time career.

We took a look at some of the best careers for dog lovers, how much you can get paid doing it, and explored some of their pros and cons!

See if you have a future working with canines!

Job #1: Veterinary Assistant

A veterinary assistant helps out with a variety of needs at a veterinarian clinic. Your job may involve standing by during veterinary examinations and surgeries, or more simple tasks like taking names for appointments and dealing with collar issues.

As a veterinary assistant, you’ll have to deal with pet owners by answering their questions (even the annoying ones). You’ll also have to assist the vet in all duties concerning animal care: Often, not just the cute and fluffy ones.

You don’t need certification to become a veterinary assistant, though many people do complete several courses in veterinary science before they apply for a job. You can take a look at some of the accredited courses in veterinary science through the American Veterinary Medical Association’s official website.

Average Pay: According to Chron.com, the average salary for a veterinary assistant can range between $11.75 per hour to $16.81, while the “bottom ten percent” are looking at $8.16 per hour rates.

PROS: If you love helping animals, you could make a great veterinary assistant: The job needs dedicated animal lovers who really do love their jobs. 

CONS: As a veterinary assistant, you’ll often see the worst side of animals who come in. Plus, if you faint at the sight of blood, you might want to consider another career entirely.

Job #2: Professional Dog Groomer

Professional dog groomers can make good money, and as a groomer you have the option of joining up with an existing company who could use another hand, or starting your own freelance business if you have enough willing dog owners with cash for pet grooming.

You’ve got to have an exceptionally steady hand to be a professional pet groomer, and you’ll have to know how to deal with even the angrier dogs who really don’t want to stand still in one spot.

There are professional dog grooming courses available online, though that doesn’t seem to be a prerequisite for the job. Take a look at this JKL diploma course in dog grooming, dog grooming courses from the Pet Industry Federation or dog grooming courses through QC Pet Studies just to name a couple.

Consider if you’ll be traveling or if people will be coming to you, and what tools and shampoos you’re going to need in your kit (we’ve got a list of the must-have essential dog grooming tools to get you started).

Also take some time to think about how you’ll react in more difficult situations. What are you going to do if you get a tough cookie? How about a pet with particularly sensitive skin? Know how to handle all of these issues before you potentially take on a job.

Average Pay: According to PayScale.com, hourly rates for professional dog groomers can range between $8.86 – $20.59. (If that seems like a far leap between the two, it all depends on who you’re working for, your experience and the services you offer.)

PROS: Hey, you get to be a hairstylist for dogs! It can’t get much better than that. 

CONS: It can be an expensive business to get started (there’s quite a bit of gear), especially if you need assistance. Dog grooming also has a higher learning curve than most people have patience.

Plus, some dogs have the potential to bite under the stress that can go with grooming sessions (if you’ve ever handled a dog who doesn’t want to have his nails cut, you’ll know what I mean), so make sure you have your shots!

Job #3: Dog Walker

If you’ve got some free time on your hands and love going out for a walk anyway, why not consider becoming a professional dog walker?

This is a potentially great career, and in busy areas like New York you can make a fair amount walking people’s dogs when they don’t have the time to do it.

No qualifications are needed to become a professional dog walker, though you might want to chalk up on some practical experience.

Work out a route and be willing and able to show potential clients exactly where you’ll be walking with their dogs. Consider if you’ll charge per-hour or per session.

As with dog grooming, walking offers a few different avenues of activity. You can offer your own dog walking services and advertise like crazy around town, or you can join up with an existing dog walking service.

Apps like Wag! and Rover make it very easy to advertise your services, but they’ll take a cut in exchange. Still, even with the profit cut, it’s hard to beat the benefits of sites like Rover, who have massive budgets that are being used to promote their website – and in turn, bringing you many more clients than you could likely get on your own.

Safety is a huge concern when you’re walking other people’s dogs: Your job isn’t just to walk the dogs, you’ve got to get them from A to B to back to A safe. That means you can’t double-book the slightly aggressive Rottweiler with the miniature schnauzer because you know they’re not going to get along.

In some cases, especially when running your own dog walking business, you may want to consider liability insurance in the event that a dog you are walking injures you, another human, or another dog.

Average Pay: According to PayScale.com, the average salary for a dog walker is $13.27 per hour.

PROS: You get to spend time with dogs, which is – again – absolutely undeniably great! Plus, you can make good money depending on where you’re located and how well you’re able to juggle different bookings. 

CONS: You’ll have to be in at least semi-decent shape take on this job. Depending on your route, you might walk long distances, or smaller routes multiple times a day. You also have to make sure that the dogs don’t end up walking you and that you’re able to take control of the pack.

Job #4: Dog Trainer

Do people make a habit out of calling you the dog whisperer? Well, maybe you should consider becoming a professional dog trainer.

This job takes more training than some of the other jobs on the list, and we’d strongly urge people to look into the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers and the Institute of Modern Dog Trainers (UK).

There are different types of dog training, so decide what it is you want to teach dogs: There are specialized courses for service dog or K9 unit training and you’ll need to adapt your skills accordingly.

You can also take up the cause of helping regular old owners better train and understand their pooches – an admiral effort indeed!

Again, dog training gives you the option of freelancing or joining up with a larger company – both have their own pros and cons.

Average Pay: Study.com notes that the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the mean salary for dog trainers as $33, 600 per year – that’s $2, 800 per month. PayScale.com lists a much lower average rate at the average salary for a dog trainer works out to $11.12 per hour

PROS: You get to work with dogs all day, and the pay isn’t too bad either if you’re able to juggle enough appointments and back up what you’re doing with experience. You could also consider blending this with another career on this list and end up charging more for your services.

CONS: If you’re training service dogs, you’ll have to teach yourself not to get attached to those adorable pups! Being a truly expert dog trainer also takes tons of research and education (whether through traditional learning institutions or self-taught). You definitely need to know your stuff!

Job #5: Dog Sitting

Dog sitting is particularly big at the moment. People travel on a daily basis – some are off to holiday in the Caribbean for a couple of months, others have to go on a last-minute trip for work and they’ll be gone for three days; who on earth is going to feed and watch their animals?

Well, that’s where you could come in. The potential rates for a professional dog sitter vary widely and depends on the area you find yourself in and just what kind of service you offer: Will you be a stay-in dog sitter? Will you be taking them for walks in between, too?

Working as a dog sitter offers two potential options:

• Go watch a dog at an owner’s house and move in for the week
• Gave the dog come bunk up with you

While having a dog stay with you allows you to care for the dog with minimal change to your own routine, moving into the owner’s house temporarily as a house sitter / dog care giver has the added benefit of free lodging. If the owners live in a nice house, you could have some pretty sweet temporary digs!

You’ll have to factor in other expenses like travel and think about what happens if an animal gets sick on your watch.

As with dog walking, you can take advantage of websites like Rover that connect pet lovers and advertise your services to thousands of people in an instant, or you can go the old-school route and have business cards or flyers printed.

We have a list of some of the best dog sitting sites on the web – each offers different advantages, and it’s worth checking out our list to find a good fit for your interests.

Whenever you’re dog sitting, try to make sure to meet the dog beforehand and get a run down of the house. When you’re netering a dog’s home for the first time without friendly introduction from the owners, some dogs may not offer the warmest welcome wagon.

Average Pay: Anywhere from $20 – $60 per day depending on services and location.

PROS: Dog sitting is the absolute ideal career for some, and you can make excellent money depending on what you’re offering your clients. It can often be quite easy as well – just chill with an awesome dog and take him out now and then!

CONS: This could be risky, because you’ll be spending time in people’s private spaces with their animals – consider what kind of liabilities could arise from this and what you would do if something should go wrong. You may want to consider pet sitter insurance for this very reason!

Job #6: Pet Photographer

If you have a good eye for what makes a great photograph, you could consider becoming a part- or full-time pet photographer. Don’t believe us?

As a pet photographer, you will likely be taking pictures of pets for family photo albums, pet ads, calendars and more.

In addition to private clients, you may also want to consider the option of selling your images through websites like Pond5 or iStockPhoto. Some pet magazines also pay well for exceptionally good images.

Average Pay: While there don’t seem to be very solid estimates out there for pet photographers, we can tell you that – according to The Balance – photographers could look at making an average of $17.30 per hour.

PROS: If you love photography, this could be your potential dream job.

CONS: This job could require a lot of patience and some animal wrangling on the side. You may also have to deal with unhappy clients if a shoot doesn’t go well. Luckily, animals tend to be easier to photograph than dogs (hold up a treat and they won’t take there eyes off you).

Want more dog job ideas? Check out this great infographic from Wikibuy on various pet business side hustles!