How to become a dog sitter in the UK
Board dogs overnight in your own home and a busy weekend can out-earn a full week of walks. Get your home boarding licence and insurance sorted, register as self-employed, and earn £18 to £58 a night keeping up to 90% on Petme.
Petme is live across UK cities. Build a profile, get verified, and accept boarding requests near you.
What a dog sitter actually does
A dog sitter looks after someone else's dog overnight while they are away. There are two ways to do it. Home boarding means the dog comes to stay in your home, sleeps there, and joins your routine, which is where most of the money is and which needs a council licence. House sitting means you go to the owner's home and care for the dog on its own turf, which suits sitters who cannot host but still want the overnight work. Either way you feed, walk, play with, and settle the dog, send updates so the owner can relax, and handle anything that comes up. Demand spikes hard around school holidays, Christmas, and summer, so a sitter with a licence and a good profile can fill those peaks fast and build a book of owners who rebook every break.
Home boarding
The dog stays in your home overnight. Higher earning, needs a council licence, and works best if you have space and time to host.
House sitting
You stay at the owner's home. No boarding licence needed, and ideal for dogs that do best in their own space.
Peak-season demand
Holidays, Christmas, and summer drive boarding requests. A licensed sitter with a strong profile fills those weeks first.
The home boarding licence you need
This is the part that trips people up, so it is worth getting right. If you board dogs overnight in your home on a regular basis, you need a home boarding licence from your local council. In England the rules sit under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) Regulations 2018; Wales has its own 2021 version, Scotland the Animal Welfare and Activities (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) Regulations 2021, and Northern Ireland works under the Welfare of Animals Act. In every case a council officer inspects your home against welfare standards, and the licence carries a fee and a star rating. Budget roughly six to ten weeks for the process, so apply ahead of your busy season rather than when the bookings are already coming in. House sitting at the owner's home, dog walking, and drop-in visits do not need a boarding licence. When in doubt, ask your own council directly before you advertise overnight stays.
The cover boarding sitters carry
Two types of cover are standard for anyone boarding or sitting dogs. Public liability insurance protects you if a dog in your care injures someone or damages property. Care, custody and control cover sits alongside it and protects the dog itself, for example if it is hurt, lost, or causes harm while it is staying with you, which a public liability policy alone will usually exclude. Councils normally require this insurance as part of granting a home boarding licence, so you will arrange it around the same time. Pet-professional insurers bundle both, and it is worth having cover in place before your first overnight booking. On top of your own policy, every booking through Petme carries £20,000 of vet protection, so a serious vet bill during a stay does not fall on you or the owner alone.
Public liability
Covers injury or damage to third parties. Usually required as part of your home boarding licence.
Care, custody and control
Covers a dog hurt, lost, or causing harm while staying with you. A public liability policy alone will not.
Registering with HMRC as a sitter
Dog sitters work as self-employed sole traders, so you handle your own tax rather than sitting on a payroll. Register with HMRC by 5 October after the tax year in which you start earning, then file a Self Assessment return by 31 January online each year. The £1,000 trading allowance means very small earnings need no return; once you go past it you pay income tax on profit, not turnover. Boarding at home makes your record-keeping worth doing well: you can deduct a fair share of your home utilities for the space and time given over to boarding, plus food, bedding, insurance, licence fees, and 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax begins phasing in from April 2026 for people earning over £50,000, so a busy boarding sitter may move to digital quarterly updates. These are the general rules; check gov.uk or an accountant for anything specific to you.
Register by 5 October
Tell HMRC you are self-employed by 5 October after your first earning tax year, then file Self Assessment by 31 January.
Claim your costs
A share of home utilities for boarding, plus food, bedding, insurance, licence fees, and 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles.
What you can realistically earn
Overnight dog boarding on Petme runs roughly £18 to £58 per night depending on where you are. London and its professional suburbs sit at the top, with most regional metros around £26 to £45 a night. Because the money is per night per dog, boarding is where the real earning is: a sitter hosting two or three dogs across a bank holiday weekend can out-earn a full week of midday walks. You set your own nightly rate, and because you keep up to 90% of every booking with sitter cashback, more of each stay stays with you than on a platform that takes a bigger cut. Every booking also carries £20,000 of vet protection, and owners pay 0% booking fees, which keeps your rates competitive and your regulars rebooking every holiday.
For a city-by-city view of nightly rates and demand, open the UK dog sitting hub below and see the real bands where you live.
Start dog sitting on Petme in four steps
1. Build your profile
Download Petme, add photos of your home and space, a short bio, and the areas you cover. A clear profile turns a search into a booking.
2. Sort licence and insurance
If you board overnight, apply for your council home boarding licence and arrange public liability and care, custody and control cover. Register as self-employed with HMRC.
3. Verify your ID
Complete identity verification so owners can trust your profile before they hand over their dog.
4. Set your rate and host
Set your nightly rate, choose which dogs you accept, and take boarding requests near you. Owners pay in the app and your earnings land in your bank after the stay.
Becoming a dog sitter in the UK, answered
The questions new boarders ask most about the licence, insurance, tax, and earnings.
How do I become a dog sitter in the UK?
Decide whether you will board dogs overnight in your own home or sit at the owner's place, arrange the right insurance, and register as self-employed with HMRC. If you board regularly you need a home boarding licence from your council. On Petme you build a profile, pass ID verification, set your own nightly rate, and accept boarding requests near you.
Do I need a licence to board dogs overnight in the UK?
Yes, regular home boarding needs a licence from your local council. In England it falls under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) Regulations 2018, with equivalent rules in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Your home is inspected against welfare standards first. Sitting in the owner's home, walking, and drop-ins do not need a licence.
How long does a home boarding licence take to get?
Most councils take roughly six to ten weeks from application to the inspection and certificate, and there is a fee that varies by area and star rating. Sort it well before your busy season: sitters who wait until Christmas demand arrives often miss bookings because the certificate has not come through. Contact your own council for current fees and thresholds.
What insurance does a dog sitter need?
Public liability insurance plus care, custody and control cover is standard for anyone boarding or sitting dogs. Public liability covers injury or damage to third parties, while care, custody and control covers a dog that is hurt, lost, or causes harm while it is staying with you. Pet-professional insurers bundle both, and councils usually require it as part of the home boarding licence.
Am I self-employed as a dog sitter, and how does tax work?
Yes. Dog sitters are self-employed sole traders and register with HMRC by 5 October after the tax year you start earning, then file Self Assessment by 31 January online. The £1,000 trading allowance covers very small earnings; above it you pay income tax on profit. You can deduct a share of home utilities, gear, insurance, and mileage. Check gov.uk or an accountant for your situation.
How much do dog sitters earn in the UK?
Overnight dog boarding on Petme typically runs £18 to £58 per night depending on the city, with London and its professional suburbs at the top and most regional metros around £26 to £45. Boarding a few dogs across a weekend can out-earn a full week of walks. You set your own rate, keep up to 90% of every booking with sitter cashback, and each booking carries £20,000 of vet protection.
What is the difference between home boarding and house sitting?
Home boarding means the dog stays overnight in your home, which needs a council licence. House sitting means you stay in the owner's home to look after the dog there, which does not need a boarding licence. Both are overnight roles on Petme, and many sitters offer both plus daytime dog walking and drop-in visits to fill the calendar around the busy holiday periods.
Start dog sitting in the UK
Set your own nightly rate. £20,000 vet protection on every booking, cashback that keeps your clients rebooking, and fast payouts to your bank.