Pet Sitting Jobs for Teens (Ages 12–17)

Three rulebooks set the floor, and which one applies depends on who is paying you: a business, an app, or a neighbor family.

Jobs with a business.

Federal child labor rules under the FLSA set 16 as the general minimum age for non-farm employment (29 CFR 570.2), with 18 the minimum for occupations the Labor Department declares hazardous.

Fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds may work only in the occupations the rules specifically permit — employment that is not specifically permitted is prohibited (29 CFR 570.32).

The permitted list covers work such as office and clerical tasks, cashiering and selling, and certain clean-up work, and it names no animal care, kennel or dog daycare occupation (29 CFR 570.34).

That makes kennel attendant, dog daycare assistant, bather and shelter animal care 16-and-up jobs under federal rules.

The hour caps attach to the same permitted list: work only outside school hours, at most 3 hours on a school day and 18 hours in a school week.

On non-school days the cap is 8 hours, and 40 in a non-school week, with work allowed only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. — 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day.

Neighborhood sitting.

Sitting for a neighbor is an informal arrangement between two families, not a job application to a business — and that informal route is the whole path at 12 and 13, where the work is helping visits rather than jobs.

The apps.

Rover requires sitters and dog walkers to be at least 18.

Wag! requires caregivers to be at least 18 and US permanent residents, applying under the legal name on their ID, and its terms require users to be at least 18.

Care.com's terms limit its services to people 18 or older.

Wag! adds one detail worth heeding: its application fee is non-refundable for under-18 applicants denied due to age — so wait until you qualify rather than pay to find out.

Employers can add floors of their own on top: a business can set a higher minimum in its postings, so read the posting before you apply.

Age by age, here is what the work looks like — with the employment rules above as the backdrop and a parent as the constant.

Ages 12–13: helping visits.

The realistic first jobs are short, low-stakes visits for families your household knows: feeding and fresh water, litter box scooping, a play session, potty breaks for a dog, or watering plants and bringing in mail while a neighbor travels.

A first dog walk goes ahead only with a parent alongside, on a dog the family already knows, and the arrangements run through a parent from start to finish.

Ages 14–15: the same neighborhood work, more independence.

Solo walks and fuller visit routines become realistic for families that know you well — but business employment still does not, because the permitted occupations list names no animal care work.

A pet business role that is really front-desk or clean-up work can look like it fits a permitted category — that is exactly the kind of call to clear with DOL's Wage and Hour Division rather than assume.

Volunteer ages are an organization-by-organization question, so ask each shelter or rescue directly.

Volunteer hours double as the start of the reference list you will need later.

Ages 16–17: business jobs open.

Kennel attendant, dog daycare attendant, bather and shelter care roles become available under federal rules, and state rules may add their own limits on top.

The apps still wait: Rover, Wag! and Care.com all set 18 as their minimum for sitters, so platform bookings come later even when business jobs do not.

The sitting work itself levels up too — overnight sits, multi-pet households, weekly walks for more than one family — with a parent still looped in on every new client.

Your first clients come from trust, not advertising: the families your household already knows, reached through a parent's introduction.

Start close — neighbors, family friends, people from school, sports teams, scouts or a place of worship.

Ask a parent to make the first mention, because an introduction from an adult carries weight a flyer cannot.

Hold a meet-and-greet before you accept any job, with your parent there, and walk through the pet's routine: food and amounts, walk times, house rules, the veterinary clinic's number and an emergency contact.

Write the routine down and leave the sheet where your parents can see it too.

A written routine protects the pet, the family and you.

Treat the first visit as a trial — a parent can come along — and ask the family afterward whether they would act as a reference for the next one.

Those references are worth more than they look.

Rover asks sitters to request testimonials from past clients as part of sign-up and says testimonials build trust with future clients — the neighbor references you collect at 13 become the profile material you use at 18.

Reliability is the growth plan: arrive on time, follow the written routine, send a photo update during visits, and repeat bookings and referrals tend to follow.

When the business-age doors open, how to become a pet sitter walks through the routes in — companies, apps and the experience employers look for.

For the wider picture of the job itself, start with our pet sitter career guide.

Teen sitting runs on one rule: a parent is in the loop on every job, every time.

That means a parent has met the family, knows the address and the schedule, and can reach you while you are there.

Vet the job before you take it.

A family that is vague about times, resists a meet-and-greet, or asks for more than pet care is a job to decline — plenty of other neighbors have pets.

On the pet side, a sitter notices and reports.

A pet that will not eat, vomits, limps or seems in pain needs its owner told right away, and treatment decisions belong to the owner and their veterinarian.

If a pet may have eaten something harmful, call the owner immediately.

The owner or your parent can call ASPCA Animal Poison Control at (888) 426-4435 — it answers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and a consultation fee may apply, so the adults make that call.

Bites and scratches happen even with friendly pets.

Stop the visit, tell your parent and tell the owner what happened.

For the wound itself, CDC advises washing immediately with soap and water for 15 minutes after a bite or scratch from an animal that might carry rabies, and talking with a healthcare or public health professional about your risk.

One honest caveat: none of this is a safety promise.

These steps narrow the risks, they do not remove them — so treat any job that feels wrong as a job to turn down.

Our research publishes no standard rate for teen sitting: what a visit is worth depends on the task, how long it takes, how many pets are involved and how far you travel.

Set the rate with a parent before you accept, not after.

Decide the shape first — a flat amount per visit, a per-day arrangement for a multi-day trip, or a per-walk price for regular dog walking — and then keep the same job at the same price every time.

The factors that move a rate are concrete: more pets, longer visits, overnight stays, short-notice bookings and added tasks like plants or mail.

Say what is included when you quote, so the family knows exactly what they are paying for.

Keep the money simple and visible.

The family pays directly, a parent knows what was agreed, and any conversation about extra visits or last-minute changes runs through a parent.

Under 18, that is the whole business model: neighbors, trust and payment arranged through your parents.

The platforms that handle booking, payment and profiles join the picture at 18, when Rover, Wag! and Care.com open up — until then, the neighborhood is the market.

Career information, not legal, tax or insurance advice: the age and hour rules on this page come from federal and state child labor law. Confirm your own situation with DOL's Wage and Hour Division and your state labor agency before taking paid work.