The pet care services industry has become one of the most resilient sectors in the home services economy. According to the American Pet Products Association (APPA), Americans spent over $147 billion on their pets in 2023, with services — including dog walking, pet sitting, boarding, and grooming — representing the fastest-growing spending category. IBISWorld pegs the dog walking and pet sitting market alone at over $8 billion in U.S. revenue, driven by pet ownership rates that climbed sharply during the pandemic and have remained elevated.
Despite this growth, the vast majority of dog walking and pet sitting companies are small operations: a solo walker or a small team of five to fifteen sitters managing hundreds of client animals on rotating schedules. The administrative burden of onboarding new clients, coordinating daily schedules, communicating service updates, and processing payments falls entirely on the owner — often while they are mid-walk. A home services virtual assistant trained in pet care business operations is the missing infrastructure layer.
New Client Onboarding and Pet Profile Management
The onboarding process for a new dog walking or pet sitting client is more detailed than most service businesses. Operators need emergency veterinary contacts, vaccination records, feeding instructions, behavioral notes, key or access code documentation, and a signed service agreement before the first visit.
A VA can manage the entire onboarding intake sequence: sending the new client intake packet (via HoneyBook, Typeform, or a dedicated platform like Time To Pet), following up on missing documents, verifying vaccination records, and building the pet profile in the company's scheduling system. For companies using purpose-built software like Time To Pet, PetPocketbook, or Scout, the VA can create the client and pet records, attach documents, and flag any health or behavioral notes for the assigned sitter before their first visit.
The Pet Sitters International (PSI) State of the Industry Report notes that new client onboarding is cited by 58 percent of pet care business owners as the most time-consuming administrative task in their operation. A VA who owns this process eliminates the bottleneck and creates a professional first impression.
Daily Schedule Management and Sitter Coordination
Dog walking operations run on tight windows. Morning, midday, and afternoon slots must be assigned to the right sitter based on location, animal familiarity, and availability — and that assignment must account for cancellations, add-ons, and last-minute requests that arrive the night before and the morning of service days.
A VA can manage the daily scheduling function: reviewing the upcoming schedule in Time To Pet or similar software, assigning sitters to new bookings, texting sitters their route for the day, processing cancellation requests and notifying affected sitters, and communicating schedule changes to clients. This function — which often consumes an hour or more of an owner's morning — runs cleanly when delegated to a trained VA.
For companies managing house-sitting and overnight boarding placements, the VA can also coordinate key handoffs, confirm check-in times, and send clients a confirmation message the day before service begins.
Client Communication and Service Report Management
One of the strongest differentiators for premium dog walking companies is post-visit communication. Clients who receive a photo, a brief service note, and a GPS-verified visit card after every walk are significantly more loyal than those who receive no feedback at all.
A VA can manage the back-end of this communication system: reviewing report submissions from sitters, flagging incomplete reports for follow-up, ensuring photos are attached and captions are appropriate, and responding to client messages that arrive through the platform or via text during business hours. For owners whose sitters occasionally miss a report submission, a VA can send a reminder and escalate persistently absent reports.
APPA data shows that pet owners who feel well-informed about their pet's care during their absence are 3x more likely to recommend their pet care service provider to friends and family.
Billing, Subscription Management, and Upsell Campaigns
Pet care businesses using recurring weekly or monthly billing plans benefit significantly from a VA managing the billing function. A trained VA can process monthly invoices, follow up on failed payments, apply add-on charges for holiday rates or extra visits, and send renewal reminders to clients whose service packages are expiring.
For seasonal upsell campaigns — summer boarding availability, holiday weekend openings, or introductory rates for a new service like puppy training coordination — a VA can build and send email campaigns to the client database using Mailchimp or the company's built-in CRM, driving additional revenue from an existing customer base.
Sources
- American Pet Products Association (APPA), "2023–2024 APPA National Pet Owners Survey," 2024
- Pet Sitters International (PSI), "State of the Pet Care Industry Report," 2024
- IBISWorld, "Dog Walking Services in the US," 2025