The short answer: boarding a dog in your own home runs about $32 to $61 a night in Canadian cities, and an overnight in the client's home runs about $40 to $70 a night. A 30-minute drop-in visit runs $20 to $30. Toronto and Vancouver sit at the top of those ranges; Edmonton, Montréal and Winnipeg at the bottom. Below are the city numbers, what to add for extra dogs, puppies and holidays, and how to turn it into your own rate.
Dog boarding and dog sitting rates by city (2026)
These are the prices sitters list on Rover, the pet-care marketplace most Canadian dog owners have browsed, so they are a good read on what owners in each city expect to pay:
| City | Boarding in your home, per night | Average boarding night | Overnight in the client's home | 30-min drop-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto | $40–$59 | $49 | $40–$70 | $20–$28 |
| Vancouver | $40–$61 | $50 | $45–$70 | $20–$28 |
| Ottawa | $38–$55 | $45 | $40–$65 | $20–$25 |
| Calgary | $35–$50 | $43 | $40–$60 | $20–$25 |
| Edmonton | $35–$50 | $40 | $40–$63 | $20–$25 |
| Montréal | $32–$50 | $40 | $40–$60 | $20–$25 |
| Winnipeg | $35–$50 | $40 | $40–$61 | $21–$30 |
| Halifax | $36–$55 | $45 | $40–$63 | $20–$25 |
From Rover Canada's city price guides for dog boarding, dog sitting and pet house sitting (for example Toronto dog sitting, Vancouver dog boarding and Calgary house sitting), checked September 29, 2026. Rover dates its Toronto data September 2025 and the other cities' data May and June 2026. Prices exclude GST/HST and Rover's separate owner service fee. On Rover, the sitter's payout is the listed price minus Rover's sitter fee; with your own clients you keep the full rate.
What should you charge?
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Start free — no credit cardDog sitting in the client's home: drop-ins vs overnights
"Dog sitting" covers two very different jobs, and they should be priced differently:
- Drop-in visits are short visits (usually 30 minutes) for a potty break, food, water and a bit of play. Rover's city guides put them at $20 to $30 a visit, with averages of about $25 in Toronto and $24 in Vancouver. Most dogs need two or three a day, so price each visit; don't bundle the second one in for free. A 60-minute visit adds about $13 to $14.
- Overnights mean you sleep at the client's home. Rover lists this as house sitting, at $40 to $70 a night, with averages of about $50 in most cities, $56 in Vancouver and $60 in Toronto. You are committed from evening to morning and can only take one household, so this is your highest per-night rate. Our house sitting rates guide covers the pet-free and home-watch side of it, and the pet and cat sitting rates guide covers cats and other pets.
Boarding in your own home
Boarding is priced per night and usually sits below an in-home overnight, because you are in your own bed and can host more than one dog at a time. That is also why it can earn more: two small, compatible boarders at $45 each out-earn one $60 overnight. Settle a few things before you quote:
- Drop-off and pick-up times. Rover adds 50% of the nightly rate when the final-day pick-up is 2 to 8 hours later than the first-day drop-off time, and 100% when it is more than 8 hours later. That is a fair model for your own late-pickup rule.
- Transport. Sitters on Rover charge extra to pick up and drop off: about $6 in Toronto, and $20 to $25 in the other cities' guides. Charge per trip if you drive across town.
- Dog-to-dog fit. Charge the same for a dog you can mix with others and a dog that needs to be alone, and you'll lose a boarding slot for the same money. "Only dog in the home" should cost more.
What moves the price
- A second dog. On Rover, an additional boarded dog adds about $30 to $38 a night, and an additional dog on an in-home sit about $27 to $34, roughly 55 to 75 percent of the base rate. A second dog on a drop-in adds about $12 to $15.
- Puppies. Toronto puppy boarding averaged about $55 a night against $49 for an adult dog, and puppy house sits about $67 against $60. Puppies under a year need more potty breaks, more supervision and more cleaning.
- Seniors and medication. Pills in food are part of the job. Injections, timed medication and dogs who can't be left alone are skilled work; Rover's guides note these cost more. Set a per-night surcharge and write it on the invoice.
- Holidays. Rover's Toronto holiday averages ran about $58 a night for boarding and $71 for an in-home sit, about 15 to 20 percent above normal; Vancouver's were $58 and $65. Christmas, New Year's and summer long weekends book out first. If your holiday calendar fills months ahead, raise the holiday rate.
- Week-long stays. A week of boarding was about $346 in Toronto and $280 to $350 in the other cities on Rover. Rover lets sitters set a lower "extended stay" nightly rate, for example from 7 nights. Keep any discount small (5 to 10 percent); long holiday stays are your busiest dates, not your slow ones.
Daycare vs boarding
Daycare is daytime only: the dog comes to your home in the morning and goes home in the evening. Rover's Toronto guide puts doggy daycare at $30 to $45 a day, averaging about $39, with a national average of about $40. Boarding adds the night, so it should always cost more than a day of daycare. Regular weekday daycare clients are a steady base; boarding clients fill your holidays.
Setting your own rate
The table tells you what owners in your city expect. Your floor tells you what the work is worth:
- Price the night, not the hour. An overnight ties you up for roughly 12 hours plus the evening and morning routines. At $40 a night that is a few dollars an hour of committed time. Anchor in the upper half of your city's range once you have reviews.
- Count your capacity. If your home, your bylaw and your insurance allow two boarders, your nightly income can double without doubling your hours. Price the second slot at your full rate for a new client, not the second-dog rate.
- Write down your rules once. Cancellation terms, late pick-up, vaccination requirements, and what happens in a vet emergency. Our free pet sitting contract template covers these, so you never negotiate them live.
- Raise rates every year. Returning clients rarely leave over a $3 or $5 increase with notice. They do leave over poor communication.
Are you undercharging?
Five quick questions. Be honest — nobody's watching.
Are you booked solid more than two weeks out?
A full calendar is the market telling you your price is too low.
Have you raised your rates in the last 12 months?
Costs went up this year. If your rate didn't, you took a pay cut.
When you quote a price, does anyone ever say no?
If nobody ever pushes back, you're leaving room on the table.
Do you charge for travel time — or build it into your price?
Unpaid driving between nights quietly eats your real hourly rate.
Do you drop your price whenever someone asks for a deal?
Discounting on request trains clients to always ask.
Priced about right
You're showing the classic signs of healthy pricing — price pushback now and then, regular raises, travel accounted for. Your next win isn't the rate, it's the time you lose to admin between nights.
You're leaving money on the table
A couple of undercharging signals showed up. The fix is usually one honest raise for new clients — $5 more per night on a full week is thousands a year you're currently donating.
You're seriously undercharging
Almost every signal fired. Booked solid, never raising, never hearing no — that's not luck, that's a price well below what your market would pay. Raise your rate for every new client starting this week; your regulars can follow later.
Your own clients, your full nightly rate.
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Not ready? Try the free invoice generatorBoarding dogs at home: bylaws, animal limits and insurance
Before you take your first boarder, check these. Rules vary by municipality, so treat this as a checklist and check with your own city:
- Animal limits. Many cities cap the number of dogs in one home. Toronto's animal bylaw (Chapter 349) says no one may keep more than three dogs in and about a dwelling unit, or more than six cats. Ask your city whether boarded dogs count toward its limit; your own dogs usually do.
- Business and kennel licences. Some municipalities require a home-business licence, and some treat boarding several dogs as a kennel with its own zoning rules. Your city's bylaw or licensing office can tell you which applies.
- Lease, condo and neighbours. Rental leases and condo bylaws often limit pets or commercial use. Barking complaints are the fastest way to lose a boarding business, so start small.
- Insurance. A home insurance policy may not cover a business run from your home, so ask your insurer. Pet-care business insurance usually combines general liability with animal bailee coverage (for animals in your care); Ratehub says general liability for a small pet-service business typically starts around $300 a year. Get a quote for your own situation.
How to start a dog boarding business
- Check the rules above and set your capacity: how many dogs, what sizes, and which dogs you won't take.
- Get insured and ask every client for vaccination records and a vet contact.
- Set your prices from the table: a base nightly rate, a second-dog rate, a puppy rate, a holiday rate and a late-pickup rule.
- Find your first clients. A marketplace like Rover brings bookings from day one in exchange for its fee; see what Rover charges sitters in Canada. Neighbours, your dog walking clients, local vets and groomers bring clients you book directly.
- Take bookings and payment in one place so a stay turns into an invoice and a payment without chasing.
When GST/HST starts to apply
Dog sitting and boarding are taxable services, but you don't charge GST/HST until your revenue passes $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, the CRA small-supplier threshold. About 50 boarding nights a month at $50 is $30,000 a year. Once you're over, you register, add GST/HST to every invoice and remit it. Our GST/HST guide has the details.
Rates compiled September 2026 from Rover Canada's city price guides for dog boarding, dog sitting, house sitting and doggy daycare. Rover figures are prices listed by sitters on Rover, before Rover's owner-side service fee and GST/HST. Extended-care and extended-stay rules from Rover's Canadian help centre, checked September 29, 2026.
Common questions
How much does dog boarding cost per night in Canada?
Rover's Canadian city price guides put boarding in a sitter's home at about $32 to $61 a night. Average nightly rates run from about $40 in Edmonton, Montréal and Winnipeg to $45 in Ottawa and Halifax, $49 in Toronto and $50 in Vancouver. Kennels and boarding facilities set their own prices.
How much should I pay a dog sitter to stay at my house?
An overnight sit in your home runs about $40 to $70 a night in Canadian cities. Rover's averages are about $50 a night in most cities, $56 in Vancouver and $60 in Toronto. Expect to pay more for a second dog, a puppy, medication or a holiday booking.
How much should I charge for dog sitting per day?
Daytime care is priced per visit or per day. A 30-minute drop-in runs about $20 to $30, and averages about $24 to $25 in Toronto and Vancouver. Dog daycare in a sitter's home averages about $39 a day in Toronto. Two or three visits in a day should be two or three visits at your normal rate.
How much extra should I charge for a second dog?
On Rover, an additional boarded dog adds about $30 to $38 a night, and an additional dog on an in-home sit adds about $27 to $34 a night. That is roughly 55 to 75 percent of the base rate. For drop-ins, a second dog adds about $12 to $15 a visit.
Should dog boarding cost more on holidays?
Yes. In Rover's Toronto data, holiday boarding averaged about $58 a night against about $49 normally, and in-home sits about $71 against $60, roughly 15 to 20 percent more. Vancouver shows the same pattern. Christmas and New Year's book out first, so many independent sitters charge more than that.
Do I need a licence to board dogs in my home?
It depends on your city. Some municipalities cap how many dogs can be kept in a home (Toronto's animal bylaw caps it at three dogs per dwelling unit), and some require a business or kennel licence. Check your city's animal and business-licence bylaws, plus your lease or condo rules, before you take boarders.
Do I charge GST/HST on dog sitting?
Not until your taxable revenue passes $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, the CRA small-supplier threshold. After that you register, add GST/HST to every invoice, and remit it.