I'm an in-home pet sitter. I stay overnight in your house with your animals while you're away — so your dog keeps their routine, your cat keeps their territory, and your home isn't sitting empty advertising that you're gone.
From clients
Wes is absolutely wonderful. He has watched both my cat, Inez, and my dog, Goldie, and I trust him completely with them and with my home. He is incredibly reliable, responsible, kind, and genuinely cares about the animals he looks after.
Wes is wonderful with animals and super reliable. He has watched our dogs and our chickens and done a great job. The dog may actually like him better than us…
My dogs love Wes! He is incredibly dependable, responsible, and someone I trust completely. He genuinely loves animals and takes great care of both your pets and your home. I would trust him with my dogs and my house without hesitation. Highly recommend!
Then you already know the part that matters, and a couple of sentences from you does more for a small business than anything I can say about myself. It takes about two minutes.
Or send it to someone directly: rogershouseandpet.com/review
Three ways to handle it
Boarding
Your dog goes to a kennel, surrounded by other people's animals on someone else's schedule. Some dogs handle it. A lot don't, and you can tell for days afterward.
Drop-in visits — someone stops by
Food gets refilled, a leash goes on, and then your animal is alone again for eleven hours. Your house sits dark the whole time.
What I do
Overnight, every night you're gone. Your pets have company at 2 a.m. if they need it, and your house has someone in it.
Twenty years, and then some
I grew up with a golden lab named Gabriel who, by every family account, babysat me — he kept me on the porch when I was small and hauled me around to the pool when I wasn't. I wanted to be a dog trainer before I wanted to be anything else.
Later I kept Boo, my dachshund, and Yoda, my rescue dog, at my dance studio the entire time I ran it, and I've been sitting for other people's animals ever since. That adds up to more than twenty years of being responsible for animals that weren't always mine.
I say this the same way every time, and I mean it: I've never met a dog I didn't like.
Before this I served in the United States Navy as a Master-at-Arms — military police. My job was security: controlling access, standing watch, noticing when something was off, and being trusted with other people's property when no one was looking. That's the reason I built this around staying in the home instead of stopping by it. An occupied home is a cared-for home.
What's included
Feeding and fresh water on your schedule, in your kitchen.
Medications — pills, drops, and injections.
Walks and real playtime, not a lap around the block.
Litter boxes scooped and kept clean.
Accidents handled without drama.
Plants watered, trash and recycling out on the right day.
Mail and packages brought in instead of stacking on the porch.
Lights and doors used and checked the way a person uses them.
Regular photos and updates, so you see your animals rather than wonder.
A meet-and-greet first — routine, quirks, vet number, all written down.
Rates
That's a person living in your home for the whole stay — not a drop-in visit. Up to four dogs, cats or other household pets are covered, any mix. A kennel bills you per animal; I don't.
| Standard night | $100 |
|---|---|
| Stays of 7 nights or longerevery night of the stay | $90 |
| Major holidaysand the days either side — which days | $125 |
| Outside the circuitone-week minimum | $110 |
| Five or more pets, or livestock and farm animals | +$15 per night |
Nights are counted from the day I arrive through the day I leave. A deposit of one standard night ($100) holds your dates and comes off the final bill.
Already booked with me? The rate we agreed on stands.
The math on a week away
A kennel charges per animal, per day. I charge one nightly rate for the whole household. Here's a typical seven-night trip, priced against what kennels across my circuit publish: roughly $40–65 a night per dog and $22–30 per cat.
| Your household | Kennel, 7 nights | With me, 7 nights |
|---|---|---|
| One dog | $280–455 | $630A kennel is cheaper here. The rest of this section is what the difference buys. |
| Two dogs | $560–910 | $630About even, up to $280 less |
| Two dogs and a cat | $715–1,120 | $630$85–490 less |
| Three dogs | $840–1,365 | $630$210–735 less |
Many kennels bill by the calendar day, so a seven-night trip is often eight days on their invoice; the kennel figures above don't count that extra day. Ranges come from published kennel rate cards in Burlington, Tacoma, Seattle and the Tri-Cities, checked August through October 2026.
Someone in your house. Boarding empties the house along with the dog bowls. Nobody brings in the mail, runs the lights or notices a leak.
Your animals' own routine. Their bed, their yard, their food, their walk at the time they expect it.
No drop-off or pickup window. Kennels run on business hours, and some close on holidays. I'm already there when you leave and when you get back.
No add-on lines. Medications, extra playtime and one-on-one attention are often billed separately at a kennel. Here they're part of the stay.
Fewer strange dogs. Kennel cough spreads fastest where dogs are housed close together. At home, your dog only shares the air with the dogs it already lives with.
Cats stay put. Moving a cat out of its territory is hard on it. In-home care means it never leaves.
Where I work
Based in Chelan. If you're outside this range, ask anyway — travel is often workable with enough notice.
Questions I get asked
I stay overnight, every night you're gone. I don't do drop-in visits — the twenty-minute stops where food gets refilled, a leash goes on, and your animal is alone again for the rest of the day. Twenty minutes solves a feeding problem. It doesn't solve a lonely animal or an empty house, and those are the two things I'm there for.
Feeding and fresh water on your schedule, medications, walks and real playtime, litter boxes scooped, accidents handled without drama, plants watered, trash and recycling out on the right day, mail and packages brought in, lights and doors used the way a person uses them, and regular photos and updates so you see your animals rather than wonder — every couple of days as a rule, daily if you would rather, just say. All of it, every stay, without asking.
Yes — pills, drops and injections, on whatever schedule your vet set. We go through the doses at the meet-and-greet and I write them down, along with your vet's number. Nothing about your animal's care should depend on me remembering it.
Yes, and I'd argue cats are where in-home sitting matters most. A dog can often adapt to a kennel. A cat mostly can't — moving them out of their territory is genuinely stressful. I'll stay with them, keep the boxes clean and keep the routine. Fair warning on photos: some cats hide for the first day or two with someone new, so I'll tell you honestly how they're doing even on the days they won't come out for the camera.
I'm based in Chelan and work a traveling circuit: Chelan and Wenatchee, plus Burlington, Mount Vernon, Tacoma and Seattle. If you're outside that range, ask anyway — with enough notice, travel is often workable.
Yes — and the further out it is, the longer the stay needs to be. The cities above are where I work regularly. For a week or more I'll travel anywhere in Washington at $110 a night, and for a long-term stay I'll fly, as long as travel is covered. Distance doesn't change the handoff: on a longer booking I arrive before you leave, so the walkthrough happens in person — where things are, your animal's routine, the vet's number, which neighbor has a spare key — and you hand me the key face to face instead of leaving it for someone who turns up after you've gone. If you'd rather talk sooner than that, we can do it over video first.
Not for the first four. One nightly rate covers up to four dogs, cats or other household pets, in any mix. That is the opposite of how a kennel bills you — there, every animal is another line — and it is where the math tips hardest in your favor if you have three. Five or more, or livestock and farm animals, add $15 a night. I have also had two families put their animals together in one house and split a single sitter between them. I am open to that, as long as everyone's animals get along and we meet with them all together first, not one at a time.
Rates run by the day, counted from the day I arrive through the day I leave regardless of hour — those days are blocked either way, so I am not taking another booking on them. The standard rate is $100 a night; stays of a week or longer are $90 a night, and major holidays are $125. A deposit of one standard night ($100) holds your dates and comes off the final bill. Cancel more than a week out and the deposit comes back; inside a week it does not, because that is the window where I cannot fill the dates again. Last-minute booking is fine — if I am free, the deposit is all it takes.
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the day after, and Christmas Eve and Christmas Day — plus the days immediately either side of them, since those are travel days and nobody else is open either. Everything else is a normal day.
The same stay, without animals. If you're traveling and your home would otherwise sit empty, I stay in it. Lights and blinds get used the way a person uses them, not on a timer. Mail and packages come inside. Doors get checked at night. Plants get watered. If something goes wrong — a leak, a power outage, a smoke alarm chirping at midnight — someone is standing there when it happens, not finding it a week later.
Call or text me at 509-885-6983 with your dates, your animals, and anything about them I ought to know. Before a first booking we do a meet-and-greet: you show me the house, I meet the animals, and we go through the routine — feeding amounts, quirks, the vet's number, what your dog does when they're nervous, which neighbor has a spare key. There's a pre-sit form you can fill out ahead of time if that's easier. I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right fit. If I'm booked or it isn't a match, I'll say so rather than take the job and hope.
Getting started
Send along anything about them I ought to know. I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right fit — if I'm booked or it isn't a match, I'll say so rather than take the job and hope.
Everything I like to know before a stay, on one sheet: feeding and medication schedules, walk and training routines, vet and emergency contacts, trash day, Wi-Fi, and any rooms that are off-limits. Fill in whatever feels important and skip the rest — we'll go over it together at the meet-and-greet, and anything can change before you leave.
Download the pre-sit form (PDF)Your home, occupied. Your animals, cared for.