How Dog Boarding Gave Me Room to Start Again

Why I started having dog sleepovers

I’m Gina the Dog Muva, and I do Rover pet sitting in Atlanta. The way I see it, I get paid to have sleepovers with small, adorable dogs. In reality, I provide boutique concierge dog boarding that mimics their at-home life.

I started because my small business was tanking. I had been rejected by Uber and DoorDash, and I needed a side hustle that didn’t require a lot of startup money. So much of my money was already being poured into my struggling business.

I also made a demand of myself: if I was really going to put time into something else, I needed to already enjoy it at a baseline. Boarding dogs fit that.

I’ve been doing this for three to five years now, and it’s still a side hustle. One myth I’d push back on is that you need a house and a yard to successfully board dogs, especially if you’re naturally active person.

Starting with a background check and reviews

The very first thing I did was sign up for Rover and pay for my background check. It was $35, which felt like a lot at the time. My overall startup costs were between $50-$60 bucks because I sourced free kennel crates that I figured would be useful if I needed them.

Next, I gathered reviews from people who already knew me. Even without an established presence, I wanted potential clients to have some history to go off of. Reviews had been the number one thing behind my primary business’s success, so I knew I wanted to focus on them here, too.

I want to say I had my first booking within a week. I made $135 on that booking, but I severely undercharged myself.

That’s something I’d tell myself starting over: don’t undercharge yourself so severely. Yet, my day-one advice is to focus on building your reviews, then let those reviews build up to your true price point. As a solo-prenuer in this I am very proud of my 56 rave reviews and 4.9 star that gets me new clients regularly. I am also always glad to be transparent about why the 4.9 is not 5 stars.

I use Rover exclusively. I don’t handle my own advertising or promote the business on social media. I do feature my dogs on TikTok, but I’m not looking for heavy traffic. Just steady traffic.

What boarding looks like in my daily life

Because I only offer boarding, my work week looks nothing like a traditional work week. I’m predominantly living my daily life, except instead of watching one dog—mine—I have a few extra.

I’ve refined my system over the years. The majority of my bookings are repeat customers, which reduces how much communication is needed. I now probably spend less than six accumulated hours speaking with prospective clients. With new prospective clients, I spend one to two hours a week on 15-minute meet-and-greets.

In my mind, it adds up to roughly one eight-hour day of “hard work” to keep things running smoothly. But the dogs are dogs so the hardest part is patience. Dogs are like children, and I’m essentially running a 24-hour daycare.

Enjoying their company is part of why this fits my life so well. That doesn’t mean patience stops being necessary.

Learning not to be a pushover

One of my biggest lessons has been not allowing owners to stress me out. I’m welcoming dogs onto my private property, and I need to own my role as a professional dog handler and boarder.

That means not being afraid to tell an owner what’s needed around pickups, drop-offs, essential bags, and time management. I can’t be a pushover about how the situation is handled.

For me, that lesson belongs right alongside learning not to undercharge. I provide a boarding service that mimics the dogs’ home life, but I still have to be clear about how things work in my space and why my price is my price.

The breathing room it gave me

My reported income from boarding is between $1,000 and $3,000 a month. It remains a side hustle, but it has helped me through a change in my life and work.

When I started, I desperately wanted to move into a better place/environment. In just one year of starting, I did—I moved into my dream condo in a wonderful location in the city. I also closed my primary business and used dog boarding as a buffer to my next business venture.

I’m operating that new business now, and I feel much more relaxed without having to put pressure on it to generate livable income immediately. Despite living in the city in my life is not financially demanding, and I have eliminated a lot of my personal debt.

The change wasn’t just about what I was doing for work. What changed was my nervous system, my clarity, and my day-to-day joy. I’m still having those dog sleepovers, and they’ve given me room to move into something new, live the life I’m meant to live and be the most me I can be.

From Gina the Dog Muva

$40 off your first booking 🐾

If you’re an ATL resident looking for the best at-home experience so your pup isn’t stuck in a kennel while your sipping mojitos on the beach, use this link for $40 off their first booked stay. Ps: If rover doesn’t honor it, I will 😇.

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