HOW WAG! FUNDED MY TRIP...OR DIDN'T

Find out how Margaret used Wag! to pay for a trip to Japan. Keep reading to see how Katerina's experience with Wag! turned out.

Key Points

• Save up for your trips by booking gig work, such as being a Wag! walker

• Look out for boost payments for on-demand walks!

• Don't be afraid to be selective with the pets you work with.

We both stumbled across Wag! and decided to give it a try. Wag! is a service for pet parents to book caregivers to take their furry friend on walks or schedule a quick drop-in to make sure their pets are fine. They can also arrange for boardings or sittings. We both love animals and like to stay somewhat active, so this was a win-win situation in our mind. If you're interested, use our link and sign up to be a Wag! walker today.

Margaret's Experience

Margaret was a broke grad student a few years ago. She quit her job to pursue a higher degree and lost her source of income.

She still wanted to travel and take advantage of the various breaks during the academic year except she did not want to dip into her savings just yet. The only other option was to figure out a way to make money. As a result, she signed up to be a Wag! walker and made over $2,000 in the span of 3 months. All that money went towards a trip to Japan in Fall 2019. She got to hang out with pups, get some exercise, and put in 30+ minutes/day to save up for the trip. She did this on top of working 40 hours/week at her clinical rotation (which paid $0/day #freelabor #justkidding).

Word of caution: some pets are easier to manage than others. It goes without saying that if you're going to try to be a pet caregiver, be sure you're able to handle the animal. Some are bigger and can play rough. From experience, Margaret is now a bit more selective with the pets she chooses to work with. Wag! walkers are typically able to read the pet profile for more information about the size of the dog/cat and their behavior characteristics. Once you accept a gig, you may be able to read tips from previous walkers as well!

Some interesting experiences:

• Once lost the home owner's key because it fell out of her pocket. Fortunately, the pet parent was super nice and understanding. The dog was also an extremely well-behaved husky which is always an added bonus.

• Got booked for a walk with a bigger dog that resulted in a nonstop jog/run for 30 minutes because that was the only way to keep up with the dog.

• Rare occurrence: drop-in visit to play with 2 cats for 20 minutes! Yes, cats do occasionally pop up on the platform. One was very friendly whereas the other kept herself hidden in a drawer and would pop her head out intermittently to hiss.

• Had to literally carry dogs (big and small) down the street because they refused to move no matter what tactics were used to try to sway them to move.

Katerina's Experience

The main takeaway: don't be scared to be a little picky.

While Margaret made decent bank to fund her Japan trip, Katerina didn't quite have the same luck. The sign-ups bonuses and the dogs she did get to walk were great... until they weren't. She only got booked for a few walks before things went south.

Beware of Dogs with Ruff Notes

The thing about Wag! is that you can't see comments about the pet you're going to care for until after you've been accepted. Make sure you read those notes though, and honestly? If a majority of notes from previous walkers say how awful the pet is...learn from Katerina's mistakes: cut your losses and RUN!

Katerina had been accepted to watch two dogs on a sunny afternoon; it was supposed to be a quick in-and-out job. While the notes about one of the dogs were kind of alarming (dog is terrified of people, will bite, etc.), surely it couldn't be that bad, right? The instructions were easy enough: let the dogs out into the backyard to get some exercise and use the restroom if possible, and then herd them back inside.

She found the dogs locked up in their own tiny respective cages, and while both dogs were shy, one warmed up quickly enough and made her way outside to do her business. But dog #2, who we'll call Po, was a whole other story. Growling and cowering before Katerina had even gotten close, Po wouldn't even leave after she'd opened the cage and stepped back. When he did eventually dart out of his cage, Po decided his new hiding spot would be none other than the dining room table. After a whole 20 minutes of cat and mouse, Po finally went outside! Making a straight beeline up the stairs of the massive backyard, he ran past dog #1, the miniature golf set-up, all the way up to the pool before making a sharp left and disappearing. With a sinking heart, Katerina ran up the stairs to where Po disappeared, only to find a fence with bars just wide enough for a small dog to slip through.

We'll spare you the rest of the long, boring details, but fortunately, Katerina was able to locate Po and chase him back into the house. The damage had already been done though-- she'd notified Wag! as soon as she lost Po, and even after doing everything she could possibly do, her account had been suspended indefinitely. No matter that she had followed the owner's exact instructions and that there were no warnings about potential escape routes (which Po seemed suspiciously familiar with). Forget that she chose to stay behind to find the dog and successfully did so, despite even the owner's nonchalant reaction to hearing that her dog was gone ("Oh he couldn't have gone far," she said). The doors to dog walking on Wag! had permanently closed on Katerina's face.

While Wag! isn't the only pet care app out there, it's nice to have options, and who wants to get #cancelled for something that wasn't their fault? So in the rare scenario that you come across a pet plastered with red flags, don't ignore them! There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a little picky.