How Much to Pay House/dog Sitter?

I pay 15-20 dollars per visit for someone to come feed, water and clean litter for my cat. The cat sitter will come by once or twice a day, and she does stay for awhile to play with my poor lonely cat when we are gone. It's probably less time than taking a dog for a walk. So Toni V's estimate of 250-300 for the week might be about right.

While I understand Toni's response and concern about your dog being kenneled so long, I think if the dog being kenneled is also part of your routine and is what your dog is used too, then no foul, no harm. A lot of pet owners can not be there all the time. People work and go to school. We rescued our dog and in the paperwork it stated that he was used to being home alone for 8-10 hours a day. Now that he's with us he's probably talking to himself "her again! Does she ever leave!? I need my personal time/space." LOL
As far as how much to pay per day or week. It depends on a variety of things. Will this be a break for her as well? Example...is she living at home with her parents that are over-protective/over-bearing? Living with roommates who are partying too much? Have a boyfriend/girlfriend that you know will probably be over? Likely to have a gathering, being that she is 21? Are you providing food? As in stocking up before you leave so that she has everything she needs? Leaving money for emergencies? Leaving money for food for both pets and her? How much time will she be spending with dog? How many hours is she away? How many hours is your dog in the kennel? Is the amount of time your pet will be in the kennel the same amount he/she is accustomed to when you are home?
Some questions may be redundant but they all factor into pay. If you look online for pet sitters in your area, you can get a rough estimate of their daily fees, but keep in mind that they are insured, if anything happens to your pet while in their care, they have it covered. Also, they are not spending the night in your house, using your electricity, water, food, etc.. Although some do have overnight rates, but again, factor in all other questions. Being family should offer a minimal discount, in my opinion, but if you know she needs more than you, or you can afford more but prefer her, then be generous.
Sorry for the long response, but I hope it helped.
Best of luck to you and your pooch! ;0)

We pay a high school student $150 for 5 nights to live in our home and care for our dog and pig. We also stock the kitchen with snacks and drinks. It's a treat for her to get to stay in our home for awhile without parents. She is a very responsible student who I have in my AP junior class this year, and she will be house/pet sitting for us in July. Her mom or dad may sleep over with her some because we live on a farm in the middle of nowhere, and it may make her a little nervous to stay alone. We usually pay the daughter of a family friend to sit for us, but she's going on vacation at the same time, so she's unavailable.

I love having responsible older teens sit for us because they do a good job, and they play with our pets. It also gives them something to put on their resumes, and I act as a reference for them.

Have a great vacation!

I don't see this information in your post:
How much of an inconvenience to your SIL is this? Is your home convenient to her work and school? Will she have to lug a lot of work/school materials to your home to do what she needs to do? Is there adequate work space for any homework she may have?

I would take any inconvenience (or niceties) into consideration as well. When we have someone stay at our house for something like this, we make it like a spa week for them basically. Their own quarters (guest room and bath), fresh linens, spotless accommodations, the fridge stocked with some of their favorite yogurts/frozen menu items, the pantry with snacks, and a fresh bathed dog.
We leave them all the internet access information so they can go online from their laptops, watch movies on instant netflix, etc.

So, even if you aren't providing "food" for her, I think you should provide some "goodies" for her. She is, in fact, doing you a favor, even if you are paying her for it. Not having to deal with loading up the dog and delivering them to an off-site kennel and picking them up on your return is a convenience to you. And probably a stress relief on your dog to be able to stay in its own familiar environment the entire time.

The people in our neighborhood pay $25 a day .... but the person is meant to be there more than just in the evening... so I would say if she's only there in the PM $10-12. No more than $15.

You don't mention is she lives at home, etc. if she does and this week will be like a mini-vacation for her re: getting out of her regular routine then I would go on the lower end.

That is totally not cool to have your pet kenneled for so many hours a day. Get someone else who is ACTUALLY going to care for your dog.
She works and is in school? He'll be put in a kennel for 8 - 10 hours a day.
NO WAY.
He is a living creature who needs to move around, and relieve himself etc etc. That is ridiculous to "care" for an animal that way.
Take him to a professional dog kennel, so much better for him.
Or find a friend to have him at their house, and pay that friend.
I am really fed up with the way people treat their animals.

I think for housesitting and dog watching you should give her at least $450 for the 1 1/2 weeks you will be away. They are actually two separate functions and I don't think you should take advantage of her because she is family.

Ask her what she thinks is fair and compensate her accordingly. The only other thing I would be considering is if she is used to your dogs.

I have two dogs. One is a dream to walk the other walks you. We keep the puppy in the kennel but the big dog is better behaved and gets to spend the day in his room. The little one is in there too but she isn't in the kennel in the room. When we get home they get walked, fed, watered, and socialized.

The little one is a shepherd mix and just smaller than our big dog and she is still a puppy which is why we call her the little one. The funny part is she loves to try to tear off the face of our big dog and he loves the attention but just lays on her when he is tired of her. They are too cute together but must be watched. She really does try to hurt him while he could care less.

We pay my cousin's 18 year old son $20 - $25/day to stay at our house with our dog. And we stock the kitchen with food/snacks. He really appreciates the opportunity to get away from home and have some independence, I think he would do it for free, LOL! Our dog is a small breed and pretty low maintenance though, so I guess it would depend on how often the dog needs to be walked, etc.

i'd ask her what she wants to be paid...if it is reasonable, pay it.

We have two dogs, and they require more care than your dog. They are used to someone being home most of the time, so we hire a responsible, high school or college aged person (one we know personally) who can be here the majority of the time, day and night. It would cost us at least $70/day to board them (which is not an option for our dogs), so we figure we are getting off easy by paying about $35/day. We provide food, and we have plenty of entertainment available (video games, movies, musical instruments, etc.). We allow our dog sitter to have friends over (just no opposite sex) - all we ask is that the dogs still get attention and they clean up any mess. They are also required to walk the dogs daily.

Every sitter we've had has enjoyed the job and has been eager to do it again, so I feel like we are in the ball park for fair pay.

Updated

we have a college student that house sits/dog sits for us when we're out of town - when she's not at school, we expect her to be here at the house for the most part. she's allowed to have one friend over as well. we generally pay her $30 to $40 per night - so i'd go with $300 to $400 for 10 days. she is always told that she is welcome to eat/drink whatever she finds in the house...

I would get a different care giver who would be there for your dog morning,noon and night. I would plan to pay between $250 and $300 for the period you will be gone. I would want my pet walked at least three times a day and given a LOT of love and time. There are many semi-retired people and/or students who could take care of your pet. Your husband's sister is not the best choice for this job.