Rover vs Wag: Which Is Best For My Pet?
Are you deciding between Rover vs Wag?
Rover and Wag are the most popular apps/sites to purchase dog-related services. In fact, online marketplaces are one of the hottest trends in the dog industry.
They offer similar services, but also differ in their approaches.
We understand how difficult it can be to trust someone with your pet, especially a stranger.
That’s why we’ve thoroughly reviewed both of these services to help you make the best choice for you and your furry friend.
Table of Contents
Are Online Domesticated Animal Care Services Right For You?
Online pet care services have become extremely popular including pet care apps.
They will save you time from having to find a provider on your own.
They also can provide you with an experienced person who may know more about pets than your ordinary pet sitter.
Rover Coupon: Save $10 on your first service with the creation of a new account on Rover.com
Pitfalls of Relying on Friends and Family
Relying on friends or family to care for your pets doesn’t always work well.
No matter how helpful they try to be, they aren’t pet care experts.
Maybe they spoil your pet rotten, give the incorrect medication, or teach them bad habits.
However, you can’t really complain if they’re doing you a favor.
If things go really wrong, it can put a real strain on a relationship.
Most responsible pet owners understand the importance of having their pet cared for by someone who is reliable, experienced, and knowledgeable.
Relying on Independent Providers
There are plenty of excellent dog walkers and pet sitters who operate independently, but they can be hard to find.
If they are good at what they do, they are almost always booked up.
And, what happens if they get sick, or just don’t show up one day?
Emergence of Domesticated Animal Care Sites/Apps
Pet care sites and apps have become so successful because they have identified and filled those gaps described above. Pet owners have spent hundreds of millions using the Rover app alone.
They’ve designed their sites using the best technology to make it easy for pet owners to locate and learn about pet service providers in their area.
The convenience gives peace of mind to owners.
In this blog post, we’re going to tell you a bit about the benefits and pitfalls of using Wag vs Rover specifically.
That way you’ll feel fully informed before you make any decisions.
What Services Do Rover and Wag Offer?
1. Pet Sitting
Many pet owners feel more comfortable allowing their pet to remain at home while they are away.
Rover and Wag both let you arrange to have someone stay in your home and provide for your pet’s needs.
Rover Coupon: Save $10 on your first service with the creation of a new account on Rover.com
Your pet will have all the comforts and routine they are used to.
For example, if they are elderly or have special medical needs, these can all be taken care of by an experienced pet sitter.
2. Pet Boarding
With both services, you can drop your pet off at a caretaker’s home rather than put them into a kennel.
You may not feel comfortable having a stranger stay in your home while you are away.
Boarding your dog with someone who is experienced and loves animals is a great alternative.
You can even take their bed, bowls and toys with them for their comfort.
3. Dog Walking
Both Rover and Wag each offer dog walking services.
You can arrange to have your dog walked once, regularly or even within the next couple of hours.
If you work outside of the house, you likely don’t want your dog to be left alone for long periods of time.
You can hire a dog walker to break up your dog’s day, give them some exercise, plus some mental stimulation and fun.
This can also help prevent certain behavioral problems.
4. Drop-in Visits
If you need someone to check in on your dog, Rover and Wag both offer drop-in visits where sitters will stop by for a short period of time.
They can help with such things as taking them out to go to the bathroom or feeding them.
5. Doggy Daycare
Rover specifically offers doggy daycare where you drop off your dog in the morning and pick them up in the morning.
6. Grooming Services
Rover also offers grooming services. You can book a professional groomer to come to your home.
7. Dog Training
Wag offers dog training services both virtually and in-person.
8. Virtual Pet Care
Wag offers 24/7 virtual veterinary care through their Wag Health program, which requires a subscription.
Rover vs Wag Comparison
Rover and Wag are very similar platforms.
They even have almost identical green paw logos, plus offer very similar services with a few exceptions.
It can be tricky to figure out what actually separates them. That’s why we’re here.
In this section of the blog post, we will examine how these services compare.
Rover Coupon: Save $10 on your first service with the creation of a new account on Rover.com
Number of Caregivers
Rover was founded in 2011 in Seattle and has grown exponentially.
They claim to have more than 300,000 pet sitters and dog walkers on their site and operate in 10 countries.
Overall, they are bigger than Wag at the present moment.
Wag was launched in Los Angeles in 2015 and has numerous celebrities as clients.
According to their website, they have over 150,000 pet caregivers across the U.S.
Their services are available in all 50 states in more than 4600 cities.
Services Offered
As described in the previous section, both Rover and Wag each offer:
- pet sitting
- pet boarding
- dog walking, and
- drop-in visits.
Additionally, Rover offers doggy daycare and grooming services, while Wag offers dog training and virtual pet care.
At the present time, only Wag offers on-demand services, since Rover has put their Rover Now service on hold.
Price of services
While Wag has fixed rates for its services, Rover allows its caregivers to set their own rates.
For example with Wag, you will pay $15 for a 20-minute walk, $20 for a 30-minute walk. and $30 for a 60-minute walk.
When browsing on Rover in my area, I am seeing rates of $15-$25 for a 30-minute walk.
As a side note, Wag also takes a 40% commission from its caregivers, while Rover takes a 20% commission, but this does not affect what an owner pays.
Online Access
Both Rover and Wag offer access through their websites or mobile apps to book pet services.
Dog Walking Options and Differences
For Wag, you can choose a 20-minute walk, a 30-minute walk or a 60-minute walk. Wag offers both on-demand and scheduled walks.
For Rover, you can choose either a scheduled 30-minute or 60-minute walk, although you can work with the caregivers based on your needs. Rover’s dog walking prices vary according to the caregiver.
Additionally, Rover, presently, only allows scheduled walks and has temporarily stopped their on-demand service called Rover Now. However, you can still book same-day services.
Wag lets you choose 1-hr time slots, while Rover has larger time windows, although according to their customer service, you can narrow it down more specifically once booking.
Wag also allows you to choose your preferred walker, but in certain instances their system will automatically choose a walker for you if that person is not available.
With Rover, you can custom select your dog walker based on your own preferences.
Safety Measures
According to Rover, it offers the following services to owners to promote safety:
- Detailed caregiver profiles with verified reviews
- 24/7 customer support
- Encourage you to meet with your dog’s sitter for free prior to booking
- Their “Rover Guarantee” which covers certain injuries to your dog, physical damage to personal property, and direct injuries to third parties with certain monetary limits
- Background checks for its caregivers through a third party service called Checkr with either a basic or enhanced check reflected on their profile badge
- GPS tracking to view information on your dog’s bathroom activity, eating activity, and drinking activity
- Continuing pet care education for its caregivers
According to Wag, their safety measures include the following:
- Reviews and ratings of caregivers
- Screening of caregivers who must each pass a comprehensive background check and pass a pet care knowledge test
- 24/7 support
- Home protected up to $1 million in home liability insurance
- Real-time GPS tracking to follow along on walks
Additional Differences
- You must create an account with Wag before viewing profiles, while Rover allows viewing without an account.
- Wag is currently providing a free lock box for you to leave a key for your caregiver, while Rover has you handle however you want.
- Wag donates meals to rescue dogs.
- Rover has a reservation guarantee where if your sitter has to cancel, they help you find the best possible alternative.
- Wag appears to gather more details about your pet’s special needs and behavior, although with Rover you will have a face to face meeting to make the provider aware of what to expect.
Risks of Using Online Domesticated Animal Care Services
This is where we have to be absolutely honest with you. Making the choice to hand over your pet care responsibilities to a service provider can be risky.
While both Rover and Wag provide background checks on all of their walkers and sitters, that’s not a guarantee.
Pets have been lost, injured, mistreated, and even have tragically died while in the care of Wag and Rover service providers.
Of course, these incidents can occur with independent caretakers, so we can’t lay the blame with these companies.
Additionally, they provide care for millions of animals, so it’s inevitable that bad things will happen.
Nevertheless, don’t be shocked if you find articles, reports and reviews about one of these services gone wrong.
Before making a decision, do consider some of these issues.
Neither of these companies provide any medical coverage for their walkers or sitters.
If your walker or sitter is injured while caring for your pet, you may be liable.
Conclusion
Choosing to hand over your pet care to a service provider comes with risks, but also can also provide necessary care when you’re not available.
You should give careful consideration of reviews, recommendations, and even have a face to face meeting with your provider (offered by Rover) if possible.
While Rover and Wag have similarities, they do have differences in their services.
By reviewing the information in this blog post, I hope you can make an informed decision on the best choice for you of Rover vs Wag.
How has your experience been with any of the above two services? Help the doggy community members with your feedback in the comments section!
Thank you, this is a good introduction to Rover versus Wag as this is new to me.
Hello can you do a review in what of the two platforms use for a pet babysitter job please?
Thank you
I’ve never used them for pet babysitting but maybe one of my visitors can give some input.
Hi I live. In Ohio and Santo know if you have an location in the 44092 zip code this is Wickliffe Ohio .
Hi you’ll need to check with the company directly.
Hello,
My name is Louie. I was raised among pet dogs since i can remember. My relationship with all animals is unique. I love and adore animals period.
My recent addition to the family is my American Stafford Shire named Hunie. I personally trained her myself at 6mo.
Hunie is 4 now and continues to learn something new everyday with me. I love what i do and its being around animals.
How may get involved in the dog walking/sitting for other animal lovers that dont have much time to do. I connect very well with animals. It would be my privilege being part of animals life.
My understanding is that you can obtain a dog walker certificate to get training in this area. You may want to search for the International Association of Professional Dog Walkers, which has several courses to help you in this area. I’ve also read about Dogbiz who has the Dog Walking Academy.
We used Wag for a few years until our tri-pawed dog passed away from cancer a few months ago. We loved our walkers. They were always on time and took very good care of our dog. We had no issues with their services.
Thanks for the comment and sorry for your loss.
Hello all, Im Linda and I worked for Rover for 2 years and am going to sign up to do pet sitting,house sitting and walks. When I noticed Rover wants me to pay 50 dollars for a background check I thought I should check out Wag because maybe that would not be required of me. When I worked for Rover in 2020 to 2022 they had 2 options for background checks,one was free or 10 dollars?Cannot recall and then a deeper one was more. I chose the basic and I did fine. I really loved caring for pets. The owners were 99 percent super nice and I had many return customers. I did do one house sitting-pet care where the customer had a White linen sofa. I asked her if she had a sheet or blanket to throw over it while they were gone because,yikes a big active dog.. Well the dog put his paw on my forearm and I did not notice but a drop of blood formed and when I moved my arm, it spotted the brand new sofa. The customer filed a complaint to remove the spot/ She also wrote up a report on the outstanding animal care and could tell that the pets were well cared for.. Owners know. Anyway, Rover tried to get me to pay for that but I felt it was a no-fault accident. and when I complained to Rover that I should not be liable for the charges they agreed to pay for it..Overall I liked working for them. I house sat at their home for a week and that sofa spot would have cost me my entire pay for that week if I had to pay.