How PetHour works

🐾 For pet owners — find, book, relax

1. Search. Browse identity-verified walkers, sitters, groomers and trainers near you by service, date, price and home environment on the Explore page — no account needed to look around.
2. Book. Pick a caregiver, choose services and dates, optionally add up to 3 backup caregivers, and check out. Your card is only held, not charged, until the caregiver confirms.
3. Get ready. Your confirmation email links the prep guide for your service — what to leave out, what usually goes wrong, and what to do if it does.
4. Track. Walks are GPS-tracked live; caregivers capture photos and voice notes, and AI turns them into a polished visit report delivered to you automatically.
5. Confirm & release payment. When the visit is done your caregiver marks it complete — but your payment stays held until you confirm. Tap Confirm to release it, or it auto-confirms after about 72 hours if everything looks good. Something wrong? Tap Report a problem — the payment is frozen, you and your caregiver can settle it between you on the booking's Dispute tab, and our team steps in if you can't agree.
6. Review. Reviews unlock only after a real, paid, completed booking — that's why PetHour ratings can be trusted.

🛟 The Care Team — backups standing by

Every booking can carry up to 3 backup caregivers ($4.00 per accepted slot — per visit, or per night or day of a longer stay). Backups are background-checked caregivers on a paid plan. If your main caregiver declines, doesn't reply, or cancels a confirmed booking, the backups who accepted are already standing by — one tap (or automatic promotion) and your dates and pets move to a caregiver who already agreed to be available. Backups earn $2.50 just for standing by, so they actually accept.

What happens to the price if a backup takes over?

Every caregiver sets their own rates — per pet size, puppy or reactive-dog surcharges, multi-pet discounts and holiday rates. When a backup steps in, they work at their own rates, locked in at checkout: you see each backup's exact "if called in" total (for your actual pets and dates) before you place the order, and neither caregiver can change those numbers afterwards.

• We refund your original caregiver's price (service + 10% fee) — automatically, no action needed.
• We charge the backup's locked-in price instead — the same itemized math (sizes, surcharges, discounts, holidays) you saw at checkout.
• Only the difference actually moves on your card: a small extra charge if the backup costs more, an automatic refund if they cost less, nothing at all if the totals match.

The full breakdown — original price, new price and the difference — appears in your confirmation notification and on the booking's Payments tab, and is itemized on the downloadable receipt.

⚡ Last Minute requests — urgent care, fast

Need someone today? Tap the ⚡ Last Minute button, describe the job, and PetHour dispatches it to available caregivers nearby by push and SMS. Replies appear live; you pick your favourite within 10 minutes (or the first responder is auto-confirmed). Sending a request is free right now. PetHour may add a small dispatch fee when demand and texting costs rise; you always see it before you send.

📦 Care Bundles — buy several visits at a discount

Caregivers on a paid plan can package several services together (say, 10 dog walks, or a grooming plus a few drop-ins) at a discounted combined price. When you buy a bundle, the full price is charged upfront and held by PetHour — the 10% service fee applies exactly like a normal booking (already included in the price you see in California, Colorado and Massachusetts), and the caregiver still receives the whole bundle price.

1. Buy. Pick a bundle on a caregiver's profile and check out. No dates are chosen yet — buying just unlocks a private, platform-managed chat room where you and the caregiver schedule each visit.
2. Schedule & deliver. Arrange each session through the chat. As the caregiver completes each one, that slice of the held payment is released — when you confirm, or automatically about 48 hours after the caregiver marks it done if you haven't responded.
3. Money held safely. Only unreleased held funds can ever be refunded. Confirmed (or auto-confirmed) sessions are final and can't be reversed. If a session wasn't delivered as reported or a caregiver becomes unresponsive, open a dispute case on the bundle — each disputed session can be released, refunded or split.
4. If you go quiet. If you leave the caregiver's scheduling request unanswered for 14 days — or the bundle's window plus 30 days' grace ends with sessions still unused — the abandonment policy applies: the caregiver keeps 25% of the remaining unreleased held funds for holding capacity, and 75% is refunded to you. Any reply cancels a scheduling request, and you're reminded 14 days before the window ends. If the caregiver is the one who didn't deliver, open a dispute on the bundle before then — it decides those sessions instead.
5. Caregiver emergency. If the caregiver cancels the whole bundle, your held balance is refunded in full, service fee included.

Full terms are in the Terms of Service (§6, Care Bundles).

💬 Messaging & masked numbers — talk without sharing your number

You can message a caregiver before you ever book, and there's no penalty for messaging without booking — asking questions is exactly what it's for. Before a booking exists, all contact stays in-app: no phone numbers are shared either way. Starting a conversation just needs a verified account (free ID + phone check), and either person can block, report, or switch off new member messages at any time.

Once a booking is confirmed, either of you can open a temporary private line from the booking (a masked number, through Twilio) to call and text about it — without either side ever seeing the other's real number. A line needs a verified phone and booking texts & calls turned on for both of you, lasts 24 hours, and can be opened again while the booking runs; in-app messages always work. On a booking, caregivers also get a private "call the emergency contact" button that connects the call without revealing that number (not for Care Bundles). When the booking completes or is cancelled the line stops working (the number may later be reused for others), and the in-app chat becomes read-only — so contact naturally ends with the job.

We keep only routing metadata about masked calls and texts — which party contacted which, when, and whether by call or text — never the message contents. Full detail in the Privacy Policy and Terms.

💳 Payments & fees — transparent, always

Caregivers set their price and keep 100% of it. You pay the caregiver's rate plus a flat, always-visible 10% service fee, which funds payments, payment holds, GPS, visit reports and support. No hidden commissions baked into rates.

How prices are shown. In California, Colorado and Massachusetts — and wherever we can't tell where you're looking — prices in search and on profiles already include the fee: the $60 walk below shows as $66. Everywhere else they're the caregiver's rate, with a note that the fee is added and that your total depends on your dates, pets and add-ons. Checkout lists the fee on its own line either way, and sales tax is added where it applies.

When does the caregiver get paid?

Your card is held at checkout and captured when the caregiver confirms — but the money stays with PetHour until the job is done and you're happy. After the visit the caregiver marks it complete, and you release the payment by tapping Confirm. If you don't get to it, the booking auto-confirms after about 72 hours and the caregiver is paid automatically. If something went wrong, tap Report a problem to open a dispute case — that freezes the payment and pauses auto-confirmation. You'll both see the case on the booking's Dispute tab: the other side has 48 hours to respond, you can settle it between you with an offer, and PetHour reviews it (usually within 5 business days) if you can't agree. You can still open a case up to 72 hours after a payment is released; a refund then is recovered from the caregiver.

Can I just pay my caregiver directly?

We don't forbid it — but paying off-platform carries none of PetHour's protections: no held payments, no dispute resolution, no GPS tracking, no backup Care Team, no AI visit reports, and it never builds your reviews or Reliability Score. Booking and paying on PetHour is what keeps all of that working — which is why it's in both the owner's and the caregiver's interest to stay on-platform.

Every caregiver sets a cancellation policy, shown with its exact deadline before you book: cancel by then and everything comes back, fee included; later, you get their chosen share back, and anything more than 7 days away is always refunded in full. All payments are processed by Stripe — card numbers never touch PetHour's servers.

💰 Your wallet — earnings and gift credit

Every PetHour account has a wallet — an auditable, append-only ledger. Money you earn as a caregiver can be withdrawn to your bank or debit card (every payout is human-reviewed for safety). Money you receive as gift credit is spendable on bookings but isn't cashable — except a small leftover balance of a purchased gift where the law requires it (for example under $15 in California). Your Finances page shows both, transaction by transaction, with tax-ready exports.

🎁 Referrals — invite people, earn credit

Every member gets a referral link from day one — no booking needed. When someone who joined through it completes their first paid booking, credit lands in your balance automatically — $5 if they book, $10 if they sit, both if they do both (up to $15 from one person), plus a one-time $3 tier-2 bonus if someone they invite becomes a working caregiver. Each reward is a one-time thank-you for bringing that person to PetHour — their repeat bookings don't earn more, so you earn again by inviting more people. Credits are worth $1 each, never expire, and are spendable on your own bookings and caregiver membership — but can't be cashed out.

There are exactly two rules, and it's fairer to state them up front than to let you find them by hitting them:

• Bookings between you and someone you referred don't earn credit. The reward is for bringing a new person to PetHour, so it only releases on a booking with someone outside your referral pair — inviting your partner and then booking each other earns nothing. Nothing is lost: the referral stays open, and the moment they book or care for anyone else the credit is released as normal.
• Credits don't stack with other offers. While a launch offer is open, credits can't be applied to subscription months — whatever price you pay. They keep their full value for bookings the whole time, and become usable on subscription months again once the offer closes.

💼 For caregivers — keep what you earn

PetHour never takes a commission from your rate. Instead of losing ~20% of every booking (the industry norm), you pay a flat subscription from $39.00/month. Start with a free trial — 30 days for up to 3 jobs ($150), no card, visit reports included. You get paid and withdraw like anyone else, and tips owners send are 100% yours. To keep taking new work after it, choose Pro or Growth; both need a $32.00 background check (renewed every 2 years, paid by you), which you can get during the trial too.

• Explorer (free trial) — 30 days, up to 3 jobs worth $150, no card. Until you have a background check that counts (optional on the trial), owners see that you haven't had one. How the trial works
• Pro ($39.00) — unlimited bookings, house sitting, CRM, calendar sync; background check required.
• Growth ($69.00) — priority placement, email marketing, market insights.
• Elite ($99.00) — launching soon — top placement, team accounts, custom services, your own branded site, API.

Who joins PetHour

Not just sitters. One profile holds every service you offer, each with its own price, and the plan you need depends on the work:

• 🦮 Walkers — 30- and 60-minute walks on the free trial and every plan; training walks from Pro.
• 🏠 Sitters & boarders — drop-ins, boarding, daycare, cats and small animals on the free trial; house sitting, puppy, senior and farm-animal care from Pro; exotic pets from Growth.
• ✂️ Groomers — full grooms, cat grooms, nail trims, de-shedding and teeth brushing from Growth; certified professional grooms on Elite (launching soon).
• 🎓 Trainers — private obedience training from Growth; certified training and AKC CGC prep on Elite (launching soon).
• 💊 Health & recovery — medication visits from Pro; insulin injections and SubQ fluids from Growth, by licensed vet techs and vets only; vet-tech escorts, hydrotherapy and post-op home care on Elite (launching soon). PetHour isn't a vet practice: no exams, diagnosis or prescribing are booked here.
• 🚗 Pet-taxi drivers — door-to-door pet transport from Pro.

On a paid plan with a background check that counts, earn extra by joining the backup network ($2.50 per standby, full rate when triggered) and by replying to Last Minute requests — which go to background-checked caregivers unless the owner chooses "Any".

See your day before you answer. Every request shows the rest of that day — your other bookings, requests still waiting on you, and busy time from your connected calendar — so you can say yes or no in seconds. Each confirmed booking links the prep guide for its service.

📅 How a caregiver's calendar fills

PetHour checks every booking against the caregiver's other confirmed bookings, so search only shows people who really have room, and nobody is double-booked by accident.

• Visits are one at a time. Walks, drop-ins, grooms and training sessions each take their real length — a 60-minute walk holds the hour — with 15 minutes between visits for travel.
• Boarding and daycare share the caregiver's home. Each caregiver says how many households they host at once. Boarding runs from 5 PM arrival to noon check-out, so the evening of a check-out day is free again; daycare runs 7 AM to 7 PM.
• House sitting is the caregiver's nights. From 6 PM to 9 AM they're at your home and take nothing else; daytime visits elsewhere are allowed unless you agree otherwise.
• Requests don't hold a slot. The first booking the caregiver confirms wins; any other request that no longer fits is declined automatically, straight away — so you can pick someone else, and backups or the team step in as usual.

Shared or Exclusive

When a caregiver hosts more than one household at a time, you choose at checkout. Shared means other families' pets may stay at the same time, within the caregiver's published limits — you'll get a heads-up when it happens, never with their names. Exclusive means just your pets; the caregiver may charge an Exclusive surcharge for the room it takes, shown before you pay. A pet with a bite history is always Exclusive — the safest setup for everyone. Caregivers who host one household at a time are always Exclusive, at no extra cost (Terms §4.11).

🪴 Growing together — we only earn more when you do

PetHour never takes a cut of your rate: you pay a flat plan, and owners pay a 10% service fee on top that funds payments, payment holds and the tools that protect a booking. So apart from an occasional price review — announced at least 14 days ahead, and never inside your 12-month price lock — the only way your plan costs more is for your business to grow, and the plans are built around that.

• Start with a free trial. Your first 30 days are free — up to 3 jobs worth $150, no card, and what you earn is yours. When it ends, your profile goes offline for new work until you start Pro ($39.00) or Growth yourself; the plan is first charged on the day your background check clears.
• Your rate stays yours. No commission on any plan — a flat monthly price, and everything you earn above it is yours to keep.
• Your plan follows your earnings. When your 3-month average from completed bookings reaches $650/mo, you move up to Growth ($69.00); once Elite launches, at $1,300/mo on Growth, to Elite ($99.00). One step at a time, at the start of your next billing cycle — never mid-cycle — and you're notified the day it's scheduled.
• Your price is locked; your plan can still grow. The price you pay is locked for 12 months from when it began, so a price review can't raise it sooner. That lock covers what your plan costs, not which plan you're on: when your earnings move you up, you pay the new plan's current price (the Founding price, if you're a Founding Caregiver), and that price is locked for 12 months from the day you move up.
• A small share that keeps shrinking. At the point it kicks in, Growth costs about 11% of your monthly earnings and Elite about 8% — and the share only gets smaller as you earn more. Commission platforms take around 20% of every booking, however big you get.
• Each step unlocks tools for the business you now have. Pro keeps you taking work after the trial and adds house sitting and business tools; Growth adds more services, featured placement, email marketing and more service areas; Elite (launching soon) adds team accounts and your own booking website.
• Never pushed down. We never move you down automatically, so a slow month never costs you tools or services. A plan your earnings have reached stays yours while they stay there; once your average falls back below its line, you can move down yourself from your plan page — it takes effect at your next billing cycle, once your first month is behind you.

This is the plain-language version. The binding rules — including the first-month charge, automatic upgrades and price changes (at least 14 days' notice; your price is locked for 12 months) — are in the Terms of Service, §8.2–8.9.

🤝 Team accounts — work under a business, or build one

Team accounts come with Elite, which is launching soon. Once it's available, an Elite business can run a team of up to 10 caregivers under a single subscription. If you join a team, you pay no subscription of your own and keep everything that makes you you — your prices, your services, your areas and your hours. What changes is where the work comes from: you start with the business's search ranking and its team rating behind you, while every review you earn builds your own. Every team member has a background check that counts ($32.00, paid by you, every 2 years) — the business never sees your report, only whether you can join.

How the money works — flat, never a percentage

On each job you actually complete, two flat amounts come out of the price you set: a dispatch fee kept by the business, and PetHour's $2 team fee (in place of the subscription you don't pay). Because both are taken out of your price rather than added on top, the owner pays exactly what they'd pay booking you directly — and on a bigger job the flat fees are almost invisible. The business sets the dispatch fee per service; if it changes a fee, you're notified, and the change only applies to new bookings. Team accounts aren't available in California.

Who gets each booking

Nobody picks. Every booking goes to whoever has waited longest for a turn, among everyone who covers that area, offers that service and is free at that time — the business owner included, on the same terms. They can't skip, reassign or hand-pick, which is exactly why good caregivers are willing to join. There's no "usual caregiver": repeat clients rotate too, so nobody can be starved or handed only the bad jobs.

Your reviews come with you

Reviews of your work are yours: they show on your profile, they also count toward the business's team rating while you're on the team, and they stay with you if you leave. You can leave whenever you like: your profile, services, areas, hours and wallet all come back. To be booked on your own again you need a plan of your own (or your free trial, if you never used it).

🛡 Trust & safety — verified, tracked, accountable

• Identity verification is mandatory for every member — owners and caregivers — via Stripe Identity, at no charge.
• Phone verification backs every account with a real number.
• GPS-tracked walks — owners can follow a walk live and see the route in the visit report.
• Payment-gated reviews — only real, paid, completed bookings can be reviewed. Reliability scores can't be gamed for free.
• Background checks — every caregiver on a paid plan or a team passes a Checkr background check, renewed every 2 years. Free-trial caregivers who haven't yet are clearly labelled, you confirm before booking them, and they can't do house sits or backups. What's a free-trial caregiver?
• Pet CPR certification — an optional badge that helps caregivers stand out.
• Pet Language badge — caregivers pass PetHour's short scenario quiz on reading dog & cat body language, stress signals and safe handling. Try a sample →
• Human-reviewed payouts — every withdrawal is checked before money moves.

More on trust & safety at PetHour — including our Safe Meet & Greet guide and our Community Guidelines.

📊 Reliability Score — earned, never bought

Every member carries a 0–100 Reliability Score, computed on demand from real, verified activity on PetHour — never anything self-reported. If you both book and offer care, you keep two independent scores: one as an owner and one as a caregiver.

What a caregiver's score is built from

• Cancellation rate (30%) — how often you cancel after accepting. This is the heaviest factor.
• Response time (20%) — how fast you answer requests; a request that expires unanswered scores zero.
• Repeat clients (25%) — the share of your owners who come back and book you again.
• Verified review average (25%) — ratings from completed, paid bookings only.

What an owner's score is built from

• Cancellation rate (35%) — every cancellation counts, however early; what comes back follows the caregiver's own cancellation policy.
• No-show rate (30%) — the single worst signal for a caregiver who planned their day around you.
• Payment speed (20%) — how quickly you answer any additional-payment request.
• Caregiver reviews of you (15%) — clear pet notes and being ready at handoff earn great ones.

New accounts aren't punished for being new: you start near 90 and provisional, each factor only counts once there's enough history behind it, so one early hiccup can't swing your score. And because only reviews from real, paid, completed bookings ever count, a score can't be inflated with fake ratings.

❓ Frequently asked questions