Teacher quits classroom after making $35,807 dog walking on the side, now she works 15-20 hours a week, earns up to $4,500 monthly

Kaitlyn Ballard turned a part-time pet-sitting gig into a full-time business after five years as a fifth-grade teacher, eventually building an income stream that she says now averages $4,000 to $4,500 a month while she works about 15 to 20 hours a week. Her story was reported by PEOPLE in an exclusive interview.

Ballard, 27, spent five years teaching fifth-grade reading and writing. While working in the classroom, she began using Rover to walk dogs and provide overnight pet care, initially charging $20 per walk and $60 per night for house sittings and boarding.

According to Ballard, the side business made her $35,807.25 while she was teaching. Initially, her monthly income fluctuated wildly from between $300 and $500 at a low period to $1,000 and $1,500 in a busy period.


The extra money eventually gave her something better than additional income; it provided her with a financial buffer that made it safer for her to leave teaching. Ballard stated that she wanted more freedom to explore a new career path.

From Rover profile to professional pet sitter

However, Ballard did not terminate her teaching career straightaway. On the contrary, she invested time and effort into building up the business, taking a course in pet first-aid, getting insurance, and raising prices twofold.

At the same time, she was investigating competition among pet-sitting companies and working on making her profile at Rover more appealing to customers. In 2025, her family moved to Cape Cod from Texas due to her husband's service in the army. Having settled in Massachusetts, she kept building up her clientele on the basis of word of mouth and her Rover profile.

She says she has since worked with 29 clients, including eight recurring weekly clients.

$4,500 monthly income on a shorter workweek

After making pet sitting her primary occupation, Ballard says she now averages $4,000 to $4,500 a month, working approximately 15 to 20 hours per week. Her highest-earning month was April, when she says she brought in $6,763.

Her schedule is also substantially different from her teaching routine. She typically begins visiting clients around 9:45 a.m. and finishes around 1 p.m., although the hours vary depending on bookings.

But Ballard stresses that dog walking is not simply an easy side gig. She says sitters may have to manage reactive or loose dogs and respond to emergencies such as choking or overheating.

Building income beyond dog walking

Ballard has also turned her experience into educational content. She now offers Rover profile audits, a pet-sitting business tracker, an online course and one-on-one coaching, creating an additional revenue stream.

Her story is therefore about more than replacing a teaching salary with dog walking. Ballard is building a broader pet-care business around client services, digital products and coaching, while continuing to describe herself as a professional pet sitter.