Pet sitters and dog walkers in Washington
Washington has around twenty official DPR dog parks — free, fenced, no permit needed to walk in — and a waiting list over a year long for the one place locals pay $400-plus a year to walk dogs off-leash among the headstones of Congressional Cemetery. The thing newcomers get wrong is the shelter: since 2025, DC's animal control is run by Brandywine Valley SPCA, and found strays go to the DC Animal Shelter at DC Village — not to the Humane Rescue Alliance building people remember.
Pet care prices in Washington
Going rates across Washington, so you know what a fair quote looks like before you book.
| Service | Typical Washington rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 30-minute dog walk | $18–$25 | Rover's DC average was about $21 a walk in October 2026. |
| 30-minute drop-in visit | $18–$28 | Rover's DC average ran near $23. |
| Boarding in a sitter's home | $40–$63 a night | Rover's DC average was $54 a night in October 2026 — among the highest in the country. |
| Overnight house sitting at your home | $40–$70 a night | Average around $56. |
| Mobile grooming | $90–$140 | — |
Providers set their own rates on Kingston’s, so what you pay is what they quote — there is no markup added at checkout. Travelling over Thanksgiving or Christmas? Holiday rates and booking deadlines run higher and fill earlier.
Covering Washington and District of Columbia
Providers list the parts of Washington they actually travel to, which is usually a handful of neighbourhoods rather than the whole city. Between them the app covers Capitol Hill, Shaw, Logan Circle, Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Petworth, Navy Yard, NoMa, H Street (Atlas District), Georgetown and Brookland, along with the rest of District of Columbia. Search your own address in the app and it will show who is genuinely close rather than who is merely listed.
Our Washington coverage right now
We are onboarding our first Washington providers, so coverage is filling in neighbourhood by neighbourhood rather than being complete everywhere. We would rather say that than show you a long list of names who cannot actually take your booking. Every provider verifies their ID with our team before they appear, and the app only shows people who are free for your dates.
If nobody is near you yet, it is worth checking back — Washington is our home market and the first one we are building out.
Booking takes about two minutes
Search your address, read the providers who actually cover your part of Washington, message whoever looks right, and book when you are satisfied. Everything stays in one place — the conversation, the dates and the payment.
- 1
Search your address
See the providers who actually cover your part of Washington, with their rates and reviews.
- 2
Send the details
Your dates, your pet, anything a sitter should know. Message them before you commit.
- 3
Book and pay in the app
Card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Free for pet owners — there is no booking fee.
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Get updates while you're away
Photos and messages from your provider, in the same chat.
Dog laws in Washington
The parts that catch people out, and where to check for yourself.
DC requires a dog licence: every dog over four months must be licensed annually with DC Health — $15 if spayed or neutered, $50 if not (DC Code § 8-1804) — with proof of rabies and distemper vaccination, renewed by July 1 or within ten days of getting the dog. Rabies vaccination itself is mandatory from four months. The leash rule is § 8-1808: no animal at large — leashed everywhere off your premises except inside the fenced dog parks. The same section, as amended by the 2017 Standard of Care law, bans cruel chaining — any tether that chokes, is too short to move freely, or endangers the dog — and makes it illegal to leave an animal outside unattended for more than 15 minutes in extreme weather, hot or cold. The roughly twenty official DPR dog parks are free and need no permit to use; new parks are created through a formal DPR community application process, which is why they keep appearing.
Source: DC Code §§ 8-1804/8-1808 (code.dccouncil.gov), DC Health dog licensing pages, dpr.dc.gov dog park pages. Checked 2026-10-29. Rules and fees change — confirm with the city or county before relying on this. More on pet ID tag laws.
Dog parks in Washington
All free, all fenced, and all leashed going in and out.
Shaw Dog Park — 1651 11th Street NW
The busiest of the DPR parks — fenced, double-gated, with a separate small-dog area, water and bags. Like all DC official dog parks: free, no registration.
S Street Dog Park — 17th & S Streets NW
Dupont's park, on antimicrobial turf with a water fountain. Small, and with no size split — confident dogs do best at peak hours.
Walter Pierce Dog Park — 2630 Adams Mill Road NW
Adams Morgan's fenced run, next to Rock Creek for the on-leash miles after.
Swampoodle Dog Park — 3rd & L Streets NE
NoMa's park, built into one of the densest apartment districts in the city.
Kingsman Dog Park — 14th & Kingsman Streets NE
The H Street corridor's park at Kingman Park.
Park at LeDroit Dog Park — 286 V Street NW
LeDroit Park/Shaw's second option when the 11th Street park is packed.
Lost a pet in Washington?
Save these numbers now, not on the day.
4 DC Village Lane SW — since 2025 this is where DC's found strays go, with Brandywine Valley SPCA running animal control. 202-888-PETS is the dispatch line, 24 hours for emergencies.
71 Oglethorpe Street NW — still a major adoption and rescue organisation, but no longer the stray intake; a found dog goes to DC Village, not here.
Work through the first hour properly — our step-by-step plan covers what to do before you start making calls. A QR ID tag skips most of this: whoever finds your pet scans the code with their phone and reaches you directly, without a shelter or a scanner in between.
Your other options in Washington
- ✓Rover and Wag — larger networks than ours, so if you need someone tonight they will usually have somebody. Their commission on new sitters is around 20%.
- ✓A boarding kennel — predictable and staffed overnight, but your dog is somewhere unfamiliar rather than at home.
- ✓A neighbour — free and trusted, until the week they are away too.
What you get booking through Kingston’s
- ✓Every provider's photo ID is checked by a person on our team before they can appear in search or take a booking — that is what the green Verified badge means
- ✓Message a provider before you commit, and keep talking through the booking with photos. The conversation stays attached to the booking, so what was agreed stays on the record
- ✓Star ratings and reviews can only be left by someone who actually completed a booking with that provider — nobody else can post one
- ✓If something goes wrong, report it in the app and your payment is held while we review it
- ✓Providers keep 87% of what they charge against Rover's roughly 80%, so the same work pays a local sitter more — better-paid sitters stay, and a sitter who already knows your dog beats a cheaper stranger
We are the newest of these options in Washington and have fewer providers than the national platforms — we would rather you knew that going in. How to judge any sitter for yourself applies whichever one you choose.
Want to earn as a pet sitter in Washington?
Set your own rates and your own days, keep 87% of what you charge, and get paid to your bank through Stripe.
What it pays in WashingtonWashington pet care FAQ
Does my dog need a licence in DC?+
Yes — every dog over four months must be licensed annually with DC Health: $15 if spayed or neutered, $50 if not, with proof of rabies and distemper vaccination. Renewal runs by July 1 each year, and new owners have ten days. It's genuinely enforced at the dog parks and by animal control, and the licence tag is one of the fastest ways a found dog gets home.
Where do found stray dogs actually go in DC?+
To the DC Animal Shelter at 4 DC Village Lane SW — run by Brandywine Valley SPCA, which took over DC animal control in 2025. This is the answer most older guides get wrong: the Humane Rescue Alliance shelter people remember is no longer the stray intake. Animal control dispatch is 202-888-PETS (7387), staffed around the clock for emergencies.
Do I need a permit to use DC's dog parks?+
No — the roughly twenty official DPR dog parks are free and open to walk into, no registration. The one genuinely gated exception is private: the Congressional Cemetery K9 program on Capitol Hill, where off-leash walking among the headstones runs $400–$500 a year, is capped at 770 dogs, and carries a waiting list of a year or more.
What does a dog walker cost in DC?+
Washington is the priciest market we cover: around $18–$25 for a 30-minute walk (Rover's average was $21 in October 2026), boarding averaging $54 a night, and overnight house sitting around $56. The flip side: it's also where a good independent sitter earns the most.
What are DC's rules about leaving a dog outside?+
Two bright lines. Cruel chaining is banned — any tether that chokes, restricts free movement, or endangers the dog violates § 8-1808. And in extreme weather, hot or cold, leaving an animal outside unattended for more than 15 minutes is itself an offence under the 2017 Standard of Care law. Rowhouse yards don't exempt anyone.
My dog got out in DC — who do I call first?+
202-888-PETS (7387) — the animal control dispatch, 24 hours for emergencies — then check the DC Animal Shelter at 4 DC Village Lane SW. File with the Humane Rescue Alliance lost-pet register too, since finders often contact them out of habit, and post in the DC lost-pet groups the same hour.
Do you have providers in my part of DC?+
We're newest in Washington, building from the dense dog neighbourhoods — Capitol Hill, Shaw, Logan Circle, Navy Yard, Columbia Heights. Open the app and search your address to see who's actually available near you, and check back as coverage fills in.
How is Kingston's different from Rover in DC?+
Providers keep 87% of what they charge; Rover takes roughly 20% from new sitters plus an 11% service fee from you. At DC prices — $54-a-night boarding, $21 walks — that's the largest absolute difference of any city we serve, on both sides of the booking. Booking is free for pet owners here.
Book pet care in Washington
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