Side by side
The quick version, at 2026 Irish prices.
| Option | Typical cost | Cover | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dog walking | €12–€22 / walk | 30–60 min | Office days, dogs who like their own home |
| Drop-in sitting | €9–€17 / visit | 20–30 min | Puppies, medication, cats and dogs together |
| Doggy day care | €25–€35 / day | 8–10 hrs | Sociable, high-energy dogs; long commutes |
| Home boarding | €28–€45 / night | Overnight | Holidays, work trips, hospital stays |
Choose a dog walker if…
Your dog is content alone for a few hours but not a full nine-hour day. One midday walk resets the day: toilet break, exercise, mental stimulation, then a long nap. It is the cheapest option and the least disruptive, because nothing about your dog's routine or environment changes.
Choose doggy day care if…
Your dog is genuinely social and struggles with being alone at all. Day care gives eight to ten hours of company instead of one hour, which is the honest advantage — but it's noisy, it needs a confident dog, and in Dublin it's roughly double the cost of two daily walks.
Choose drop-in visits if…
You need feeding, medication or a toilet break more than exercise. Puppies on a four-hour feed cycle, senior dogs on tablets, and post-op dogs on lead-only rest all do better with short frequent visits than one long walk.
Choose home boarding if…
You're away overnight. A vetted host keeps your dog in their house — sofa, garden, family routine, twice-daily walks — rather than in a kennel run. For anxious or elderly dogs the difference in stress is significant.
A common Irish combination
Plenty of PawPals owners run two walks a week with the same walker for office days, then book that walker for home boarding at Christmas. Familiarity is the whole point: the dog already knows the person, the person already knows the dog's recall, its lead manners and its habits.