Dog Walking, Boarding and Grooming Prices in Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas: Dated Figures and Tax

The quickest honest answer for Little Rock comes from Rover's own marketplace pages. They are dated, they are specific to the city, and they spell out what each figure covers. They are also marketplace numbers: Rover describes rates from its platform and says sitters set their own rates, so an independent walker or a facility can charge more or less.

The main Little Rock figures line up like this, with the date attached to each.

Keep those dates with the numbers when you quote them to a customer or use them to set your own rates. A figure that was right in May can drift by the time you publish.

A walk price isn't one number. Rover's Little Rock walking page separates the base walk from the extras, and that's a good model for your own sheet.

• 30-minute walk: $15 to $24, with a $20 average.
• 60-minute walk: $26 to $35, with a $31 average.
• Puppy walk add-on: $20 listed.
• Additional dog add-on: $11 listed.
• Holiday walk: about $24.

Rover says these walking rates do not include taxes. That matters when you compare your price with theirs: if your posted number includes tax and theirs doesn't, you'll look more expensive than you are.

The base walk also hides time customers don't see. Travel between homes, cleanup, texting updates, scheduling and the walks that get cancelled the morning of all come out of the same hour. If your 30-minute price only pays for 30 minutes, you're working the rest for free. That's the main reason to list puppy care, extra dogs and holidays as separate lines instead of folding them into one rate.

Daycare in Little Rock has its own Rover page, and it's dated a month later than the walking page. Rover's Little Rock daycare page, accurate as of June 2026, lists:

• Full day: $25 to $36, about $30 on average.
• Half day: $12 to $18.
• Hourly: $3 to $4.

Rover says the published daycare rates don't include taxes either. The walking page also lists an $18 average for a 30-minute drop-in visit, which is the visit owners book for a potty break, a meal or company in the middle of the day.

For overnight boarding in Little Rock, ask the facility or sitter you're comparing for its current nightly rate and what that rate includes: walks, playtime, feeding, medication handling, and where the dog sleeps. Boarding in a sitter's home, a kennel and overnight house sitting are three different services, so compare like with like.

For Northwest Arkansas training, Long Pine K9 in Fayetteville publishes a full price list, as shown on its page in September 2026.

A few details are worth copying if you run a training or boarding business. The longer stay gets the lower nightly rate. In-home lessons cost $160 more than the same four lessons at the facility, which reflects the trainer's travel and time. And Long Pine K9 requires rabies, distemper/DHLPP and Bordetella vaccination records before boarding, so the price comes with a clear entry rule.

One caution: a separate Long Pine K9 service page showed a four-week board-and-train price of $2,800 and listed that service as unavailable. The main page's $3,000 is the current figure to compare against. If you're quoting a competitor's price to make a point, check the page they actually book from.

Grooming prices move with size and coat more than any other service here. Two Springdale businesses publish their numbers, as shown on their pages in September 2026.

Mutty Paws NWA lists a bath and refresh by size:

• Small: $30
• Medium: $40
• Large: $55
• Extra-large: $70

Its add-ons are a $5 nail trim, $5 ear cleaning, $5 teeth brushing and $10 paw-pad hair removal. The business says prices may change based on coat type.

Bark Avenue Pet Lodge lists starting prices: a complete groom from $40, bath and nails from $24, an exit bath from $25, a brush-out at $30 for 30 minutes, and a $10 nail trim.

Notice the words "starts at." A matted coat, a large double-coated dog or a dog that needs extra handling will cost more than the floor price. If you groom, say that on your sheet in plain words, and give the customer the final number before you start.

For Rogers and Bentonville, call two or three local groomers or walkers and ask for their current price on the same service before you set yours.

Fort Smith has its own dated Rover page. Rover's Fort Smith dog-walking page, accurate as of May 2026, lists:

• 30-minute walk: $15 to $20, with a $19 average.
• 60-minute walk: $25 to $30, with a $29 average.
• Puppy add-on: $20.
• Additional dog add-on: $11.
• Full-day daycare: about $28.

Rover says these rates don't include taxes. Compared with Little Rock, the Fort Smith ranges sit a little lower at the top end, which is one more reason not to price from a single statewide number.

For boarding across the state, Find My Kennel reports an Arkansas median advertised boarding price of $36 per night, against $45 nationally. Its dataset was collected in June 2026, and the page was revised September 23, 2026. Find My Kennel says the figures are advertised prices, not survey estimates. Read the $36 as a statewide index. It is not the going rate in Little Rock, Fayetteville or any other one city, so ask each facility you compare for its own nightly rate and what's included.

Before you use wage numbers to price a dog business, know what they measure. They measure employee pay in an occupation. They don't measure what a business owner takes home, and they don't tell you what to charge a customer.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports these May 2025 national medians:

• Animal caretakers (SOC 39-2021): $35,360 a year. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $27,250 and the highest 10 percent more than $50,060.
• Animal trainers (SOC 39-2011): $39,990 a year. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $29,600 and the highest 10 percent more than $75,490.
• Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers (SOC 31-9096): $38,150 a year.

For Arkansas, the 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Survey lists "Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers," SOC 31-9096, with an employment estimate of 60 and annual wage columns ranging from $26,140 to $34,460. That category covers veterinary and lab animal work. It is not a dog-walking category.

Where wage data does help is on the cost side. If you hire a kennel attendant or a trainer, these figures give you a sense of what employee pay looks like, and your prices have to cover that pay plus everything else. I won't turn any of these numbers into an earnings promise, and you shouldn't put one on your website either.

A listed price doesn't automatically include tax. Rover's Little Rock walking and daycare pages both say their rates exclude taxes.

The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration's Rule GR-9.16 says gross receipts from pet grooming and kennel services are subject to state and local gross receipts taxes. The rule defines kennel service as keeping, sheltering, feeding and watering pets for compensation, including boarding and services that don't require an overnight stay. Grooming done for veterinary purposes may be excluded when it's part of nontaxable veterinary care. Cosmetic grooming is generally taxable, even when a veterinarian does it, if the cosmetic purpose is primary or it's billed separately.

So, if you groom, board or run daycare, plan on tax applying, and decide whether your posted price is before or after tax. Say which one on your price sheet. Dog walking and training don't fall neatly under the same wording, so ask the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration or a qualified tax professional how your specific service is treated before you set prices. I'm not an accountant, and this is the kind of question where the agency's ruling is the one that counts.

You can get a working price sheet done in a week. Start with these steps, in this order.

1. Define each service. Name it by duration and location: a 30-minute walk, a full day of daycare, a night of boarding in your home or in a facility.
2. Date the sheet. Put the month and year at the top, the same way Rover and Find My Kennel date theirs.
3. List add-ons separately. Puppy care, an additional dog, holidays, transportation, late pickup and special handling each get their own line.
4. Say whether tax is included. Pick one approach and print it on the sheet.
5. Keep records. The IRS says business records must clearly show income and expenses, and its self-employed tax center covers self-employment and estimated tax.
6. Check your registration. The SBA's Arkansas District page says business names should be registered with the county clerk where the business is located, and corporations also register with the Secretary of State. The Arkansas Secretary of State lists an LLC Certificate of Organization at $45 online or $50 on paper, and a fictitious-name application at $22.50 online or $25 on paper.
7. Ask about zoning before you work from home. SBA says a business may not be allowed to operate from a home. Little Rock publishes home-occupation conditions: the business can use no more than 49 percent or 500 square feet of the home, no employees can report to the property, no accessory structure can be used, and there's no commercial signage beyond what government agencies require. In Fayetteville, start with the Planning Division, which reviews zoning, conditional-use permits, building permits and signs. Ask your office whether dogs can stay overnight at your address and whether there's a limit on the number of dogs.
8. Get insurance quotes that match your services. A walker, a groomer and a boarding kennel carry different risks. Pet Sitters International's standards say a professional pet-sitting or dog-walking business should be registered and insured, keep separate business finances and use contracts.
9. Write a quote template. It should state the service, duration, location, whether the price is per dog or per visit, add-ons, tax, vaccination records required and cancellation terms.
10. Publish your service area and a clear way to book. Customers comparing prices want to know right away whether you cover their neighborhood.

If you're building the website that will hold this sheet, put the date and the tax note right next to the prices, not buried at the bottom of the page. That's where customers look when they compare.

These answers cover walk prices, grooming rates, the boarding median and wage data.

Rover lists $26 to $35 for a 60-minute walk in Little Rock, with a $31 average, accurate as of May 2026. Puppy care adds a listed $20 and a second dog adds $11, and the rates exclude taxes.

It matches Rover's $20 average for a 30-minute Little Rock walk, accurate as of May 2026, and sits just above Rover's $19 Fort Smith average. Whether it works for your business depends on your travel time, insurance, cancellations and taxes, so check it against your own costs before you settle on it.

In Springdale, Mutty Paws NWA lists a bath and refresh from $30 for a small dog to $70 for an extra-large dog, and Bark Avenue Pet Lodge lists a complete groom starting at $40. Coat type and condition can raise the quote, so ask for the final price before the appointment.

No. Find My Kennel's $36 is a statewide median of advertised prices, collected in June 2026 and revised September 23, 2026. Long Pine K9 in Fayetteville, for example, lists $35 to $40 a night depending on the length of the stay.

No. BLS and Arkansas wage figures describe employees in named occupations. They don't predict an owner's revenue or profit, and they shouldn't appear on a website as an earnings promise.

Pick one service this week, write down what it really costs you to provide, and set your price beside two or three dated local figures for the same service. Put the date and your tax approach on the sheet, then check zoning and registration with your city and county before you publish. Once your prices are live, list your business in the DogServ directory so Arkansas dog owners comparing rates can find you.

• barkavepetlodge.com: Bark Avenue Pet Lodge
• bls.gov: Bureau of Labor Statistics
• dfa.arkansas.gov: Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration
• dfa.arkansas.gov: Rule GR-9.16
• discover.ar.gov: 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Survey
• fayetteville-ar.gov: Planning Division
• findmykennel.com: Find My Kennel
• irs.gov: IRS
• irs.gov: self-employed tax center
• legacy.sba.gov: SBA's Arkansas District page
• littlerock.gov: home-occupation conditions
• longpinek9.com: Long Pine K9
• muttypawsofnwa.com: Mutty Paws NWA
• petsit.com: Pet Sitters International's standards
• Rover: Rover's Fort Smith dog-walking page
• Rover: Rover's Little Rock daycare page
• Rover: Rover's Little Rock dog-walking page
• sos.arkansas.gov: Arkansas Secretary of State