House Sitting in Anchorage, Alaska
A local house sitter who stays in your home while you travel. Your pets keep their routine in their own space, the lights and the driveway say somebody lives here, and you get updates instead of silence. AK Home Watch is Anchorage owned, and every stay is quoted individually in writing before you book.
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Overnight stays in your home · Pets stay in their own space · Free meet-and-greet, written quote
Why a sitter, not a kennel
Your house stays lived in and your animals stay home
Boarding moves your dog into a strange room full of strange dogs, and it leaves the house dark. A house sitter solves both at once. The animals sleep where they always sleep, eat on their schedule, and get walked on their route. Meanwhile the house has a car in the driveway, lights that change through the evening, and mail that never piles up.
That matters more in Anchorage than most places. A house that reads as empty in January is a house nobody is watching when the wind comes up, the power blinks, or the snow loads the roof. An occupied house has someone standing in it when that happens.
House sitting and home watch are two different answers to the same worry
House sitting means someone lives in your home for the length of your trip. It fits shorter absences, trips where pets need daily care, and any time you want the property genuinely occupied.
Home watch means scheduled visits with a written checklist and a photographed report, without anyone moving in. It fits the long empty stretches — the five months in Arizona, the winter the house sits closed. You can read how home watch works here.
The stay
What our Anchorage house sitting covers
We build the plan around your household during a free meet-and-greet before you leave. These are the things we handle on a standard stay, and anything else you need goes on the list at that visit.
Your pets
- Feeding and fresh water on their normal schedule
- Walks, yard time and play on their normal route
- Medications given on time and logged
- Litter, crates and bedding kept clean
- Vet trip if something is wrong, with your authorization
- Photos and updates so you can see they are fine
Your home
- Overnight occupancy for the length of your trip
- Heat and thermostat monitored day to day
- Mail, packages and door flyers brought in
- Trash and recycling out on collection day
- Plants watered, blinds and lighting varied
- Home left clean, beds stripped, dishes done
Alaska specifics
- Driveway and walkway cleared or plow service coordinated
- Heating fuel level watched and reported before it runs low
- Pipes and exposed lines checked during cold snaps
- Roof snow load and ice dam formation watched
- Vehicles started and moved if you leave one behind
- Moose and wildlife kept clear of dogs and doors
How it works
How to book an Anchorage house sitter
01
Send us your dates
Call, text or use the contact form with your travel window, how many pets, and anything unusual about the house. We tell you straight away whether those nights are open.
02
Meet before you commit
We come to the house, meet the animals, walk the property, and write down the routine. You get a quote in writing after that visit. There is no charge for the meeting and no obligation to book.
03
Go, and hear from us
We move in for the length of your trip and send updates and photos on the rhythm you want. Anything wrong with the house or the animals, you hear that day.
Anchorage house sitting rates
Every stay is quoted individually
No two houses are the same job, so we do not publish a rate. What shapes yours: how many nights, how many animals and what kind, medications or a senior pet, holidays and school breaks, snow clearing and driveway duty, heating fuel monitoring through a cold snap, travel out to Girdwood, Eagle River or Chugiak, and whatever else lands on your list at the meet-and-greet.
Longer bookings carry a lower nightly rate. You get the number in writing before anything is booked, with nothing to discover later. And if your absence runs long enough that nobody needs to be in the house overnight, we will tell you home watch is the better fit rather than selling you the bigger service.
Who books a sitter
Who uses house sitting in Anchorage
Owners of dogs who do not board well
Anxious dogs, senior dogs, dogs on medication, dogs who stop eating in a kennel. Home is the only setting that works.
Multi-pet households
Three animals in three different routines costs a fortune to board and confuses all of them. One sitter in your house handles it.
Cat owners
Cats do worse away from home than almost any animal. A sitter in the house beats a carrier and a strange room every time.
Holiday and shoulder-season travel
Thanksgiving, Christmas and spring break are exactly when Anchorage boarding fills up. Book the house instead.
Short trips Outside
A week for a wedding, a funeral, a medical appointment in Seattle. Too short for a home watch schedule, long enough to need someone here.
Homes that should look occupied
A vacant house on the Hillside in December is conspicuous. Occupancy is the cheapest security there is.
House sitting, defined
House sitter, pet sitter, house watch: what the terms mean
A house sitter stays in your home overnight for the length of your trip. Most people book one because of pets, but the occupancy is doing real work on its own — the house is heated, watched, and obviously lived in.
Pet sitting usually means drop-in visits: someone comes by once or twice a day to feed and walk, then leaves. That works for animals who are fine alone and costs less, and it leaves the house empty the other twenty-two hours. Tell us which one your animals actually need and we will say so honestly.
House watch, or home watch, is the version with no occupancy at all: scheduled visits, a written checklist, and a photographed report after each one. That is our main service and you can read about it here, including what we check on every visit through an Anchorage winter.
Questions
Anchorage house sitting questions, answered
How much does house sitting cost in Anchorage?
We quote every stay individually rather than publishing a rate, because the work varies too much from one household to the next. Nights, number and type of animals, medications, holidays, snow duty and travel distance all move the number, and longer bookings carry a lower nightly rate.
Call or text us with your dates and we will come out, meet the animals, and put the rate in writing before anything is booked. The meet-and-greet is free and there is no obligation.
Do you actually stay overnight in my house?
Yes. That is what separates house sitting from drop-in pet visits. We stay in the home for the length of the booking, so your animals are not alone at night and the house is genuinely occupied.
If you would rather have drop-in visits during the day and nobody staying over, say so and we will price it that way.
What kinds of pets do you care for?
Dogs and cats are the majority of what we do. We also handle birds, fish, rabbits and small animals on a normal stay.
Tell us about medications, reactivity around other dogs or people, escape artists, and anything that has gone wrong with a sitter before. We would rather hear it at the meet-and-greet than discover it on night two.
How far ahead should I book?
As early as you can for holidays and school breaks, since those weeks fill first and every Anchorage pet owner is trying to solve the same problem at once.
For ordinary dates a couple of weeks is usually enough. Call and ask about short notice anyway, because cancellations happen.
What do you need from me before I leave?
Keys or codes, your vet's name and number, feeding and medication instructions written down, where the shutoffs and breaker panel are, what temperature to hold, and a number where you can actually be reached.
We collect all of it at the meet-and-greet and confirm it in writing so nothing depends on memory.
What happens if something goes wrong with the house or a pet?
You hear from us the same day, with photos. Anything urgent gets a phone call.
For an animal, we go to your vet with your authorization. For the house, we coordinate the response and meet the plumber, the fuel truck or the electrician on site. You approve the work, and we do not perform repairs ourselves.
What areas of Anchorage do you serve?
The Anchorage Bowl, including Downtown, Midtown, South Anchorage, Hillside, Turnagain, Spenard, Sand Lake, Muldoon, Government Hill and Mountain View.
Eagle River, Chugiak and Girdwood depend on the dates and the season. Ask and we will tell you straight whether we can commit to your address.
Send us your travel dates
We will tell you whether those nights are open, come meet your animals, and put a rate in writing. The meeting is free and takes about an hour.
AK Home Watch
House sitting and home watch services for Anchorage, Alaska
554 East 3rd Avenue
Anchorage, AK 99501