Walking a dog on a beautiful day, playing with kittens — for money. Sound better than the job you have now?

Whether you're interested in working for an established company or starting out on your own, pet-sitting is a growing business. Combined membership in two major professional pet sitters associations doubled between 1999 and 2005, according to David Lummis, a senior pet market analyst with market-research firm Packaged Facts. Part of a much bigger picture, consumers spent $4.73 billion on nonveterinary pet care services, including pet-sitting, last year, or 32 percent more than they did in 2001, he said.

Those in the industry say people see their pets more as family members these days. They need extra care while their humans lead busier lives, and they need more than just a kennel when the people go on vacation.

Jaime Deason started a Fetch! pet-sitting franchise in Silver Spring, Md., partly because she had trouble getting quality care for her own dog and cat.

"We struggled to find people who were reliable enough," she says, and it was difficult to accommodate last-minute changes in their complicated schedule.

Deason does more than dogwalking. She offers services such as overnight visits, as well as boarding in sitters' own homes.

Spend a day with a pet sitter and you'll see it's more than cuddling puppies.

On a recent day, Fetch! sitter Gabe Schneider's first two assignments went from one extreme to the other.

The day started with Jake, a yellow Labrador retriever who's just a year old and full of energy. Schneider's job is to take him out for an hour "and tire him out."

Jake runs out of the house with Schneider with great enthusiasm. But his attitude changes when he sees the open back of the car: He doesn't want to jump in. He sits and after a while, Schneider gives up and lifts the nearly full grown retriever into the back of the van.

They drive to a park, where they walk, play fetch, and greet some other dogs who stroll by. Then, best of all for a retriever, Jake goes for a swim.

Now, Jake is tired out, wet and muddy now. After watching the dog put on a great show of exhaustion, Schneider has no choice but to pick him up again.

As Deason says, in this job "you're going to do a lot of laundry."

Schneider's next visit is to Pepper, a 17-year-old cockapoo. Pepper also needs to be carried, but he's got a better excuse. He's blind and deaf, and with his stiff legs, he can't walk down stairs anymore. Pepper can only take a five-minute walk, but must appreciate the visits anyway.

Dealing with such special needs is not uncommon — one client has a cat with diabetes that needs an injection every 12 hours.

It's not always easy, but it's part of the job. Says Deason, her sitters are "people who are going to go out of their way to take care of people's pets."