Help for disabled person with walking a dog

[Gr0ce]

For the last month, I've been helping out a new friend by walking her dog on mornings and evenings. My friend is very unsteady on her feet, has been having fits, is partially sighted and may have early dementia (not confirmed yet). It's a tiny dog and I live 15 minutes drive away so it's usually not a problem but there are obviously times when I'm unable to walk him. She doesn't seem to have any family or friends living nearby who could help walk him and as she doesn't have a garden, he needs to be walked more than once a day. Are there any charities or organisations that could help? I've tried the Cinnamon Trust but they don't help anyone under 65. It's getting to the point now that I'm feeling guilty for the times I can't walk him.

The cinnamon trust is the only charity I know who do that. Borrow my doggy is an online option that may work, but it's usually more ad-hoc. She'll either need to pay for a dog walker or look at rehoming him really as it's not fair that he's only getting the chance to go for a wee twice a day.

What did she do before you came along?

There must be paid dog walkers she could use - just do a Facebook book on a local group. There is also borrowmydoggy but that is hit and miss.

Do you have a university nearby? My DD walks dogs as part of a student volunteer programme at Exeter. Perhaps other universities do similar programmes.

Thank you your suggestions. I'll have a look at Borrow My Doggy, paid dog walkers and my local university. She used to be able to walk him with a walker but then her health deteriorated and that's when I started to help.

Can she afford a dog walker ?

I'm not sure if she could afford a dog walker more than a couple of times a week.

Is there a Facebook group for the local area? Where I lived if someone posting for help with something like this people would come forward and offer

But even that would be a help? Then you can maybe look into the other options, how do you know them if they don't get out much or have no family or friends?

Yes this, maybe a neighbour would come forward and walk the dog? We had a post last year on our local FB. Someone couldn't get out because of bad weather, there was a dog walking "rota" until the weather cleared.

Can you adopt him and take him to visit her a couple times a week? She needs a long term plan I’m afraid.