borrow my doggy

[bonnemaman1990]

Has anyone had any success with this website? Is it worth the subscription?

I did as a borrower, walked a lovely Breton/Podenco cross rescue for 18 months (until I got my own rescue) and I also had a few more people contact me about walking for them. It was a great way of getting back into the dog world (hadn't had my own for nearly 20 years).

My daughter and her ex did this for a couple of years as walkers and absolutely loved it. They weren't in a position to have a dog full time due to work commitments but loved having dogs of a weekend. It started with someone in their building and built from there. They had so much repeat custom.

It just feels exploitive. Dog walkers earn around £12 an hour where I am, doing it for free feels like owners are taking advantage 🤨

It was worth it for me, really filled a dog shaped hole in my life. I now use an app called rover where I’ve made thousands over a couple of years looking after peoples dogs - I was a SAHM at the time

I agree. I would be happy to pay someone but I’ve had problems in the past with very short walks and not turning up etc. I would always prefer to pay someone so I’m not obliged to anyone.

its interesting to hear the perspective of the borrowers.

I think like the PP if a child accompanied an adult I could ‘pay’ the child for doing it, that would be nice.

I’m a dog walker myself so probably a bit biased, but I’d personally never leave my dog with someone who wasn’t a family member, a close friend or a fellow professional.

I can see the benefits and I totally understand why people love it, but I’d just worry that the borrowers wouldn’t know what to do in case of an emergency or incident, especially as so many people seem to use it as a way to “trial” dog ownership and therefore aren’t going to have much, if any experience.

Would they know how to handle an injury? A dog attack? Reactivity? What would they do if my dog was sick or scared or got bitten?

I also worry about liability and insurance with these companies - I know the borrowers are supposedly “covered” but what happens if they’re negligent or don’t do as the owner has asked - will insurance still pay out?

There’s also the fact that as the owner, you are always responsible for your dog even if he/she is in someone else’s care. So the handler could make a massive error and by law, you would still need to take partial responsibility.