When I was still working at my office job I was feeling super guilty of leaving Odie alone.

The look he gave me when I was about to leave home was always a mix of disappointment and sadness (if you have a furry friend you will know exactly what I mean).

I started looking for a local trusty dog sitter and dog boarding options but I could find nothing that suited my needs.

This is when I came across a site by the name Borrowmydoggy. If you are not familiar with it, it’s basically a meeting place where people with dogs can connect with people that love dogs (but that for one reason or the other can’t have one).

Let’s say you are a student away from home. You miss your pouch terribly and would love to have an excuse to take a break from your studying and get some fresh air. Or you are a keen Sunday runner, would love to have a dog run next to you but cannot commit to care for a dog full time. Or you are a family with kids and would like to understand which kind of dog would fit in well with you? Wouldn’t it be great if you could only borrow someone else’s dog for just a couple of hours?

I liked the platform straight away as I thought of it as a win win idea: the owners get an extra hand with the pet care, the borrowers get some furry time but most importantly the dogs get cuddles, exercise and love.

Needless to say, I signed up for it straight away. I calculated that the subscription for dog owners would cost me the same as a couple of 1h walks with a dog sitter. Considering that I would be able to use the service for a year, I thought I had nothing to lose really.

Once signed up, all I had to do was to set up a profile for Odie, with pictures, a brief description of him and with the kind of help I needed. Once the profile was complete, I started looking for possible matches, I was really surprised to see how many people there were out there were craving dog time. In no time I was able to find an incredible young couple (hi Gemma, hi Jack!) keen to look after Odie.

As soon as I met them I knew that they were just perfect. If you have a dog, you can recognize straight away a real dog lover and I’m sure your furry friend can too. Gemma and Jack looked after Odie beautifully and he adored them, I had no worries whatsoever living him in their care. I later found other borrowers through the site, and have never been disappointed.

One might say: don’t get a dog if you cannot care for it properly. Well, you would be right, but sometimes unplanned things happen: a change in work location or in the family situation can make caring for your dog more challenging, and it’s great to have an extra support.

The platform works well if there is respect and understanding on both parts. One should not see Borrowmydoggy as only “free pet care”. I think of it as a bit like Couchsurfing where you don’t want just to take advantage of peoples generosity and use them as a free hotel. The platform works well if there is respect and understanding on both parts. Also, don’t expect to find someone that can look after your dog all day, all the time. There is a reason if borrowers don’t have their own dog, and that’s most likely to be because of time constraints. You will need to make an effort to adapt to your borrowers schedule and might need to find several borrowers especially if you are away from the house often/for long period of times.

I am stoked to say that I am collaborating Borrowmydoggy now, as it’s a platform I truly believe in and as I know it has been of great help. The views expressed in this post are 100% my own and reflect my experience with the site .

If you are wanting to give it a try while supporting us do it here, it won’t cost you an extra penny and will help the blog going 😀

PS in case you are wondering, Gemma is the author of that epic portrait of Odie. You can check out her work here and here.