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| PET GAZETTE | RENT-A-PET
able to have a pet can hire companionship
on demand, while those who need a carer
for their animal can get someone in. But
what does the future look like if and when
everyone wants the benefits of a pet without
the commitment?
Perhaps surprisingly, the Kennel Club is
relatively supportive of this brave new world.
Secretary Caroline Kisko says: “Owning a
dog takes time and commitment - dogs are
very social animals who love spending time
with people. The Kennel Club recommends
that dogs shouldn’t be left on their own
for more than four hours at a time.” She
describes dog owners at times faced with
“dilemmas” where, due to circumstances
out of their control, “they do need to leave
their dogs longer than they would like”.
The Kennel Club welcomes dog borrowing
companies such as Borrow My Doggy -
Kisko says it has been “very successful in
helping people find extra support in local
areas to help with dog walking or sitting
when needed”.
The RSPCA is marginally more cautious
in its approach to the idea, but ultimately in
favour. A spokesperson says they’d “urge
people to meet a pet-sitter” before the loan
happens, but says it is “important” that
owners who for whatever reason cannot
look after their dog for a period of time
find a responsible carer. It recommends
“introductory sessions” so that dog and
borrower can “get used to each other”.
Naturally, owners should also leave “clear
instructions as well as emergency contact
details”.
Borrow My Doggy founder Rikke
Rosenlund rejects the idea that her company
is a rental platform, preferring the term
‘borrow’ to describe what her company
allows its members to do. Membership
on Borrow My Doggy costs £13 per year
for borrowers and £45 per year for dog
owners looking for a borrower. She says the
www.petgazette.biz
company follows various steps to guarantee
the safety of dogs, owners and borrowers,
including verifying all prospective members,
levying fees including all necessary
insurance, and a 24/7 vet line provided by
the company. Rosenlund says it can be used
“even if the owner just wants to discuss the
dog’s nutrition”.
She describes her business with a clear
passion and excitement for the pet industry.
The company gets to know its members and
maintain a healthy community, and says
that to ensure both owner and borrower are
happy before the borrowing takes place, the
pair always meet up at least once. “Some
people meet up many times,” she says,
“some people meet up a few times”. Those
borrowing are typically younger than the
lenders, and are people who “want to have
a dog, they’re just not in the place to have a
dog right now”.
When asked if dog borrowing could
overtake ownership in big cities where pet
ownership is generally harder due to living
arrangements, she says: “It’s the same
across the country. I don’t think it will ever
take over ownership of dogs, I just think its
a way for people who don’t have a dog,
to have one.” Often the borrowing/lending
experience can have the effect of helping
users “figure out what breed is the best one
for their lifestyle” before they go on to commit
to adopt or purchase, an important feature
of the model, given that recent research by
the PDSA found one in four UK owners buy
their pet without doing any prior homework
on the pet’s needs. Says Rosenlund: “It is
based purely around the love of dogs and
there really is nothing else to it.”
Purina Petcare research recently found
72 percent of owners claimed their dog
cheered them up. Over half of dog owners
surveyed said their dog made them feel
less lonely and could help “someone else
in need”. It also found 37 percent of owners
thought their dog eased anxiety with 23
percent saying their dog made them feel
more confident and raised their self esteem.
The role of dogs in improving mental health
was further reinforced when Pedigree
announced its ‘Dog Dates’ scheme, which
saw dog owners paired up with members
of Melton Mowbray’s elderly community. The
scheme aimed to “forge companionships”
- as many as nine million people across the
UK reported being lonely in a 2015 study
by Holt-Lundstad, which found that chronic
loneliness was as detrimental to health as
smoking 15 cigarettes today.
“There are over eight million dogs in
the UK, so we are focusing very much on
dogs,” laughs Rosenlund when asked if the
company plans to lend its services to any
other pets. She explains that the company
began when she looked after a brown
Labrador belonging to a friend and she
thought: “Why are people spending all this
money on dog sitters or kennels, or leaving
their dog home alone, when I would love
to look after a dog?” Five years ago, she set
up the website landing page and put up
posters around Hampstead Heath to test
the water on whether others shared her
sentiments, and within three days 85 people
had signed up. When the company started,
Rosenlund says, its clientele varied from
people having operations who needed a
carer for their dog, through to a young girl
who loved dogs but was still a little scared,
leaving the parents unwilling to take on a
dog full time in case they had to give it up.
She explains the wide variety of members
using the company’s services continues to
this day. “I still don’t have a dog,” Rosenlund
says, “I have borrowed one dog for a week,
there was one dog I borrowed on occasional
weekends when the owner needed to go
away travelling, and at the moment I borrow
one dog who comes into the office two or
three times a week.”
October 2018