When our full time pet-sitting travels ground to a halt in March 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic, we had no idea how long we’d be without furry friends. As full time petsitters we’ve become used to having temporary pets while housesitting, whether walking dogs, feeding donkeys or simply curling up on the sofa with a cat in our laps. After four and a half months of no travel, no housesits, and no pets, we began to miss having four-legged friends around and we found ourselves re-joining the website that started our pet-sitting journey: Borrow My Doggy.
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How we got started with Borrow My Doggy
Living in Brighton in 2017, we joined Borrow My Doggy as a way to bring some fluffy joy into our lives. Meeting local dog owners gave us the opportunity to connect with local people when we first moved to the area and didn’t know anybody yet! We looked after a variety of dogs in Brighton, from a sleepy Greyhound to an energetic PugxStaff, and two rescue terriers who we still occasionally pet-sit three years after first meeting them!
Fast forward to 2020 and, after a few weeks of repeating all the local walks during lockdown, we started to think about ways to have a little four-legged companion by our sides to give our wanderings some focus. When the UK came out of lockdown we weren’t quite ready to dive back into our back-to-back housesitting, so we re-activated our Borrow My Doggy profile.
Joining the site
Creating a profile on Borrow My Doggy is free for both borrowers and owners. You can upload photos of yourself, write about why you want to borrow doggies or why you’re in need of a dog walker, and browse the profiles in your area. (For walkers, we have written a post with all our top tips for creating a successful profile). If you want to contact a borrower or dog owner, however, you’ll need to pay for annual membership. By doing so you become a Premium member – owners and borrowers without Premium membership cannot use the messaging system, as only by becoming a Premium member are both parties covered by Borrow My Doggy’s insurance. Premium membership is marked with a yellow crown on your profile, which makes it easy to see which profiles you can contact when looking for doggies to borrow or walkers for your dog. Annual membership costs £12.99 for dog borrowers and £48.99 for owners, which we feel is worth every penny for a year of pet care!
Sending messages
Once you’ve signed up for Premium membership on Borrow My Doggy, you can start contacting other profiles on the site. Whether you’re an owner in need of a walker or someone looking to borrow a dog, you can find our tips for sending messages, and what to include in your message, on our Borrow My Doggy FAQs.
For borrowers, our top tip is to keep an open mind about the kind of dog you’ll borrow. You might have your heart set on borrowing a cute Chihuahua, only to never receive a response from the owner. Sometimes this is simply because the owner already has all the help they need. When we first re-joined Borrow My Doggy we contacted five different owners: One of whom we met (more on that below!), another who messaged to arrange a meeting but then went quiet, another who said they didn’t need any help right now, and two more who didn’t get back to us at all. The more flexible you can be about the breed of dog you’re looking to borrow, without getting out of your depth in terms of the kind of dog you’re capable of caring for, the smoother you’ll find the process.
For owners, our most important piece of advice is to remember that borrowers are giving up their time to walk your dog for free, and you shouldn’t expect them to care for your dog multiple times a week for extended periods – unless this is something they have explicitly said they would like to do. Don’t use the site to simply find a regular, unpaid dog walker. The arrangement needs to work for all three parties – owners, borrowers, and of course, the dogs! You can’t expect borrowers to take your dog at the drop of a hat – so refrain from sending a one-sentence message along the lines of ‘Can you look after my dog this Monday?’. Go into the site with some flexibility and you’ll have a much better experience.
It’s also just common courtesy to respond to every message you receive, as a borrower or an owner, even if only to let them know that you’re not available or don’t need extra help at this time.
Borrowing doggies!
Less than a week after we contacted Nina to borrow her dog, we met for an introduction with three-year-old rescue dog Spike. We talked about his behaviour, his likes and dislikes, our experience, their availability – making sure that we were all comfortable with the arrangement. We confirmed a day for our first walkies with Spike, and a few days later we picked him up to go for walkies at a local grassy area with lots of shade for the warm weather. We spent some time sitting with him while keeping him on the lead – just getting him used to us and enjoying lots of cuddles! We went for walks down quiet residential streets and through our local park, before dropping Spike back home. His owner text us later in the evening to say he was so tired and sleeping soundly, so we could borrow him again whenever we like!
It’s worth mentioning that every Borrow My Doggy situation is different. When using the site in Brighton, two of the owners we were in contact with would drop their dogs to us on their way to work, or an event, when arranged. Another dog we borrowed lived just around the corner from us, and the owner gave us a key to her flat so we could easily pop round (with permission!) to take Bella for walkies if they would be out for extended periods. It’s important to be upfront with your expectations for using the site, so everybody knows where they stand.
Negatives of using Borrow My Doggy
There are a few little setbacks to using Borrow My Doggy that wouldn’t put us off using the site, but we feel are worth mentioning.
Firstly, Borrow My Doggy currently doesn’t offer monthly membership – the only option is to pay an annual fee. This is possibly to try and prevent users from making their connections within a month, then cancelling their membership. In practice what this leads to is lots of Premium accounts on the site that don’t engage with others – possibly owners who were searching for walkers earlier in their subscription, but have since found the help they need, or borrowers who signed up months ago and are now unavailable to take on more dogs. It means more unanswered messages on the site which can be frustrating but, as we’ve previously mentioned, we recommend not pinning all your hopes on one profile.
Along similar lines, there is an option ‘hide’ your profile if you currently don’t have the availability to borrow any dogs, or if you’re are an owner who is no longer in need of any help. This prevents your profile from showing up in search, so you won’t receive messages when you’re not available. This works perfectly when borrowers and owners use this function, but it’s not always the case – leading to more unanswered messages. We’re unsure if Borrow My Doggy prompts users to update their preferences after a period of inactivity, but there’s only so much the site can do. If in doubt, you can check how active a member is by looking at their profile – a small line underneath their name will range from ‘Rarely active member’ to ‘Very active member’ so you can increase your odds of a message being read.
As with any transaction where no money changes hands, unfortunately you may encounter some time-wasters or those looking to take advantage of a free service. In our experience these have been minor instances, ranging from owners who never responded to our messages, to those who responded positively and then ghosted, all the way to one owner who presumed she would drop off her dog at our house every day during the week while she went to work all day.
One borrower we’ve spoken to admitted she was travelling for an hour and a half across London to pick up the owner’s dog, as the owner had told her that was how the arrangement worked. An owner we’ve connected with on the site told us how a previous borrower would spontaneously ask to borrow her dog for half an hour at random times, when she wanted to show off a cute dog to her friends. Again, one of the biggest pieces of advice we can give is to go into the arrangement with flexibility, and be upfront with what you want to get out of the site. Don’t pin all your hopes on one profile, don’t ask too much of the other person, and be honest when the situation isn’t working for you.
Positives of using Borrow My Doggy
Don’t let the small negatives put you off – we love using Borrow My Doggy and truly believe it’s a brilliant site with lots of positives!
For those who love animals but aren’t in a position to have dogs of their own, like us, the site is a fantastic way to spend time with dogs and expand your experience in caring for them. Borrow My Doggy is the site that lead us to start our full time pet sitting business, and we used the site in the early days to seek out a variety of dogs to care for and gain pet care experience with lots of different breeds. If you’re renting a flat and your landlord doesn’t allow pets, or you don’t have the space or spare time to have a dog of your own, Borrow My Doggy allows you to walk with a dog for a short burst and get your doggo cuddle fix!
For owners in need of a little extra help throughout the week, without committing to a regular dog walker, Borrow My Doggy allows you to find someone local that you can trust to give your dog a good run when you just don’t have time. Finding experienced dog care providers on the site that are happy to walk or care for your dog free of charge is well worth the annual cost. Plus, your dog will get extra walkies and cuddles while making a new human friend!
The website itself is very simple to use, with a clear search function where users can find local borrowers or owners by honing in on their location from 0.25 miles to 20 miles away. Users can filter their search by dog size, user availability, and show the newest or most active listings easily. This allows you to find your perfect match and start the process of borrowing a doggy quicker! There’s also a handy app for your phone so you can get notifications from the site and respond to messages as soon as you receive them.
We’ve made long term friends on the site over the years whose dogs we have since gone on to pet sit when their owners are away! We love forming bonds with both dogs and their owners, who we never would have met if it weren’t for Borrow My Doggy. If you’re new to an area it’s a great way to meet other like-minded people! Equally if you need to get out for more exercise, there’s nothing like taking a furry friend with you for the adventure to motivate you to get in those steps. Initially we thought the site would help us decide what kind of dog we’d like to own one day, but spending time with so many wonderful dogs just made the decision harder and now we just want all the dogs!
Conclusion
As with any service, having a positive experience on the site is down to you – take your time to do your own due diligence and vet your borrower thoroughly, arranging an initial in-person meeting to make sure they will be the right person to care for your dog. For borrowers, this is equally important – read all the information given on a dog’s profile, and make sure the owner’s expectations match up to yours.
Overall we truly believe it’s a brilliant, mutually-beneficial exchange for everyone. Owners can find free dog care from experienced dog lovers, borrowers get to make new four-legged friends and satisfy cravings for furry cuddles, and doggies get more playtime and walkies! We can’t wait to find more four-legged friends on the site.
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