I was at a dinner party a couple of weeks ago and found myself in conversation with someone from the village who suddenly started to tell me how wonderful her dog sharing arrangement was. I love moments like this. Christine didn’t know me and had no idea about yours2share. She didn’t know that I was looking for a successful dog share case study that wasn’t between family members.
I went down to see Christine yesterday to find out more about the arrangement. I met Verity with whom she shares Percy, a border terrier. Christine explained how the dog share came about and how it works.
When Christine’s husband died three years ago, her friend and nearby neighbour Verity suggested that she got a dog. Christine’s immediate response was that this was impossible as she frequently goes down to London for a day or two, and has a busy social life that wouldn’t be good for a dog. However Verity had thought this out because her immediate reply was “Yes you can, because we can share the dog. Whenever you are away, he can come stay with me”. And so the plan was hatched.
Christine went to her local dog rescue home and there she found Percy. After a couple of visits to the rescue centre to take him for a walk, he threw his paw in with Christine and came back to live with her, settling in well. The first time Christine went away, he went to stay with Verity. Percy wasn’t too pleased about this for a few hours and whimpered a bit. But he soon settled into his second home.
Two years later, Percy is a very happy dog. He has two adoring owners, as many walks as he can manage, and is always with either Christine or Verity. He has toys, food and basket in both homes (although it appears that he spends the night at the bottom of either Christine or Verity’s bed). He is always excited to visit Verity, running round the house to check everything is as he left it, and ecstatic to see Christine when she return. On the rare occasion when they are both busy, another neighbour looks after him.
Both Christine and Verity are keen to point out that Percy belongs to Christine and that she is completely responsible for his health and well being. They, like me, believe that it is essential that the ownership lies totally with one person.
One key tip was to have an understanding about between-meal titbits, as Percy was very clever at taking advantage of the additional opportunities for extra treats!
They are also keen to promote dog sharing. So many people would like to own a dog but can’t because of other commitments. If they can find someone with a compatible requirement and spend some time setting up the arrangement in the interests of the dog, then it works wonderfully well.
Percy certainly approves!
Here are all yours2share’s dog sharing ads and here is some guidance on sharing dogs.
For a complicated reason which has nothing to do with the dog sharing arrangement, I’ve changed the names of the people involved.