One alternative to dog sharing is being a trainee guide dog boarder.  During guide dogs last few weeks of training, trainers have found that they perform best if they live in a home rather than kennels.  They are happier and respond better to training. In addition, feedback from the people with whom they board enables the [...]]]>

One alternative to dog sharing is being a trainee guide dog boarder.  During guide dogs last few weeks of training, trainers have found that they perform best if they live in a home rather than kennels.  They are happier and respond better to training. In addition, feedback from the people with whom they board enables the trainers to understand their temperament.  This helps them a better match to their eventual blind or partially sighted owner.

The dogs need a home at weekends and in the evening, which suits many families and other people who would like a dog, but cannot commit to owning one full time.

yours2share also provides a dog share service.  Owners with a dog that needs company during the day can get together with families and people who can’t have a dog because of other commitments to share a dog.  This is commonly done within families and between friends, but can work just as well between strangers, provided that time is spent at the beginning discussing how the arrangement will work.  There are some sensible guidelines here together with the list of current dog shares.

Barbara shares a cockerpoo called Charley [...]]]>

I’ve just had an email from Barbara Langford in Toronto, Canada, who I wrote about in my last blog post about dog sharing.  She and Kristen were interviewed by CBC Radio in Toronto earlier this week.  You can listen to the CBC radio interview here for the next few days.

Barbara shares a cockerpoo called Charley with Kristen and is very keen to promote the idea of sharing dogs.  yours2share is very pleased to help her.

Dr. Barbara Langford from Toronto, Canada recently contacted me because she has been so pleased with a dogsharing arrangement and wants to help other people to share dogs. Like me, she dislikes the concept of “renting” a dog that some agencies are promoting. We both believe that a dog should be [...]]]>

Barbara, Kristin and Charlie

Dr. Barbara Langford from Toronto, Canada recently contacted me because she has been so pleased with a dogsharing arrangement and wants to help other people to share dogs. Like me, she dislikes the concept of “renting” a dog that some agencies are promoting. We both believe that a dog should be shared by no more than two households so that the dog has consistency and routine. She also liked my dog share guidance notes – always good to hear. She has put me in touch with several other people in Toronto and between us all, over the next few months, we are going to develop private dogsharing in Toronto.

Six months ago, Barbara and her husband Robert lost their beloved dog Charley. He was a Cockerpoo, one of a kind and they truly loved him – they were three of a pack. When Charley died, they didn’t feel able to commit to having another dog at that time in their lives.

Five weeks later, they saw a woman with a dog that looked just like Charley and got talking. Barbara and Robert said they’d be delighted to look after her dog if she ever needed.

A few weeks later, Kristin called them. Now Charlie (the sequel) spends time with them whenever Kristin is at work or away.

Here is the case study in greater detail and here is yours2share’s current list of dogshares.

I was called last night by the organisers of One Life exhibition at Olympia in three weeks time. They were selling the last few stands and as one would expect, there was a [...]]]>

Today I’ve had one of those days when I start off thinking I’m doing one thing, and end up doing something completely unexpected.

I was called last night by the organisers of One Life exhibition at Olympia in three weeks time. They were selling the last few stands and as one would expect, there was a bargain to be had.

However I need an exhibition in three weeks time like a hole in the head at the moment. We are moving house in a month, although we don’t where to yet and the sale has some tricky legal details. Thankfully it is well worth our while moving. So I disregarded the One Life idea. But this morning I mentioned the idea to my partner Larry, who then convinced me this was a fantastic opportunity – which I kind of knew – but didn’t want to acknowledge.

When there is only one of you running a business, exhibitions are hard work. I don’t like to attend with less than five people on the stand. It’s exhausting, people need breaks, the stand must never be left unattended, and no-one must be left on their own. But I think I’ve found enough people, so I’m pretty pleased. Most difficult was finding someone to look after our two dogs for three days – but I’ve even managed this. I’ll admit a degree of smugness. I wish the solicitors, removal companies, buyers and tenants involved in our house move were as easily organised.

So why was I so interested in One Life? What has changing your life, by retraining, travelling, volunteering, redressing the life/work balance or whatever, got to do with sharing stuff. Well, more than you might think. I’ve realised after talking to lots of people who visit yours2share, that many people who advertise with us are looking to change their lives. They’ve identified what they want to do, and if they can’t afford to do what they want alone, then sometimes they can see a way forward if they could find a partner. They are looking for the needle in the haystack, but then that’s what the internet is for. yours2share helps them to identify the needle.

We have ads from people looking for partners to own and run a dog rescue/kennels/pet shop, own and run a centre for healing, share their farm, share their Provencal home for several months a year, share an ocean-going yacht to travel round the world, and many others. Or maybe they want to learn to fly, sharing a light aircraft is a good way forward, or perhaps they want to ride more often, so they could share a horse.

Anyway I’ll be there on stand 34 at the One Life exhibition, Olympia, London from Friday 29th February to Sunday 2nd March 2008, with four other people (fingers crossed). We would love to see you there.

I know that people frequently set up dog sharing on an [...]]]>

After months of deliberation I have now created a new pet’s category covering dogs (and horses, see earlier post). Over the past year, whenever I explained what yours2share does, I reckon about a third of the people have asked whether this includes dogs.

I know that people frequently set up dog sharing on an informal basis. But given that my two dogs (Tilly and Gafas) are such a big part of my life, I didn’t want to be party to any process that might not be in the dog’s best interests. However after much thought, the only real disadvantages seemed to be pretty unlikely and the guidance covers the few areas where problems might occur.

Even though Tilly and Gafas are usually curled up in my office watching my every move until lunchtime when we go for our daily walk in the woods, I think they might enjoy being “shared” particularly if this meant even more walks.

The most important point is that unlike sharing many other assets, I don’t believe that the ownership of dogs should be shared. I think it must be absolutely clear who owns the dog and they must take responsibility at all times and be prepared to pay all the costs (although the two sharers may agree to share some costs, notably food). I also don’t think there needs to be any formal contract.

So I’ve spent some time writing the dog share guidance and hope that yours2share will enable people to find the right partners that they could only otherwise find in an ad-hoc manner, by asking everyone they know if anyone who would like to share a dog. I would welcome any comments.