LAST UPDATED: March 25th 2020
Here at BorrowMyDoggy, one of our aims is to keep our community as safe as possible. With the ongoing coronavirus situation many of you will have questions and concerns about your dogs (whether they’re borrowed or owned) and dog sharing at this uncertain time. We just wanted to address these concerns.
Government advice states we can leave our homes for one form of exercise a day, which can include a dog walk, but we need to be responsible by minimising time spent outside, and by keeping two metres away from other people. With this considered, we recommend that owners and borrowers should not meet.
However if both the owner and borrower of a dog consider that borrowing is absolutely essential, then please remain at least two metres away from each other and practice good hygiene, including cleaning dog items as much as possible. Try to keep dog leads and items as clean as possible with sanitising wipes or a hot wash; you can read further tips here.
While we do not recommend that owners and borrowers meet, we do encourage you to arrange video calls, or to speak to one another via the BorrowMyDoggy messaging platform. This helps to build and maintain friendships with local owners, dogs and borrowers so you are ready to meet once life goes back to normal.
Yes; Government advice states that we can each leave our homes for one form of exercise a day, which can include a dog walk. If you’re self isolating due to flu-like symptoms, you should not leave the house at all.
Our friends at My Family Vets have shared the following: “So far, there’s very little evidence to suggest that dogs can catch the disease. There’s also no evidence to suggest that dogs can transfer COVID-19 between humans. However, this is a new virus and a rare situation - it’s changing very quickly, so it’s very difficult for anyone to be 100% sure.”
You can read the article here.
The RSPCA’s current advice is: “Although there is no evidence that pets can spread the disease, we would advise being careful and not interacting with pets owned by people who are ill with the virus or whose household members have it, just in case. If this can't be avoided, ensure you wash your hands after any contact.”
We’re so thankful for the amazing help our members give to one another on BorrowMyDoggy. If you’d like to reach out and provide assistance to members of your local community in other ways, such as delivering groceries or medicine, this is at your own discretion, but you should be aware that the risks of this are not yet fully understood.
Our team is doing their very best to answer and update our FAQs as frequently as possible. If there are any questions that aren’t answered in our FAQs please do not hesitate to contact us at woofwoof@borrowmydoggy.com.
In the meantime we will continue to share happiness through our communications and social media channels as dogs will always continue to be a beacon of hope and joy through this unsettling time.
Thank you for your continued support we’re always here and happy to help if you need us. Stay safe and continue to be kind to each other.
Best woofs,
The BorrowMyDoggy Team
