Waggy Tales - Borrower Angela and her Family, York

Angela and her dog-loving family have made not one, but three new doggy friends through BorrowMyDoggy. As well as adorable Pug, Sidney, they’ve matched with a pair of local Bedlington Whippet crossbreeds who have helped them fill that dog-shaped hole in their lives. As Angela says, “It has allowed us to have dogs and the enjoyment that comes with them when we wouldn’t otherwise have been able to.” They’ve even made friends with the dogs’ owners. High paws!

Describe your BorrowMyDoggy experience in one sentence.

Positive! BorrowMyDoggy has been a really positive experience.

How has BorrowMyDoggy made a difference in your life?

It has allowed us to have dogs and the enjoyment that comes with them when we wouldn’t otherwise have been able to. The whole family has really enjoyed it. The kids love having the dogs and are always so enthusiastic to go for walks. It’s so much cheaper than owning a dog of our own, too.

Why did you sign up to BorrowMyDoggy?

I used to have dogs of my own, but we’re not in a position to have one at the moment. My partner and our two daughters, who are 8 and 11, love dogs too, so BorrowMyDoggy seemed like a good medium ground to have dogs.

Tell me a bit about your matches?

We have three dogs that we look after regularly. A pair of Bedlington Whippet crosses called Hugo and Lucy, and a Pug called Sidney.

Hugo and Lucy are really different to each other. Hugo loves his ball and playing fetch, whereas Lucy prefers to go exploring on her own when we’re out on walks. We’ve looked after Hugo and Lucy for about a year, so we’ve gradually built up to having them for the week when their owners are on holiday. We’ve taken Hugo and Lucy to flyball with their owner Katie and we took them ourselves for their second lesson. It’s safe to say one is more of a natural than the other! The kids love it.

We’ve been looking after Sidney for around 6 months. He is not your average Pug as he has so much energy. He is lively, friendly and loads of fun. We all adore him.

What is your doggy borrowing arrangement?

Our current arrangements are very much ad hoc. With Sidney, we do a few overnights or weekends when his owners are away. With Hugo and Lucy, they live so nearby that we can just ask quite last minute if we can spend time with the dogs and it works really well.

What were you looking for in a match and how did you go about finding one?

I was really just wanting somebody fairly nearby who had similar requirements in terms of how often they wanted us to look after their dog. We weren’t looking for a particular breed.

I had a good look at the dogs in my area before subscribing, then I added the ones I thought would be a good match to my favourites. I also actively messaged owners that I thought might be interested.

With both matches, we messaged a couple of times on site before swapping phone numbers and organising a walk. It was all very straightforward. We did a couple of walks beforehand and the owners came to our house on a separate occasion, too.

How do you get on with the owners of your borrowed dogs?

The owners are lovely and we’ve got on well with everyone we’ve met through BorrowMyDoggy. We’ve found that we’ve made friends with the owners as well as the dogs, which is great.

Would you recommend BorrowMyDoggy to friends? What would you tell them?

I have recommended BorrowMyDoggy to three different friends and they’ve all joined up and are borrowing. In fact, one of my friends also borrows Hugo and Lucy!

Spend time with a dog in York!