Borrow A Dog with Seattle’s New City Dog Share

Situation #1: You love your dog, but you’re at work all day.

“I have a little miniature dachshund named Mochi,” says Seattle dog owner Josh Kerns. “He’s about five and unfortunately he’s stuck at home all day. He needs some company.”

Situation #2: You love dogs! But you don’t have the time for one or your landlord won’t allow it.

“Owning a dog full time is a huge responsibility,” says dog lover Michael Cornell.

Well, there’s now a solution that will brings these dog lovers together: City Dog Share.

“City Dog Share is a free dog sitting coop,” says founder Eric Husk. “You can just login to your Facebook account, you join the group, it’s free. Once you’re in, you basically post a picture of your dog, you say, ‘Can somebody watch her on Thursday? She weighs 30 pounds, plays great with cats and kids,’ Or whatever it is. Other members can comment on the thread, send you a message, click through your profiles.”

Eric started City Dog Share in San Francisco 18 months ago, and has since expanded to Los Angeles, Humboldt, Portland and now Seattle.
The Facebook page is covered with photos of adorable dogs, looking for playmates, and eager dog lovers ready to play.

“Recently I lost my dog of almost 16 years,” says Michael. “Here we are at Greenlake, she actually collapsed on a walk around the lake and didn’t make it home and I really really miss her. But I’m not sure I’m ready for the commitment or the responsibility of owning a dog full time again, just yet. This is a great compromise. Getting to spend some love time, some puppy time, without having the full time responsibility.”

My co-worker Josh Kerns recently put his little Mochi up on the site.

“I totally feel guilty to leave my dog but, you know, I’ve done the dog sitting thing and it’s, like, $30 a day. I still do that occasionally, where he goes to a dog sitter, but I can’t afford that every day. So what a great idea, if somebody wants to give him some love, and he doesn’t have to sit at home. I think it’s just a great service.”

But what about trusting a stranger with your precious pooch?

“I’ve traded notes with a couple of people and we’re going to go meet them,” says Josh. “If it looks okay, then I’m more than willing to give them a shot and cross my fingers that they’re going to be good to him.”

Michael is a real estate broker with a flexible schedule, so he says he would be happy to take a dog for a lunchtime walk or dog sit when someone goes on vacation.

“I’ve always thought that I wouldn’t want to have kids of my own, but it would be fun to be a grandparent or an uncle. This is sort of the same thing. You get the fun parts, [I’m] not really going to have to worry about the hard parts of being a dog parent.”

Click here for a link to Seattle’s City Dog Share page.