‘Dogs are good for building communities’
Rikke Rosenlund is founder and CEO of Borrowmydoggy, which offers the chance for people who aren’t dog owners to walk a neighbour’s pet.
Igrew up in Denmark and my grandparents lived on a farm, where they kept dogs. I loved visiting and playing with the animals. We didn’t have dogs at home and when I moved to London, my apartment was too small to keep a dog. By 2012, I was living in west London and working in financial services and business development. My neighbour had a chocolate labrador called Aston. One day, they asked me if I’d look after Aston for a day. I was delighted. I was going to a garden party, so took Aston with me. Everyone loved meeting her. Rather than being on her own at home, Aston had socialised, sniffed and played. I’d also had good company all day.
I remember thinking, ‘Why are owners spending so much money on kennels, or leaving their dogs at home, when so many people would love to take care of them for free?’ I began putting posters around Hampstead Heath and putting out feelers online. I outlined my idea for a dog-borrow scheme, and asked people to contact me if they were interested. Within hours, responses were coming in from all different demographics. One elderly man in Cornwall said he’d just had an operation and he needed help taking his dog for long walks. Plus, there were lots of students and young professionals who’d grown up with dogs and missed having them around.
There was also a family with a five-year-old girl who’d been begging for a dog, but the parents weren’t sure. When I read that, I cried, remembering myself as a child. ‘Another little girl without a dog!’ I thought. ‘I must help!’
I went on a course for start-up entrepreneurs, where I could test the concept and create my site, Borrowmydoggy. I was amazed when 85 members signed up in the first three days.
I started by manually matching people. It was a long process, which involved visiting people and their dogs in person, then finding borrowers nearby. But it meant I could get an idea of what builds trust between strangers and how I could create safety in an online platform.
From very early on, it became clear that Borrowmydoggy would be about building communities in which people could get to know one another well. I was soon able to leave my job and hired my first team member in 2013. We fundraised to build up a more sophisticated platform that could verify members.
Over the years, thousands of people have signed up to Borrowmydoggy. Owners and borrowers can chat online and meet before a borrower is able to look after the dog. The community is built around the dogs, but I’ve seen that people help with other things, too, such as dropping off medication or meals if the owner is poorly.
Today, I have a team of 12 and we have more than 1m members in the UK and Ireland, covering 99% of postcodes. Borrowers and owners can pay an annual subscription fee that covers access to vets and insurance, but no money is exchanged between them.
It’s important that dogs are borrowed by people who love to be around them. People get more exercise thanks to dogs, while loneliness, depression and blood pressure are all reduced. It’s estimated that the NHS saves over £2bn a year because of pet ownership. Not only are dogs good for communities, they’re also great for us.
Visit borrowmydoggy.com
I was amazed when 85 members signed up in the first three days