Mary Allen
More and more dog owners are sharing the care of their four-legged friends. Dog trainer Giulia Lautz explains what is important when it comes to dog sharing and why the model is often doomed to fail, especially with divorce dogs.
Ms. Lautz, to What Extent is Dog Sharing an Issue in Your Everyday Life as a Dog Trainer?
There are many dog owners in our circle of customers who share the care of their darling with someone – be it within the family, among friends, or with external people. Therefore, in the course of our courses and seminars, we are repeatedly confronted with questions that this care model brings with it, which in our experience has increased significantly in recent years.
Why Is That?
On the one hand, more and more people want to own a dog. On the other hand, working models have changed towards more shift work and part-time work. And while it used to be said that someone who works shouldn’t keep a dog, today we know that there are definitely ways to offer a dog a species-appropriate life even as a worker. One of them is dog sharing.
For example?
The classic example is the so-called “divorce dog”, i.e. when master and mistress continue to look after their dog together after the separation. We encounter this case again and again with our customers.
In this case, doesn’t the dog suffer from the back and forth between master and mistress?
That depends on whether the fronts between the ex-partners are emotionally clarified or not. If the two find a partnership with each other, it can work. However, the situation is often emotionally difficult for master and mistress, which the dog also feels and can stress him out. In our experience, in most cases, the project fails sooner or later and the “divorce dog” ends up staying with one partner while the other withdraws completely.
And if a single dog owner can no longer take care of the dog alone due to changed circumstances?
If the dog is suitable for this, dog sharing is a way to save the four-legged friend from waiting for hours at home for the owner. However, you should be aware that this always affects the relationship with your own dog – depending on how the shared care is regulated in terms of time.
What do You Mean?
If the dog spends most of the time with the original sole owner and the dog sharing partner only takes care of it for a few hours a day, this usually does not change anything in the relationship between dog and owner. If, for example, the dog is dog-sharing four days a week and the master only takes him to sleep at night, the dog will inevitably be more likely to reorient itself. The dog does not know who bought it or who is registered as the owner. Maintaining the relationship requires social contact and living together.
What do You Say if Someone Knows Before Purchasing That They Cannot Look After the Dog on Their Own and Will, Therefore, Have to Rely on External Care?
Dosgharing can also work if you make sure when choosing a dog that it can get along with different people. But if someone says from the start that they only have time for the dog on Saturdays and Sundays, we clearly advise against the purchase. The person can also walk dogs at the shelter on weekends instead. And there are also circumstances in life where it makes more sense to look for a new place for the dog than to rely on dog sharing. We have already accompanied many customers on this path.
What Do You have to Pay Attention to in Order for the Dog Sharing Model to Work?
The be-all and end-all for successful dog sharing are that all caregivers pull together when it comes to training the dog and expecting care.
Instead of a Dog-Sharing Partner, You Could Also Just Look for a Dog Shelter…
Yes, this is also a way of sparing the dog from being left alone for long periods of time. But one should distinguish between them. There are animal shelters where the dog spends the time in the kennel with a limited amount of time outdoors, which is not always the optimal care alternative. But there are also dog boarding houses that are very informal, only accept a limited number of dogs, and also develop a close relationship with the day guests. If a dog thinks that’s great and enjoys spending time with dog buddies, a small guesthouse can be a better solution than dog sharing without a dog connection. Here, too, it is important to look at each case individually.