Suppose you are retired and like to travel some of the time but still miss having a dog. Or suppose you have a job that takes you away periodically. Or suppose you work long hours. Or you are a couple with a dog and have divorced or split up. Or you are a senior citizen afraid of what would happen if you got sick or had to go into a care facility.
These are the situations where sharing a dog could work. The dog would simply have two homes and go back and forth either on a set schedule or flexibly whenever one person or family wants to be away for a time.
The two homes could share vet costs and each provide all that the dog would need at each home. The dog would undoubtedly have a great time with two families and feel secure with both. Details of training and exercise would need to be worked out between both “owners”.
Another advantage would be more adoptions by people who thought they were not in a situation to have a dog. And one more advantage: by splitting costs some dog owners would not feel they had to give up their dog in hard times.
Could we start a registry for people to sign up for a shared dog? Could it be done for cats as well? Or even horses, potbellied pigs and other pets?
Send me your ideas.
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