Visual Journalist Ana Tovey met up with the dogs and their doting humans in Wellington to see how dog sharing works for them.
“It’s filled a gaping hole for me. I haven’t had a dog for 22 years and I’ve pined for a dog," says Meade. He visits the dogs two or three times a week. "My immediate thought when I saw the website was this was made just for me. Really, it's like a dating service, so you put in the area you're in and what sort of dogs you like, if any, and you get all of these profiles appearing. "I'm a single guy and I don't own my own house and I don't think that's going to change unless I get a tiny house, which I'm into." Meade says when you're flatting it's hard to find a dog-friendly landlord, and his love of travel puts another spanner in the works. Katherine Short studies te reo Māori and travels a lot for work, making her the perfect candidate for dog sharing. In the past she's used commercial dog sitting services but says it's much better for the dogs if they have a relationship with the person looking after them. "I get huge piece of mind out of the dog sharing system with Justin and I know that the dogs love being with him." She says Meade was the perfect fit for Charlie and Betty. And Meade thinks so too. "You could have blown me down with a feather, because that is the name of my deceased mother and father so I really wonder what's going on up there," Meade says. "It's a real example of community building," says Short. "And it's a really lovely example of how the internet has this whole different layer of potential depth to it. It's just a neat way that people can reach out and find others that you wouldn't have otherwise." Sitting on a bathroom floor, under a heat lamp, feeding one week old puppies within 5 minutes of arriving at the Saving Hope Headquarters was amazing!! We dropped by to give them all the linen we had collected across July, and to ask Janine to make the ‘dog bed’ raffle draw.  Janene Hinton the co-founder of the Foundation drew the raffle. And the winner is...  No 5 - Dianne Davern! Congratulations! Saving Hope also wanted to thank Liesl, Brigette, Alex and Phillippa for their generous donations!  The dog bed raffle raised $74.90! There were 25 entries. It felt so good to help Saving Hope Foundation…and the linen was so appreciated with the puppies going through it fast. There are 130 puppies currently fostered.  Thank you to the Auckland collective and our friends who cleaned out their cupboards. There just wasn’t enough storage for all the linen, so half was unloaded and the rest will be delivered at a later date…along with a slightly bigger square dog bed for Hope :)  Hope, the dog who was the inspiration behind the Foundation tried out the dog bed prize. She was a little too big for it, and as a sprawler she’d love a square one, so we will see what we can doooo :)
Let’s hope Dianne has a smaller dog who loves donut beds. Thanks everyone! Together we are a great team!
make that heart-breaking visit to the vet to say our good-byes (a bit of honesty here: I was so devastated I couldn't face up to the trip; my sister acting as my proxy).
The dog-shaped hole in my soul would have to remain unrequited. And then, just over 12 months ago, I discovered the Dog Share Collective. It was one of those self-absorbed moments when I thought someone had created a service just for me. Of course the truth is, the Dog Share Collective is changing a lot of lives and filling a lot hearts around New Zealand.
Katherine's learning Te Reo this year, and once a month that requires her to go up north a bit and spend a weekend on a marae. That means I get to house-sit and it's wall-to-wall Bettie & Charlie for a couple of days. I can't recommend the Dog Share Collective highly enough. With any relationship, it's all about fit. When you get the fit right, it's pretty much an abundance of blessing all around. Bettie, Charlie, Katherine and I can attest to that. Just one little bit of propitious serendipity I'll leave you with (and it still amazes me a bit every time I think of it). Remember when I said earlier I lost my Mum and Dad at a young age? Want to know what their names were? Bettie and Charlie.
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