Many people love dogs, however, they do not want the responsibility of owning one. In 2014, Liam Berkeley saw this issue and took it into his own hands to fix. Shortly after, Bark N’ Borrow was born.
Bark N’ Borrow is a startup app, that helps dog-lovers meet dogs for playdates and sleepovers, and helps dog owners connect with each other. Berkeley said the app is meant for “borrowers” who wish they could have a dog, but don’t have the right situation to care for one full-time. The app also caters to dog owners who are interested in trading dog sitting responsibilities with another dog-owning friend, a potential alternative to hiring a dog sitter or relying on a kennel. The app lets borrowers select for everything from distance, personality, size, breed and training level, and owners can also browse borrowers.
It’s free to use for dog owners and dog borrowers, though the service has a professional tier where money is exchanged between dog owners and professional dog walkers and sitters. The startup makes money by taking a cut of the money exchanged on the service’s professional tier. Recently, 5% of all proceeds are donated to the Best Friends Animal Society, a national animal welfare nonprofit. Bark N’ Borrow is truly a one of a kind startup!
For me, the really exciting thing about this app isn’t helping people who don’t have dogs but is the potential helping those who do! Kenneling your dog can be really expensive! I am a young adult about to move out into the world on my own; I am also an aspiring dog owner. However, as my parents never fail to remind me, “it is one thing to be young and poor; its a whole lot worse to be young and poor and tied down to one place.” Owning and caring for a dog is expensive but manageable; trying to travel (or even relocated) when you own one is really difficult! My parents have discouraged me from getting a dog right out of college because the cost of care and kenneling can make it hard for young dog owners to go on all the adventures people of our generation aspire to. I love that this app connects dog lovers in a way that allows them to trade services and mitigate the cost of pet care. Whether I need to travel for business, a job interview, go home to be with loved ones, or just pick up and see where the wind takes me, I love that this app steps into the gap and makes it so that pet ownership no longer needs to be an anchor tying me to one place!
I think the best part about this business is the people who would work for them. Getting to take care of dogs for a full time job would just be fun, as well as making other people happy.
This app is so cool! I think the one of the hardest things about college is being away from my dog. This app can solve that problem in a way. Though it can not fly my home to be with my dog, it allows me to at least be around dogs. There is nothing like running around with an energetic dog. I can also see this app having a great impact for those who do own dogs. There are many times my family travels to visit me or my sisters. My dog is much too old to go on car rides anymore, but it can be very difficult to find someone we know to dog sit. This app takes care of that problem. I love that this app solves so many problems.
I am a huge fan of this idea! especially as a new found college student I realized what a striking lack of dogs there on campus, but after killing 7 goldfish me and my friends realized why they don’t allow us to own pets on campus. There is just not enough time in peoples lives to give a pet all the attention, love, and food they need. That being said if all that responsibility was dispersed among a group of people it would be more realistic for people to have pets, as well as healthier for a pet who is stuck alone all day in the house or in his crate.
this is very interesting type of business. I know that someone would be interested in this, My sister. She is also in college and wants a Dog but she couldn’t have one for the whole year so this would be perfect for her!
I found this app to be a very innovative idea. I personally wanted a pet recently, but I could not own one because I would be living in a college dorm. This idea is great because it helps both the dog owners and those who love dogs have the opportunity to spend some time with them. As a college student having the opportunity to spend a day with a dog would be highy appreciated and would relieve some stress.