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Dog leasing sounds like a new concept in pet ownership, but it is actually the last resort for two hard-pressed animal lovers, Tom and Carly Allen, who own two dogs, Tinker and Pretty, both strays which they adopted.
But as with so many pet owners, the pressures of time and high property prices were threatening to make their dogs two more victims of canine-unfriendly Dubai. Luckily for them, their owners came up with a dog-leasing concept.
Life-loving
"We don't want to treat them like disposable objects and just get rid of them. On the other hand, it's proving impossible for us to keep them. So we thought ‘dog leasing' could be the solution. It's a shame that it has come to this, but other than sending the dogs abroad to either of our families, it seems to be the only option. If we could keep them, we would," said Tom.
Tom and Carly first found Tinker as a stray pup, about two years ago, when they were living in Al Quoz. "One evening, the maid took out some rubbish, where she found this shivering white puppy next to the bin. We took it in the house, where it curled up and looked at us warily. Then we fed it and it was like a spring uncoiling. She turned out to be the most life-loving dog. She's the sweetest thing: affectionate, energetic, cheeky and intelligent. And she looks good, too. I don't know what breed she is, but there are loads of these small, white dogs in Dubai."
Tom and Carly were then sharing a house with another couple but decided to move out to find somewhere to live on their own. But the only properties with sizeable gardens in their budget were miles outside Dubai. Nevertheless, they moved into a house about half way between Dubai and Al Ain, in Shwaib, about an hour's drive from Dubai.
The house had a large garden and was surrounded by open desert — perfect for Tinker, who had a huge expanse of desert to explore. Although she had lots of space and relative freedom, the dog spent most of the day without human company and spent most of the time barking, to the irritation of their neighbours.
At about this time, through friends, they heard about Pretty, another stray left behind by her owners who had left the country. A velvety soft, ash-coloured Saluki cross, they adopted her to keep Tinker company. "When we first introduced them, they fought and we thought we'd have to get rid of Pretty, who, I must explain, we didn't name. However, once Pretty had established that she was the dominant one, they became the best of friends. Although, being ladies, they have the occasional snap."
So while their human owners travelled back and forth, covering 1,000km a week, the dogs had a great time. However, even though there were two of them, they were still without human contact for most of the day.
"When we would arrive home, the dogs would go mad. Every day during the week, they would look mournfully as we left for work and, when we returned, would be running around the walls with joy at our return," said Carly.
But soon the epic commute, five days a week, week after week, began to take its toll
"We'd get home and the dogs would want to play or be walked or stroked and we would just want to zone out in front of the TV. Even taking them for a walk was a struggle."
Their move to Shwaib turned out to be good for neither the dogs or the humans. So they started looking for somewhere to live back in Dubai but finding somewhere within their budget and with a garden for the dogs was proving impossible.
Compromise
"We'd look at a house with a garden, which would be great for the dogs but bad for our budget. Or there would be no garden at all, which wouldn't be fair on the dogs."
This is where they came up with the idea of dog leasing as a compromise solution.
"We're looking for someone to temporarily look after the dogs for, say, a year. By which time, we will hopefully be in a position to live somewhere with a garden, when we would re-adopt the dogs."
Any one suspecting that, like so many other pet owners, Tom and Carly would just "do a runner" and leave the dogs behind needn't worry.
"We don't want to leave the dogs behind, we want them with us. We would even go so far as to sign a contract with their new owners. The main thing is to find them good, if temporary homes, until we find somewhere with a garden in Dubai," says Tom.
"And we could come to a financial arrangement about contributing towards food costs."
Ideal owners
The ideal owners would be an outgoing couple or family to take on the dogs, which are both fully vaccinated.
"Both dogs are really intelligent, affectionate and energetic and would love the attention of a big family with lots of children," says Tom. "This could work really well: the new owners get the dogs without the long-term responsibility, the dogs get more attention than we can currently give them, and we can move back into Dubai confident that we've done the right thing by our two pets," adds Tom.
Contact
If you are interested in leasing Tinker and Pretty, call Tom Allen on 050-2455337.
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