For many homeless people their relationship with their dog is lifesaving. Here's why

“I’m not sure if I would have been able to do all of this without Penelope. I can’t rely on many people, but I can always rely on her.” This is what one of our dog owner clients on Together Through Homelessness told us and something that we hear a lot from the people we support.

I’ve worked on Together Through Homelessness for seven years and spoken to and supported many dog owners during that time. In this time, it’s always been very clear to me that although every single person we support has their own, unique experience of homelessness with their dog, they all have one thing in common: their love for their dog.

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Together Through Homelessness supports dog owners experiencing or at risk of homelessness across the UK by providing free vet care and access to dog-friendly homelessness services. We recognise that for many dog owners, just like Penelope’s owner, their dog is their one constant who stays by their side through everything they’re experiencing.

‌Many of the people we support have experienced a lot of traumas in their lives. They may no longer have relationships with their family or friends. They may have lost their job. They have lost their home. But there is one relationship that remains: the relationship between them and their dog.

‌This relationship can be the difference between someone being able to recover from their previous trauma and move on from homelessness or not. This relationship can be lifesaving.

And that’s why we do what we do – to make sure that someone’s trauma isn’t made even worse by having to give up their dog.

‌As Tallulah’s owner said, “She means the world, I’d be lost without her and not sure what I’d do. Having her helps with keeping a routine and structure.”

‌A key part of what we do is providing free vet care. We work with hundreds of vet practices across the UK where dog owners on our scheme can go to get the vet care their dog may need for free. This might be something routine like flea and worming treatment or vaccinations, or it could be treatment for a skin condition. We’ve also funded operations for dogs who have been in road traffic accidents or who need emergency surgery.

During a time of a rising cost of living, our service is needed more than ever, and last year we experienced a 91% increase in demand from the year before, supporting more than 1,000 dogs. One of these people is Shirleyann, whose two dogs Ella and Benji were supported on our scheme.

As Shirleyann said: “I don’t know how I would have covered vet bills without Together Through Homelessness. It helped me not have to worry about whether my dogs would get the vet care they need. Without it, I think I would have had to rehome them which would have broken my heart.”

One of our aims is to help keep people and pets together, and by funding vet care we’re helping to remove some of the worry that our clients face. However, this is only one of the challenges that dog owners experiencing homelessness face. Accessing a homelessness service when you have a dog can be incredibly difficult and, for some people, impossible.

Many homelessness services don’t accept dogs, which means dog owners are faced with an impossible decision: to give up their dog but access vital support and accommodation or stay with their dog but be isolated from support services.

We’re working to change that. We work with homelessness services across the UK to provide free, bespoke support to help them become dog-friendly and become endorsed by Dogs Trust. We also have an online directory of dog-friendly homelessness services across the country to make it that little bit easier for someone looking for support with their dog.

We want to protect that vital, life-saving bond between a dog owner and their dog and give people hope that they can move through and out of homelessness with their dog by their side.

Harriet Page is pets and housing manager at the Dogs Trust.

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