I want a dog, but my landlady is a cat person.

我想养只狗，可我的女房东却爱猫。

I’ve whined, begged and offered a hefty security deposit trying to change her mind. Keeping a dog by your side has been considered a healthy habit for tens of thousands of years. Research shows that dogs can prompt us to be more active and less stressed, and dog owners tend to visit the doctor less often and live longer. After a string of robberies in our neighborhood and my own encounter with a naked man on a nearby running trail, I tried to convince my landlord that we would all be safer with a dog around. It’s still a no.

我苦苦哀求，希望网开一面，甚至表示愿意缴纳高额保证金，只求她能改变心意。千万年来，养狗一直被认为是个健康的习惯。研究表明，狗狗可以敦促我们多做运动，帮我们释放压力；养狗的人往往更少去看医生，寿命也更长。自从我家周围发生了一系列抢劫案，而我自己也在附近的跑步道上遇见裸男之后，我再次尝试说服房东：为了安全起见我们应该养一条狗，可答案仍然是：不。

Enter Pickles — a snorting, wheezing, wiggling 15 pounds of smoosh-face French bulldog bliss that is technology’s answer to my dog dilemma. Using a new app called Bark’N’Borrow, an Uber-type matchmaking service, we borrowed Pickles recently for an overnight dose of dog companionship.

好在科技帮我圆满解决了这个大难题。最近，利用一款叫做Bark'N'Borrow的类似优步(Uber)的新app（应用软件），我租借了皮克尔斯(Pickles)——一只呼哧呼哧喷着鼻息还爱扭啊扭的15磅（约合6.8千克）平脸法国斗牛犬来陪伴我们过夜。

The idea behind Bark’N’Borrow and other new dog-service apps like Rover and Dog Vacay is to create a community of dog lovers both with and without dogs — pairing those who crave canine companionship with dogs that could use a little more people time. Bark’N’Borrow also connects dog owners for pooch playdates and has a portal for potential dog-sitter matches as well. Rover and Dog Vacay, meanwhile, offer boarding options for pets in people’s homes rather than a kennel.

Bark’N’Borrow以及Rover、Dog Vacay等其他新型狗狗服务app的设计初衷，是为了给所有爱狗人士创建一个社区，在那些自己没有狗却渴望狗狗陪伴的人与暂时无人照顾的狗狗们之间牵线搭桥。狗主人们可以通过Bark'N'Borrow相约带上狗狗们一起玩，该app为潜在的狗保姆也提供了门户。而有了Rover和Dog Vacay，狗主人可以选择各种各样的人家来寄养宠物，再也不用把它们关在狗舍了。

Given that services like Airbnb, Liquid, Fon and Getaround allow people to share their homes, bikes, WiFi and cars, it was only a matter of time before pets got involved in the sharing economy too.

鉴于人们已在使用Airbnb、Liquid、Fon、Getaround等服务与他人共享房屋、自行车、WiFi和汽车，宠物被纳入共享经济也不过是个时间问题。

To start, I set up an online profile on Bark’N’Borrow, sort of like an online dating service, with photo, personal information, my reasons for wanting to meet a dog and the qualities I’m looking for in a dog. The basic service is free, and payment is required only for dog-sitting services.

首先，我在Bark'N'Borrow上建立了一个在线档案，内容有点像网上约会服务那种，包括照片、个人信息、我想要跟狗狗共处的理由，以及我希望找到一只怎样的狗狗。基本服务是免费的，需要收费的仅限于专职的宠物看护服务。

After asking for a dog that was “easy-going, good with people, good with children, good with other dogs, good with other animals, and good with strangers,” two matches in my area popped up right away. I had the choice of a 4-year-old golden retriever named Ringo and a 5-month-old French bulldog named Pickles. They both looked great, so I took the next step — contacting the owners. Specific prompts allowed me to suggest a time and location for meeting in person.

我在“对狗狗的要求”一栏填上了“随和、亲近人尤其是孩子、善于与其他的狗和其他动物相处，不怕生”，马上就有两个匹配弹了出来：名为林戈(Ringo)的4岁金毛猎犬，以及5个月大的法国斗牛犬皮克尔斯。它们看起来都棒极了，所以我进入到下一个步骤——联系狗主人。app上提供了详细的提示来帮助我预约见面的时间和地点。

Dog owners have various reasons for using Bark’N’Borrow. Some work long hours and worry about keeping a dog cooped up at home all day. Some are frequent travelers who would rather have the personal touch of a borrower versus a kennel. And some, I would soon come to find out, just believe in sharing their precious pets with people like me, because they’ve seen the good it can do for both sides.

狗主人使用Bark'N'Borrow的理由多种多样。有些人需要长时间工作，不放心把爱犬关在家里一整天；有些是经常出差，与其将狗狗留在冷冰冰的狗屋，他们宁愿把它暂借给爱狗人士。我很快发现，还有一些人只是单纯地信赖，并愿意与像我这样的人共享他们的宝贝宠物，因为他们觉得这样对双方都有好处。

By now you’re probably wondering how anyone could leave a beloved pet with a total stranger. Bark’N’Borrow’s founder, Liam Berkeley, told me the company took great pains to verify users, linking to their Facebook profile or other public information, and that someone actually reviewed every account before giving anyone the green light to interact with the rest of the community.

你或许会感到奇怪，要怎样将心爱的宠物交给一个完全陌生的人才能放心呢？Bark'N'Borrow的创始人利亚姆·伯克利(Liam Berkeley)告诉我，他们公司在用户身份验证上可谓是煞费苦心：他们会一一核查用户在Facebook（脸谱网）上的个人资料和其他公共信息，确认无误后才会准许他与社区内的其他用户交流。

A similar service in Britain and Ireland called BorrowMyDoggy has amassed thousands of users and more than 200,000 Facebook fans in the three years it has been operating. The San Francisco-based start-up Walkzee has also been met with widespread approval for pairing people with animal shelter dogs to take for walks. Walkzee has been in beta-testing for several months in more than 100 shelters across America and went live to the public this fall.

英国和爱尔兰也有类似的服务，称为BorrowMyDoggy，运营三年来它已经积累了数千名用户和超过20万名facebook粉丝。总部位于旧金山的创业公司Walkzee推出了一项服务，帮助动物收容所里的狗狗寻找愿意带它们出去遛遛的人，赢得了广泛的赞誉。Walkzee已经在美国各地的100多个收容所进行了数个月的beta测试，他们希望今年秋天该服务能够正式面世。

Kirsten Harris, a 23-year-old who works at a tech start-up in Los Angeles, responded to my in-app query within a few minutes. After a few emails, we agreed to talk by phone.During our phone call, I learned more about Pickles — who is friendly, well-behaved, housebroken and, at the tender age of five months, already a veteran to the Bark’N’Borrow process. I told her about my family and my reasons for wanting to borrow a dog. I explained about our home, nearby dog-walking trails and parks, my experience growing up with dogs and my landlady, the cat lady.

现在，再说回我的故事。就在我在app上发布查询后的几分钟之内，一名在洛杉矶的高科技创业公司工作的23岁年轻女士柯尔斯滕·哈里斯(Kirsten Harris)回应了我。我们互通了几次电子邮件，决定打个电话详谈。在电话中，我对皮克尔斯有了更深的了解——它友好又乖巧，受到过良好的管教，虽然只有五个月大，却已经是久经Bark’N’Borrow流程的“老将”了。我也对哈里斯女士介绍了我的家庭情况，我想要借狗的原因，我家的房子、附近的狗狗步行道和公园，我跟狗狗一起成长的经历以及我那位爱猫的房东。

We agreed to meet.

然后，我们约定见面。

Ms. Harris and Pickles met my daughter and me outside our home less than eight hours after we first connected on Bark’N’Borrow. A bowlegged blond beast basically leapt out of her arms and into our hearts. Ms. Harris told us that the motto of the French bulldog is “Love the one you’re with,” and Pickles definitely lived up to his breed’s reputation. His regular borrowers include a mother and 2-year-old son and a 30-year-old woman and recent Manhattan transplant who borrows Pickles overnight every few weeks for companionship.

从初次在Bark’N’Borrow上联络算起，还不到八个小时我和女儿就在家门外见到了哈里斯女士和皮克尔斯。那只罗圈腿的金毛小家伙一下子就从她的臂弯里跳进了我们的心坎中。哈里斯女士告诉我们，法国斗牛犬的座右铭是“跟着谁就爱上谁”，皮克尔斯在此方面绝对是它们种族的翘楚。经常租借它的人包括一位母亲和她2岁的儿子，还有一名最近刚搬到曼哈顿，每几周就将皮克尔斯借走陪她过夜的30岁女子。

Ms. Harris, on her way to San Francisco for the night, stayed for a while and watched Pickles and my daughter play in the yard as Pickles shredded some leaves and discovered the small green apples that had fallen from our trees.

哈里斯女士是在去旧金山过夜的路上送皮克尔斯过来的，她在我们家留了一会儿，看皮克尔斯和我女儿在院子里玩耍，皮克尔斯撕着树叶玩，还发现了之前从树上掉下来的绿色小苹果。

Our night with Pickles was everything we had hoped for and more. Pickles wrestled with my daughter’s long hair and snuggled on my lap. After a few barks when my husband got home from work (a watch dog!), Pickles ended up sleeping in our bed, right between our heads.

与皮克尔斯共度的那个晚上，美好得超出了我们的预期。皮克尔斯依偎在我的大腿上，纠缠我女儿的长头发。我丈夫下班回家时它吠叫了几声（好一只看门狗！），后来却睡在了我们夫妇的床上，身子搁在我俩的头中间。

The next day Pickles traveled with my family to a cross-country meet, where he mingled with other dogs, high schoolers and parents who wanted to know where they could borrow a dog too.

第二天，我们一家带着皮克尔斯一起去参加越野聚会，在那里，它跟其他的狗、高中生还有想知道从哪里也能借只狗狗来玩的家长们玩得那叫一个欢呐。