A BUSINESS offering holiday homes for dogs has been set up.

Barking Mad matches host families with the pets of owners who might have concerns about leaving their animals in a kennel while they go away.

Alison Liddle, who runs the franchise, in County Durham, said the aim was to provide the dog with the kind of environment it was used to.

"We tell the owners to bring their dog's toys and food, so there's not a lot of difference between their own home and where they go to," she said.

"It means it's not so traumatic for the dog. If the dog sleeps in a threadbare basket at the bottom of someone's bed, then they can continue to sleep in a threadbare basket at the bottom of a bed."

Mother-of-two Ms Liddle acts as the intermediary between dog-owner and dog-sitter.

She interviews host families, meets customers and their pets, arranges reservations and provides a collection and delivery service to take the dogs to and from their host families.

It is a far cry from her former job in a bank.

"The appeal of the pet side of it comes from the way I grew up," said Ms Liddle, 36, of Esh Winning.

"We always, always had dogs in my family, since I can remember, along with guinea pigs, rabbits, just about any animal other than cats, as my mother didn't like them."

Ms Liddle said the dog-sitting service had proved useful not just for people going away on holiday. One of her host families is currently looking after three dogs because their owner is moving house.

The initiative is the brainchild of Lee Southern, originally from Washington, Wearside, who came up with the idea when she failed to find suitable care for her own dog.

Lee now lives in Lancashire and has ten franchises across the UK.

She said: "The success of the venture is due to the pets being extremely well cared for, and because they are also suitably matched with a host family.

"Many hosts are retired dog lovers who, having owned pets all their lives, do not wish to commit again to the full-time responsibility of owning their own dog, but miss the companionship."

The organisation has ten families on its books in County Durham, but Ms Liddle is looking for more people to help.

Anyone interested in becoming a host family, or in using the service, should call Ms Liddle at her temporary address near Crook, on (01388) 608666.