Rent-A-Dog

Have you heard of people essentially renting pets for a few hours or a few days a week for some companionship? Apparently this is a new trend hitting cities across the world (it's currently available in San Diego and Los Angeles, but expanding to Boston, Chicago, Houston and Seattle, and even Paris and London). My friend, Perry the joggler, sent me this article about FlexPetz - designed for those who don't have the time to spend with a dog every day but miss the companionship that a dog can bring.

To participate in this program you must join FlexPetz as a member and then go through training. After that you can simply go online to reserve your dog for the hours or days that you want him/her.

In theory this sounds like a good thing for the pet because supposedly they get a lot of attention from many different people, but I think the dog would get confused as to who his owner is and where he lives. And, what about the human who rents the pet - what if he gets attached and can't bear to part with his furry friend?? Are their ways for him to adopt this dog?

And let's not forget about the cost of "rent-a-pet." It's not cheap. Almost $300 to just start and then you pay a monthly membership fee on top of the fee you would pay to actually "rent" the dog for the days/hours you want. Sure you wouldn't have to worry about paying for high veterinary bills or kennel fees, but we could have paid for Adler in a few months with these costs and she wasn't cheap!