Rent-a Dog Biz Lets You Be Master for a Day

Active urbanites invest in four-legged time shares
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 30, 2007 5:45 AM CDT
Rent-a Dog Biz Lets You Be Master for a Day
Shari Gonzalez poses with Loki, a dog which she rents from Flex Petz, Thursday, July 26, 2007, in San Diego. Flex Petz rents dogs by the day to time-pressed and space-challenged people and is preparing to bring its "shared dog ownership concept" to Manhattan, San Francisco and London later this year....   (Associated Press)

A California entrepreneur has taken the commitment out of dog ownership for all those lusting-for-a-lab types who have room in their hearts for a pooch, but not in their lives. Flex Petz customers can contract out one the company's 10 dogs by the day, choosing from Labrador retrievers, Afghan hounds or Boston terriers.

One mother of a young son picks up a dog for a weekend or two a month; like other time-shares, members pay annual, monthly and per-visit charges. "Members realize full-time ownership is not an option for them and would be unfair to the dog," says the company founder. The service is expanding from San Diego and LA to San Francisco, New York and London. (More FlexPetz stories.)

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