Animal Rights Activists Wanted

Everyone knows how to rent a movie, a car, or even some furniture for your dining room. Did you know that you can now rent a dog? If you think I have made a typo, check out FlexPetz.

FlexPetz members can borrow a dog for a couple of hours or a couple of days (late fees apply). Members can chose from a variety of breeds and sizes. Stroll the streets of New York City with an adorable puffing pug, and take a Jack Russell Terrier along for a run in the Catskills.

You all should know by now that it is not this blog’s goal to whine and complain about all things unjust in this world (e.g. MBTA), but the idea of a rented dog angers me beyond any reasonable restraint.

Clearly FlexPetz anticipated a negative response from avid dog lovers like me—their website’s FAQ section demonstrates their concern. Unfortunately I do not find their answers satisfying.

All dogs are 2-3 years old, and are either rescued or rehomed. FlexPetz “carefully [screens] each dog for social skills, temperament, interest in befriending people, and ability to easily adapt to different people.”

In other words, the dogs FlexPetz selects would be the most likely to be adopted from a shelter or a rescue organization, since an overwhelming number of rescued dogs have health or behavioral issues. It is cruel to send a dog from home to home, and especially so when this would preclude it from being adopted directly into a single family.

Indisputably, shelters euthanize dogs every day. “High-kill” shelters do it a lot sooner, depending on the available space, money and the number of dogs coming in. FlexPetz dogs get a chance to live, but at what price?

A euthanized dog does not suffer—it falls asleep. It does not suffer because it cannot understand that the prickle of a needle means that it is about to die. A dog rotating between several homes cannot avoid but to get anxious about whether its “primary carer” is abandoning it. The dog cannot be told that it is only being dropped off at a member’s house temporarily. I suppose the anxiety would ease if the rotating homes stay the same and the rotation keeps to a regular schedule, but FlexPetz does not seem to enforce any schedule on its members.

FlexPetz “[anticipates] a constant rotation of dogs being adopted by members and new dogs entering FlexPetz.” Is FlexPetz trying to spin its business as a more technologically advanced dog rescue service, where you can “test-own” the dog before adopting it? Yet FlexPetz characterizes their customers as people who “work long hours, travel frequently or have housing/jobs/activities that are not dog-friendly.” Such characteristics hardly make it likely for a member to adopt a dog. Given a choice any normal rescue organization would select against a person fitting this profile when looking for new owners.

In the end I would like to give the founders of FlexPetz credit—it is a great idea, working well to serve our fast pace lifestyle. However, we are talking about renting out live animals who are intelligent and highly sensitive, and who get easily attached to their people.

If you love dogs but your lifestyle precludes you from having one, there are plenty of better ways to interact with dogs. Consider volunteering at a local animal shelter. Take your neighbor’s dog for a walk—the neighbor might appreciate vacuuming the house without anyone attacking the vacuum cleaner. Take care of a dog while the owners are away on vacation, so that the pouch does not have to be kenneled. Whatever you do, please do not go rent a dog. You would not rent a baby, would you?