Dog Rentals - Whatever Next?

I notice that an American organisation, FLexPetz, has just launched a Dog Rental service in the UK.

Apparently, for a fee, a busy family is able to rent a pet dog for a week or whatever time period they require. The aim is to provide the companionship of a pet dog to busy people without them having to worry about the responsibilities that come with owning a dog .

You can read more about it on Yahoo news here.

Now, in my view, that’s very similar to someone renting out a child to a busy family who isn’t prepared to make the time to look after it but wants the joy of having one when they see fit - and highly unfair on the child.

It would seem that the originators of this scheme haven’t thought about what the impact of being shuffled from owner to owner will have on the dog itself. Sure, they state that they carefully vet the owners - sorry, renters - to make sure that the dog will be well looked after but…

Have they not considered the dogs feelings? And do they not understand that a dog becomes attached to it’s master and cannot understand why he suddenly abandons it without a word. Surely the poor animal’s health will start to suffer as it is unceremoniously removed from one master to be plonked down with another and then another.

Quite rightly the RSPCA is not very happy with this scheme nor are other animal welfare organisations.

What do you think? Is this fair treatment on a loving and trusting animal or just another form of abuse by people wanting to make money anyway they can?

By the way I’ve also noticed a website in China offering similar services so it seems to be a spreading trend worldwide.

Let me know what you think, just leave a comment below.

Stuart.