Shallow culture: Rent a dog to show off with!

[Manedwolf]

Only in San Francisco, Chicago and NYC could this be considered normal...

http://flexpetz.com/

Your FLEXPETZ Membership is valid at any FLEXPETZ location worldwide. Just imagine visiting New York, Chicago, Paris or London and strolling through the city and parks with a FLEXPETZ dog!

HOW DOES FLEXPETZ WORK?

FLEXPETZ provides our members with local access to a variety of dogs, all of whom are rescued or rehomed, very lovable and fully trained. FLEXPETZ members can spend from just a few hours to a number of days with each of our dogs. FLEXPETZ dogs are available in varied breed sizes to ensure compatibility with our member's individual lifestyles and unique circumstances. Local drop-off and collection to your home or office is available in some locations.

And it's all about the image...dogs as fashion accessories, but now, you can rent them like a car! Love the animal? Naahhh...just rent one.

RUPERT  is TANGO's brother, and like TANGO, he's a big dog who thinks he's a little dog! if you think you get stopped on the street walking one Afghan, imagine what it's like when you walk two of them!

[Len Budney]

And it's all about the image...dogs as fashion accessories, but now, you can rent them like a car! Love the animal? Naahhh...just rent one.

Wait, there's a brilliant idea hiding here: for travelers in cities with strict gun control, rent them attack dogs! They'd have to be certified in handling attack dogs, of course. Next time you're in DC, pick up your rottweiler and the keys to your rental car, and you're good to go!

--Len.

[The Rabbi]

In some ways it's not a bad idea.  People who view dogs as fashion accessories get to indulge themselves.  The dogs themselves get treated pretty well, a lot better than when people actually acquire dogs as fashion accessories.  And someone makes money on it, paying taxes and employing people.
Sounds like a win-win-win situation to me.

[K Frame]

Is it any wonder why I hate the human race?

[jnojr]

In some ways it's not a bad idea.  People who view dogs as fashion accessories get to indulge themselves.  The dogs themselves get treated pretty well, a lot better than when people actually acquire dogs as fashion accessories.  And someone makes money on it, paying taxes and employing people.

But dogs are social creatures.  They need to be part of a pack.  Shuffling the poor dogs between various indifferent owners and then back to a kennel is not a good life for them.

[The Rabbi]

In some ways it's not a bad idea.  People who view dogs as fashion accessories get to indulge themselves.  The dogs themselves get treated pretty well, a lot better than when people actually acquire dogs as fashion accessories.  And someone makes money on it, paying taxes and employing people.

But dogs are social creatures.  They need to be part of a pack.  Shuffling the poor dogs between various indifferent owners and then back to a kennel is not a good life for them.

But it sure beats getting left outside and then abandoned because your fur no longer matches the couch or the drapes.

[jnojr]

But it sure beats getting left outside and then abandoned because your fur no longer matches the couch or the drapes.

I don't know that it does.  Outside of human intervention, abandoned dogs will form packs and live as they did thousands of years ago.  They might live a very Hobbesian life... "nasty, brutish, and short"... but they'd live the way they were intended to.

A dog can no more flourish in a cage than a man can.  Or, less so, as a man can choose intellectual pursuits and rise above his imprisonment.

[The Rabbi]

So you maintain that a dog living in the "wild", eating food out of trash cans, malnourished and subject to mange, fleas and other diseases and pests is better off than one cared for, fed and housed well?
Well, I admit I don't own any dogs and don't know a lot about them.  But you've got me there.

[Euclidean]

Well this could be easily be done in a humane way, and I bet it is.  I'd do it by personally taking care of the dogs myself and letting each dog have at least a couple of weeks off between "visits".  Charge these fashion conscious people a premium and gives the dogs a luxurious existence with a dedicated owner and caretaker, and take care of them when they're too old to do this stuff any more, and I'd say you're being humane.

It's true a dog is smart enough to have a personality and to feel pain and empathy, and yes I like dogs better than many people, but it's still a dog.  It doesn't have aspirations or values or desires, just needs.  A dog isn't going to be upset that it is not free to pursue its dream of being an attorney.

Really have none of you left your dog or other animal with someone else for a week or two, or had someone ask to borrow your cat?  Dogs have been earning their keep as hunting companions, guides, trackers, and eyes for the blind for quite some time now and no one considers those dogs to be mistreated.  They can be escorts too.

If nothing else it's a far kinder fate than being kept for a short time by a shallow and fickle owner and then discarded, perhaps in a dumpster.

[wooderson]

I don't see anywhere where this is specifically encouraging people to rent out Paris Hilton-y handbag dogs for show. They're targeting animal lovers in dense urban areas - people whose apartments might well be smaller than a suburban bathroom, after all. These people don't have the room for any dog, much less a large one. So they can 'rent' a pet to spend time with.

Sure, you could just as easily volunteer at the Humane Society to play with them, but then they're penned and you can't go walk with one in the park. And in a city like San Francisco, are animal shelters located where that's accomplishable?

I guess I can't see any downside to rescuing dogs, treating them well and having people who want to spend time with them do so. If someone can make a buck off it, so much the better.

Are 'comfort dogs' - the dogs who go to kids' hospitals and so on - mistreated because they're spending much of their time with dozens of little unfamiliar hands?

[Balog]

The dog handler MP's I worked with in Iraq had dogs that got shuffled around a lot. The original handler may be reassigned, retire, get killed etc. They just give his dog to a new guy.