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| Yes | 22% | 16 votes | Total: 74 votes | |
| No | 78% | 58 votes |
Yes
by Christine G.
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Add to FavoritesFlex Petz is a rent-a-dog business. The animals are between two and five years old, well-cared- for and trained. When they are not engaged in being a member's temporary dog, they live with a group of dogs in a primary caregiver's home.
Members (the customers who use the service) are people who want the pleasure of interacting with a dog, but are not in a position to own one because they are often away from home, because they are not allowed to have pets in their lodging, or for other reasons. They can choose to see the same dog each time, or try a variety of dogs. Members are screened for suitability, and thoroughly instructed in the care and handling of the dog. They value their time with their rent-a-dog, and make the most of it. People who cannot give adequate attention to a pet are acting responsibly by choosing a time share option.
Flex Petz rentals do not come cheap. At the time of registration, a new member is billed for an in-home introduction session at $150,00; an annual administration fee of $99.00; the first month's membership fee of $99.00; and the four minimum monthly Daily Doggy Time usage days at $45.00 per day.
That's right, folks. After paying $150 for orientation, $99 annually for administration, and $99 per month for membership, it will cost you $45 each time you get your dog fix. Even if you do not use a dog, your monthly bill will be in the neighborhood of $300. On the upside, you never have to pay for food, doggy equipment, kenneling, obedience training, or veterinary care.
Is this responsible pet ownership? If Flex Petz is telling the truth about using dogs that are in need of rescuing or re-homing, their business is an excellent alternative to abandonment, euthanasia, mistreatment, or being tied up fourteen hours a day while their owners are otherwise occupied. According to their website, Flex Petz facilitates adoption for those members who are willing and able to become full-time owners. In light of the investment Flex Petz makes in their animals, they are probably more selective about the adoption process than the average humane society. The dog will come to its new home healthy, well-trained, superbly socialized in a variety of settings, and already familiar with the people.
If the dog rental business is operated responsibly, it is no different than putting any other animal to work. Dogs pull sleds, sniff out drugs, guide the blind, function as therapeutic animals, and tell deaf people when the phone is ringing. Working dogs are not free to do what they want when they are working, but they also have the opportunity to enjoy doggy R&R after work.
Dogs are designed to be active. Taking a walk on a beach with a harried executive is probably more fun for a dog than hanging around home with nothing to do. If dogs could talk, perhaps they would tell us that Flex Petz was the best thing that ever happened to them.
Learn more about this author, Christine G..
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No
FlexPetz is a company that provides flexible or part-time ownership of a pet. Designed for people who cannot keep an animal due to restrictive rules where they live, or travel, or simply the inability to decide if pet ownership is the right choice, FlexPetz takes abandoned animals, retrains them and tends to their health care, and rents them out to members of their service. These could be people who just want to spend a few hours a day with an animal, or people who travel frequently, or have a busy family schedule, and would have trouble keeping an animal.
Though the basic concept is good, that of re-homing animals to caring people, the service does not provide or insure an animal will have a stable and lasting home, which it so desperately needs. Returning an animal to a shelter repeatedly can cause it to develop behavioral problems.
Imagine if you were a child. A family adopts you. You learn to understand and to love that family. Then you are taken back to the place of adoption after a few weeks. You are then re-homed, repeatedly. That is no life for a child. A pet faces this same dilemma.
Like a child, a pet needs stability in its life. It must become accustomed to its surroundings, and to its new owners. It must learn to trust its new owner. It must learn what that owner expects of it, and it must learn to "translate" commands it is given and learn a new daily routine. Imagine the poor animal's fear when the family it has grown to love and trust takes it back and dumps it at the shelter again. What must it be feeling?
Once again, it is retrained and re-homed, only to become more and more frustrated and fearful when it is yet again returned to the shelter because someone didn't have the time for it or decided he or she really didn't want a pet. This is not responsible pet ownership. Pet ownership is a commitment, the same commitment as with a child. Any doubt in the person's mind should tell them they are not ready for pet ownership and it does not take a "trial" ownership to discover that.
If someone wants to care for a pet, or spend time with animals, they only need visit their local animal shelter. Shelters are happy to get volunteers, and this is a perfect way for someone to spend time with animals that really need some human contact. Since the animals stay in one place, they at least have the stability and security of one home until the right and caring person comes to offer them a forever home. Someone who thinks he or she would like a pet but is not sure of making that commitment, should volunteer at a shelter where it soon becomes all too clear what happens when animals are repeatedly returned by irresponsible pet owners. Animals deserve better. They deserve that forever home that only a responsible pet owner can provide.
Another alternative for potential pet owners is fostering. Animal shelters often need foster homes for litters of kittens and puppies until they can be weaned. They need foster homes for recovering animals until they are healthy enough to be put up for adoption. Larger dogs also need fostering because the small pens at shelters do not provide the room the animals need. Animals with behavioral problems or that need socializing would also do well in foster homes. A fearful or abused animal will learn to trust people in a loving and caring foster home, and give it a better chance at going to a permanent home.
FlexPetz would do better for the animals if they eliminated the "pet-by-the-hour" option. People who are too busy to have pets don't deserve to have them for any length of time.
Learn more about this author, Liane Laskoske.
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