Parttime pets coming to London

Most ideas that effect our modern lifestyles seem to originate on the west coast of the US and here’s another which could be hitting the UK pretty soon, FlexPetz. Its basically pet ownership for people who don’t have the time or space to own their own dog fulltime and instead sign up as a FlexPetz member and share the cost of looking after the dog with other similar people and get the pet a couple of times a month.

The business was founded by Marlena Cervantes of San Diego and currently operates there and in Los Angeles, although she’s opening up in San Francisco in August, New York in September and interestingly London by Christmas.

Currently FlexPetz charges members an annual fee of $99.95, a monthly payment of $49.95 and a per visit charge of $39.95 a day weekends, $24.95 a day weekdays, which all goes to cover training the dogs, boarding them at a cage-free kennel, home or office delivery, GPS collars, vet bills and liability insurance, plus leashes, bowls, beds and pre-measured food that you get when the dog comes to you. I would guess you could just replace the dollar sign with a pound sign to get the UK price.

You can always spend time with the same dog or choose from a selection on the FlexPetz roster and membership is valid in any of the cities they operate in, so if you’re on a trip to LA and fancy taking a dog for a walk on the beach it can be arranged.

I can see that there would be a certain market for this in London. There are plenty of people working long hours, living in apartments or flats but with a good chunk if disposable income who might like to have a dog for company one day a week. Racing clubs, where hundreds or thousands of people all own a share in a racehorse and see it at the stables or racecourse from time to time are extremely popular, FlexPetz could be seen in the same way.

Thinking laterally you could do the same with your girlfriend, get someone else to take her out when its Valentine’s Day, her birthday, when the football’s on, etc. What to call the business though?