"Pay 99 yuan to walk dogs for others", this losing business is made popular by young people

From dog owners paying others to walk their pets, to office workers spending their own money to "walk dogs for others," the logic of the pet economy has been quietly rewritten, while discussions over the legality and safety safeguards of the pet rental business have never ceased.

"It turns out borrowing someone else's dog to play with is so much fun!"

Recently, vlogs themed around "renting dogs" have become increasingly prevalent on social media. In the videos, renters lead small dogs for walks and take photos in the park, in a seemingly harmonious scene.

For as little as 15 yuan or even less, you can spend a warm and pleasant time with a pet dog. If it is a rare breed, the rental fee may reach 99 yuan per hour.

(Photo/Screenshot from Xiaohongshu)

Theoretically, the pet rental business perfectly caters to the demands of two groups: pet owners need a short break, while people who cannot keep pets for various reasons hope to briefly own a pet, and the two sides hit it off immediately. During the paid period, pet renters can interact and play with the puppy just like its owner. Many young people who have experienced this say that it allows them to briefly satisfy their desire to keep pets without having to bear the long-term responsibilities of pet ownership, which is a relatively practical choice.

As the scale of pet rental gradually expands, a wave of opposition to pet rental has also emerged on the internet. Opponents generally believe that pets have thus become commodities, and there are various safety risks and blurred areas of rights and responsibilities, which create opportunities for dog abusers and dog traffickers, making it difficult to assign responsibility once an accident occurs.

While the logic of the pet economy is being quietly rewritten, discussions over the legality and safety safeguards of the pet rental business have never stopped.

01

15 Yuan, Being a Schnauzer's Owner for an Hour

To understand how this business operates, I booked a pet dog on a platform called "Wangbu".

Pet renters are required to upload an ID photo when registering. The ID card I uploaded had just expired, but I still successfully registered.

Some puppies' hourly rental rates are already higher than people's hourly wages. (Photo/Screenshot from the Wangbu mini-program)

The rental prices for pets on the mini-program are mostly between 5 yuan and 50 yuan. The cheapest 2-year-old Border Collie only costs 1 yuan per hour, while some popular pets can be priced at 200 yuan per hour or even higher.

Considering the time and distance factors, I chose a Schnauzer. Its owner set the "independent sharing mode", meaning the pet owner does not need to be present to accompany, and only I and the puppy spend time alone together.

Each pet has its own homepage, which displays reviews from other pet renters, mainly divided into three aspects: pet-friendliness, convenience of pet handover, and service attitude. According to the introduction on this Schnauzer's homepage, it has a quiet and clingy personality, is fully vaccinated, not neutered, and is not equipped with cameras or trackers.

The pet owner also gave full permission in aspects such as "whether the pet can travel by car, interact with other dogs, come into contact with children, and be used for commercial shooting".

Some puppies are allowed by their owners to participate in commercial shoots and interact with children. (Photo/Screenshot from the Wangbu mini-program)

You can only view the specific information of the pet after payment, and meet the owner at the designated residential building to take over the pet. The pet owner gave me a dog leash, poop bags, and a portable dog water cup, reminded me not to take the puppy too far away, not to feed it, and asked me to turn on location sharing.

After a period of harmonious interaction, I found that this Schnauzer does not reject strangers and is very well-behaved. But when it sniffed the grass by the roadside and interacted with passing puppies, I suddenly became worried: I was afraid that something bad would happen to the puppy, and also afraid that I would take responsibility. Pet poisoning cases and dog fights are also very common. If an accident occurs where someone gets hurt or the dog is injured, what responsibilities should the renter bear? This regulatory gap made me feel a faint sense of unease the whole time, even as I enjoyed the satisfaction of walking the dog.

When walking the dog, there is more caution than joy. (Photo by a reporter from New Weekly)

An hour later, I returned the puppy to the owner on time, and was curious if she was worried about encountering renters with bad intentions. She said she was a bit worried, but "there's no other way. I'm usually too busy, and I need to walk the dog every day. If someone can help, I have to take a little risk." She will observe the renter during the handover, cancel the order if she notices anything inappropriate, and has purchased pet insurance for the puppy.

Pet owners can buy insurance for their pets just in case. (Photo/Screenshot from the Wangbu mini-program)

The Schnauzer's owner seemed to think that I got along very well with the puppy, and said that if I wanted to walk it again next time, I could contact her directly for free.

I agreed, but thinking that the tiredness of walking the dog is not the main problem, the worries about the puppy's safety and rental responsibilities are even more exhausting.

02

"Must the dog earn these dozens of yuan?"

Pet owner Mengmeng is not as "carefree" as other pet owners. She has a black Teddy dog named "Gousheng". Gousheng is very friendly to people and loves to be petted. Mengmeng doesn't mind strangers petting it when she walks the dog, but she never allows anyone to take it out of her sight.

She can't understand why some pet owners are willing to rent out their pets. "I can't accept that my dog goes out to 'work to earn money'."

Mengmeng's puppy "Gousheng". (Photo provided by the interviewee)

On the Wangbu mini-program, some pet owners allow renters to take their pets to interact with children and other leashed animals, which Mengmeng finds completely unacceptable. She emphasized that some dogs are very aggressive, and Gousheng was once bitten for no reason by a Shiba Inu and a Corgi.

For pet owners, safety is the top priority: "If the puppy gets bitten or bites someone, how should the responsibility be assigned?" Mengmeng thinks that in the end, the responsibility will most likely fall on the pet owner, which is unfair.

(Photo from "The Love You Give Me")

In her opinion, whether it is the mini-program that has been online for some time, or the pet rental services initiated by individuals on social media, there is a lack of sufficient safety guarantee mechanisms, and there are many risks.

"For just a few dozen yuan, someone could take away a purebred dog, and the owner has no way to supervise at all." Thinking of the frequent cases of dog poisoning and dog theft in society, Mengmeng is not willing to bet on this probability with her beloved dog.

When Gousheng was attacked by other dogs, Mengmeng would step in to separate them, not caring if she would get bitten. If an accident happens, she can protect the puppy at the risk of her own safety, but she doesn't believe that someone who rents a dog for dozens of yuan would do the same.

Mengmeng's question represents the feelings of some dog lovers: "Must the dog earn these dozens of yuan?"

The customer service of Wangbu stated that for each pet sharing order, the platform will charge a 20% commission, and this money will be fully returned to the pet renter.

Some netizens posted to oppose the pet rental mini-program, and the official reply from Wangbu said that the original intention of doing pet sharing is "to give pets more opportunities to have fun outings", and pass on the warmth of mutual companionship to more people: "We always put everyone's experience first, not for profit."

According to the customer service of Wangbu, for each pet sharing order, the platform will charge a 20% commission, and this money will be fully returned to the pet renter, aiming to encourage everyone to take puppies out to play more often.

But when I opened my account, it showed that I received a reward of 1.67 yuan for my first pet rental.

03

Does the Pet Agree to This?

Discussions and controversies surrounding pet rental actually started a long time ago.

In 2021, a pet shop in Chengdu, Sichuan Province launched a paid "shared cat" service, with a daily rental fee of only 9.9 yuan, which immediately sparked strong opposition from pet lovers. Although cat cafes are now everywhere, the criticism that "humans' paradise is cats' cage" has never stopped.

Even the most common cat cafes have always been controversial. (Photo from Visual China)

Dog rental also has similar controversies.

Professor Lee Jang-bok from the Department of Veterinary Medicine at Konkuk University in South Korea believes that renting pets is not ethically advocated. Frequent changes of environment and owners can easily cause stress reactions in cats and dogs. Nine states in the United States, including Massachusetts, Illinois, and Washington, even explicitly prohibit dog rental, and violators may face fines.

Some foreign netizens believe that dog rental is an undesirable product of the consumerism ideology: "Dogs are living creatures with flesh and blood, and should not become weekend lifestyle decorations and leisure items. What's the point of renting dogs out like cars? Such dogs will not form an emotional bond with their temporary owners, and may feel lost and suffer mental distress in new environments."

(Photo from unsplash)

The modern dog rental business may have started with the FlexPetz company in 2007. It adopts a membership system and rents out a variety of pet dogs, all of which come from animal shelters. The cost is not cheap: the monthly membership fee reaches 279.95 US dollars, and members can only rent pets for 4 days for free per month. If they want to continue renting, customers need to pay an additional 45 US dollars per day.

After customers register on the website, FlexPetz will ask many questions about their pet ownership qualifications, including whether they have pet-raising experience and the purpose of rental. In addition, customers must attend a 1-hour mandatory training, and only after passing it can they pick their favorite pet dog.

The founder of Wangbu once said in a media interview that she loves puppies very much, but she often has to travel long distances for work, so she cannot keep a dog herself and can only occasionally play with other people's dogs. Later, she remembered that when she was studying in the UK, the school brought puppies to campus during exam periods to let students pet the dogs to relieve stress.

(Photo from "Modern Family")

She believes that the comfort brought by dogs should not be a privilege that only pet owners can enjoy, but something that many people need.