thats a good idea. i'm not a pet owner, but would you trust a stranger to take care of your pet? most people like their pets. what if if your loved pet came back starved, or with a rash, or incontinennt after your vacation? you never know.

i'll tell you what you can take my dog whenever she gets sick has to go the bathroom and is just plain felling ornery. whats your next idea convient children. if you want a good dog you must invest the time to train the animal so that it meets the behavior standards you set for it. not to mention that if the dog isnt recieving its food and diseciplene from the same person each time then it will not execpt anyone as the alpha wolf and will not be trainable. this idea would not be healthy for a pack animal such as a dog, cats on the other hand often create the type network all on their own.

My dogs are my children and i dote on them as such. I could only leave them with someone who treats them with great love and kindness. Your up on the edges of the property law principals with this... as in life, property is never black and white. Though your neighbor may not own the dog, they get to pet it once and a while, and it is better for you and the dog if the neighbor is a good friend, as a socialized dog will not bite or be naughty.

Your idea is best applied to children... as they, more than dogs, need parenting from multiple sources as they mature. I think kids should be able to choose their parents after age 7... and if they want to swap around, with obvious interest from the prospective parent, then the kid should be able to... as similarly, a child that grows up knowing the whole community as surrogate parents and peers becomes a wise and healthy adult.

Dogs are a lotta responsibility, and the suggestion also seems to be missing this (probably that lucasr is not a dog owner). Who pays for the dogs feeding when you opt out of the time share?

Best to buy an expensive 1000$+ puppy at a young age and raise it as your baby. The cost of the puppy will keep you reminded to take care of your asset, and loving a puppy is one of lifes great gifts... not to be missed. Go to a dog show and discover all the different breeds and their characteristics... often people's "boredom" with a dog is simply they did not select an appropriate breed given their expectations. Terriers can't get on tables... a big deal in a small house... things like that.

Are you human or humanoid ? Please remember this:a dog is Gods love.

You seem to have forgotten that dogs are living, feeling creatures who develop attachment to their "pack" mates. They would feel disoriented and abandoned at being shuffled from place to place. When a dog changes homes it gets stressed and takes time to settle in - this arrangement would guarantee that the dog would never get comfortable and would continually be stressed - which would cause problems for both the dog and owners.

Dogs require a commitment of emotion, time and energy. If you can't do that, then you don't need to own one.

Dogs, pets, animals are not toys or objects for your amusement. Your arrogance is stupifying.

This is a TERRIBLE idea. I'm assuming you are not a dog owner, or you would understand how cruel your proposal is.

Dogs are like children in many ways. They need to form close, strong, loving bonds with their owners in order to be happy and well adjusted. They are also creatures of habit. Constant changes in their routines cause them a tremendous amount of stress which can negatively impact their health.

Renting dogs out to different people all the time would be equivalent to putting a child in the foster care system, where they are shuffled around constantly and are never able to form lasting binds with their parents. These dogs would turn out just as screwed up as most foster kids do...

I believe this is a fantastic idea but needs more structure. I personally do not own any dogs but am around the same dogs for significant periods of time. I belong to a flyball club (flyball is a timed dogsport where dogs run over 4 jumps and retrieve a tennis ball from a spring loaded launcher. You have probably seen it on Top Dogs). I get to take care of these dogs from time to time when their actual owners are on vacation or there is one male dog and several females in heat and a couple other occasions like when the owner cannot go to a flyball competition but they want their dog to participate.

The upshot of this is that I get together with the dogs and people as a "pack" regularly and we all trust and know each other.

I certainly agree that dog "timeshares" are a bad idea as it certainly would mean that both the people and dogs invloved would be strangers to each other.

if you want to enjoy the benefits of a dog get involved with a flyball or agaility group. if you are the right kind of doggy person they will welcome you as most people in my flyball group have multiple dogs and welcome my help.

PS: Border Collies are like lays chips you can't just have one.

Lots of people want a baby, but not the hassles of ownership/ responsibility. Why not organise baby rental so that you could have fractional ownership of a baby, collect it/have it dropped off when you want to see it, for walks etc, but deposit it back in the "baby pool" when you are bored, going on holiday, have other priorities. Don't know enough about babies' feelings to be sure it wouldn't bite and get stressed, but it might be that if there were three or four households per baby everyone would be better off. The baby would get more attention when it was being looked after, and be happier rather than not. An unethical alternative would be to combine baby rental with kennels, and rent out babies while their owners were on holiday....but that would be wrong, unless the owners knew.

Dogs aren't babies but they are living things. And like a baby if you don't want the reponsibility of having to take care of it all the time, you probably shouldn't get one.

i think this idea is pretty cool. i was actually looking around online for a dog to rent for the holidays. i have a different idea, however. i think id love to "rent" or more like adopt someone's dog over christmas break. im home for the holidays from college and id love to take care of someone's loved pet while theyre away. i love dogs and it would be great stress relief after finals.

Not necessarily FOR the idea, but I have lent my dog out to friends(scared when roomates are out of town, walk her on the beach, etc etc...) I'm more for the idea of HIRING my dog out. She is a natural herder and gets really bored when I work all day. She needs to get a job and start pulling her weight around here!!!! ; )

The Fairmont Copley in Boston has a similar idea. They have a hotel dog that is booked for walks by hotel guests. I'm not likely to stay there anytime soon, but I would love to be able to borrow a dog sometimes for hiking or running. As a single woman, I'd feel a lot more comfortable going out with a dog than on my own. And while I'd love to have a dog of my own, my apartment won't allow it.

Go volunteer to walk/socialize dogs at a shelter. Or start a petsitting/dog walking business - you can make extra cash at the same time! But having dogs whose only life is to be shunted between random families would be cruel, and even if the dog started out even-tempered they would likely develop problems eventually. If nothing else, many dogs have housebreaking problems when they get to a new home (even if they were fine before), and I'm sure many renters wouldn't appreciate dealing with that!

Well intentioned, but bad idea all around, sorry.

This is bad for the dog because dogs are pack animals, bond very strongly to their owners, and need consistency and routine to be well-adjusted. Already it is stressful for dogs when they are rehomed, or when their families are on vacation and the dog is boarded at a kennel or put in the care of others (even if they are familiar with and get along well with their temporary care takers). Being timeshared will confuse the dog greatly as to who is his owner. It will also be stressful to the dog if each household has different rules - one household allows the dog on the sofa, the other scolds him for getting on the sofa. One family says "down!" to mean lie down and be quiet, another family says "down!" to mean don't jump up on me.

I can't begin to imagine what havoc this will play on a dog's diet, exercise and elimination routine if he is constantly shuttled back and forth between different homes. Even if it is the same three or four homes, that's still asking a lot for each family to stick to the same schedule/routine that a dog needs to be healthy and secure.

It's also a bad idea for the humans involved because a dog who is stressed and confused will be more trouble than fun. Stressed dogs very often display behavior problems - chewing, digging, other destructiveness, barking from loneliness, housesoiling, or in extreme cases, aggression. They will not be very fun to have around, and if the owners try to deal with these behavior problems by isolating the dog or punishing him, it will just make the behavior problems even worse.

There's potential for legal problems too. Who will be responsible for the dog's healthcare and daily expenses, not to mention training (dogs DO need consistent training in order to learn manners)? What if Family A invests a lot of money and time into feeding the dog a good diet and teaching him good manners, but Family B slacks off so that when the dog goes back to Family A he's now got all these health and/or behavior problems that they worked so hard to avoid?

If you want a casual short-term pet, options are to volunteer at the humane society, or to become a foster care volunteer. Foster care is when you volunteer with a shelter to take one or more dogs into your home temporarily until permanent homes can be found for them. Such a commitment may last anywhere from one day to several months, usually somewhere in between. Of course, if you fall in love with your foster dogs you may end up officially adopting them yourself! In the meantime your responsibility is to provide the foster dog with love, care, attention, exercise, training. This is a very good arrangment for the dogs too because staying in a home is less stressful than staying at the shelter. That said, when a permanent home is found it will again be a huge change and stress for the dogs, but at least it will hopefully be the last time they have to go through the stress of readjusting to a new home.

NO WAY!! dogs attach themselves to their families...many of them become very stressed out and even sick when they are separated from them. also, dogs are creatures of habit & schedule. they don't like it when their routine is interrupted.

YOU KNOW WHAT DOGS HAVE FEELINGS AND THERE NOT TOYS TO BE TREATED LIKE THAT!!!

If one would not have time money or facility to OWN a dog (or ANY animal for that matter) and accept that responsibility for the life of the animal, then they should NOT even consider having anything to do with one.

If they have to 'rent' companionship or affection from a living breathing being, then there are brothels or computer software for that.