Netflix, Zipcar … Flexpetz (rent a pooch online) - Our Latest Discovery
Home > IT Blogs > Our Latest Discovery > Netflix, Zipcar … Flexpetz (rent a pooch online)
« Facebook: A social network evolves into a social utility
Latin phrase cheatsheets to impress your friends and colleagues »
» VIEW ALL POSTS Aug 27 2007   3:44PM GMT

Netflix, Zipcar … Flexpetz (rent a pooch online)



Posted by: Dennis Shiao
small business, fun, cool, service

While I’ve never used the Zipcar service, I was, at one time, a loyal Netflix subscriber.  I’d love to check my mail and look for that red evelope among the piles of junk mail in my mailbox.  Now, a service called Flexpetz allows would-be dog owners to rent a dog.  Now granted, the delivery of service doesn’t come to you quite as conveniently as a Netflix envelope, but the concept is real interesting.  I know plenty of dog lovers who (for assorted reasons) do not own a dog — but would love to spend some quality time with one.

The following Business 2.0 article describes the service in more detail:

http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/23/technology/rent_pooch.biz2/index.htm 

You can also visit the company’s web site for more info:

http://www.flexpetz.com/

And here’s an idea for the company — how about pairing dog owners in need of “dog sitting” (say, for a weekend) with would-be FlexPetz “renters”.  I’d love to send my dog to a pre-qualified renter while I’m away for a weekend

AddThis Social Bookmark Button     Comment     RSS Feed     Email a friend

Comment on this Post


You must be logged-in to post a comment. Log-in/Register

Alex  |   Aug 27 2007   4:37PM GMT

I loved Zipcar, Dennis! I was one of the earliest customers here in Cambridge, before I went back to the dark side and bought a 4×4 for hauling gear and self into the mountains and onto the beaches. I miss the smartcard and wonder of not having to deal with insurance, excise tax, maintenance, registration or the rest of it. I immediately imagined a pool of dogs that you could “borrow” with the appropriate keycard, for some reason.

I have to say, however, that being a dog owner myself, the idea of another service that removes what the dogs leave behind is pretty darn alluring as well.

I can imagine the dog queues, too, and the ensuing conversations:

“Hon, can we rent a dog for the weekened? Something small and cute?”

“Well, dear, I was thinking of something a bit larger and quieter this time. Something that we could go offroading with — maybe a bit of hiking? How about that white Lab I’ve been talking about?”

“…”

“You must have forgotten about tea with the Johnsons.”

“Oh, right. Ok, rent the cockerdoodle.”


 
Visit Home |   News  |   White Papers  |   Videos  |   Resources