No time for a pet? How about sharing one?

updated 10:49 a.m. ET July 30, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO - From the state that popularized purse puppies, drive-thru dog washes and gourmet dog food delivery comes the latest in canine convenience — a company that contracts out dogs by the day to urbanites without the time or space to care for a pet full-time.

Marlena Cervantes, founder of FlexPetz, bristles when people refer to her five-month-old business as a rent-a-pet service. She prefers the term "shared pet ownership," explaining the concept is more akin to a vacation time share or a gym membership than a trip to the video store.

"Our members are responsible in that they realize full-time ownership is not an option for them and would be unfair to the dog," said Cervantes, 32, a behavioral therapist who got the idea while working with pets and autistic children. "It prevents dogs from being adopted and then returned to the shelter by people who realize it wasn't a good fit."

FlexPetz is currently available in Los Angeles and San Diego, where Cervantes lives. She plans to open new locations in San Francisco next month, New York in September and London by the end of the year.

She's also hoping to franchise the FlexPetz concept so the dogs will have housing options other than kennels when not in use. For San Francisco, she's hired a caretaker who plans to keep the dogs at her house when they aren't on loan to members.

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For an annual fee of $99.95, a monthly payment of $49.95 and a per-visit charge of $39.95 a day, (discounted to $24.95 Sunday through Thursday), animal lovers who enroll in FlexPetz get to spend time with a four-legged companion from Cervantes' 10-dog crew of Afghan hounds, Labrador retrievers and Boston terriers.

The membership costs cover the expense of training the dogs, boarding them at a cage-free kennel, home or office delivery, collar-sized global positioning devices, veterinary bills and liability insurance. It also pays for the "care kits" — comprised of leashes, bowls, beds and pre-measured food — that accompany each dog on its visits.

Charter member Shari Gonzalez said she was thinking about getting a dog when a dog trainer she consulted suggested part-time ownership. At first, she had reservations.

Gonzalez, 22, never doubted there was room for a dog in her heart. The issue was her life, which included a small, two-bedroom apartment and a full-time schedule of college classes in San Diego.

"I was thinking, how is a dog going to bounce from house to house and be OK with that?" she said. "I didn't want a dog that would come into my place and pee."

Her misgivings were allayed after she spoke with Cervantes, who explained that only dogs with social temperaments were picked for the program and that each would ideally be shared by no more than two or three owner-members.

Since signing up, Gonzalez said a black Lab named Jackpot has become a treasured part of her social network. They spend an average of one day each weekend together. He sleeps at her apartment and she takes him on hikes, to the beach and to parks frequented by other dog owners. The money spent on her membership has been well worth it, she said.

"I never even thought that was a possibility," Gonzalez said. "I thought you either owned a dog or you didn't."

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