Some time back, I remember hearing of a place (I thought it was in Odaiba, but am not certain) that rented dogs out. At the time, I thought two things: first, how silly and frivolous, and second, I’d like to rent a dog. Well, today, we did.

The place we used is called the “Wanko Rental” in Gotanda, which happened to be close-by. Upon arriving, we saw the staff giving the dogs some outside-time. (The dogs were attended to by two staff people, who moved out of the way for this shot.)

Usually I am not too crazy about pet shops; I don’t like the idea that the poor animals are cooped up in tiny cages, and I get the distinct feeling that they don’t let the poor things out too much. This rental shop does indeed let the dogs get out for exercise, and the girls inside often let the dogs run around inside the fenced areas in the shop. But their great idea is the rental service: they not only get customers to walk their dogs for them, but they get you to pay for it at the same time. Not that I’m complaining.

Sachi is very fond of Shiba Dogs, so we decided to walk one of them. The shop had tons of Dachshunds, some Cavalier Spaniels, some Retrievers, and a wide variety of other dogs. They used to have three Shibas, but there were only two when we went–more on that a little later. Of the two in the shop, the staff advised us as to personality, and though Sachi likes the brown version of Shiba, we decided on a cream-colored one (a variation not approved of by the American Kennel Club for some reason), a female named Yuriya. When Yuriya was taken out and given a leash, there was a hell of a racket, as all the other dogs knew what was going on and wanted to be walked as well. (By the way, the rates are 1000 yen/$8 an hour for walking, or 5000 yen/$42 per day for longer stints, minimum 2 days for the discount rate.)

We were given instructions and a little kit that included poop-scooping materials, a water bowl, and other stuff we might need on the walk–as well as a map to a park that we could take her to (we had already planned on it anyway), and then we were on our way.

Here is Yuriya:

On the way out, she dragged us all over the place, doing usual dog stuff…

Yuriya is an excellent dog. She was well-behaved, not too wild or excited; she never barked, heeled well on the walk, and seemed content (or at least patient) when we pet, scratched, and cuddled her. She just seemed to have a good time.

The rental thing just seems like a good idea to me. So long as you’re going to have a pet shop with mature dogs, why not get them acclimated to people, as well as have them taken out for exercise and care more often? It is also a good alternative for Japanese people who live in no-pet apartments, but love dogs.

But there is an extra point here: while mature dogs are often passed over in favor of puppies at pet shops, this shop deals only in mature dogs, or so it would seem. There were no puppies there when we visited. (Maybe these dogs are given up by pet shops after having aged without getting bought, I don’t know.) Rental customers walk the dogs and take them to the park for some sniffing about and frolicking, but all the dogs are ultimately up for sale. And what happens is that if a dog-walking customer becomes fond of a particular dog, they are more apt to buy them. The walking episodes become a kind of getting-familiar process, better than getting a dog cold and finding out your personalities don’t match. That’s what happened to Hanako, the third Shiba I mentioned before. She was purchased, apparently a short time before, by people who got to know and like her.

So maybe the idea of rental dogs isn’t as silly or frivolous as I had first thought.