The startup world’s cuddly, cutthroat battle to walk your dog

  • > While millennials may not own cars or homes, three-quarters of Americans in their 30s have dogs. A little more than half own cats

    Does anyone else find this very hard to believe? I tried to track down the source [0, 1, 2] but I'm unsure how reliable "American Pet Products Association". It's describes itself as "The leading not-for-profit trade association serving the interests of pet product manufacturers and importers"

    [0] https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/9/12/17831948/rover-wag-d...

    [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2016/09/13/m...

    [2] https://americanpetproducts.org/Uploads/MemServices/GPE2017_...

  • I'm curious. After the initial matchup, what stops these "independent contractors" and dog owners from cutting out the middleman (Wag/ Rover)?

  • Dog walking is a good example of how over-regulated Canada is.

    To walk a dog for money in Vancouver, you are required to have a $2 million insurance policy.

    https://i.imgur.com/ZEVBBuD.png

    Saner cities covered this liability with the $10 dog muzzle.

  • > Wag and Rover are two of the newest and largest players in the booming pet industry, each with more than $300 million in venture capital funding.

    If you didn't think we were in the dot com bubble 2.0 and the re-emergence of the Pets.com strategy won't show you, I don't know what will. I wonder which one will get the superbowl ad.

  • The idea of buying a dog when you don't have time to walk it yourself just seems bizarre to me. Why do people do that?

    I also find the recent notion of "pet parents" rather offensive. My dog is my property. I have a responsibility to take good care of her, but ultimately I am her owner not her parent.