408 | Pet Renting loaded with even better enticements and therefore win the dog over However, the chances are that the dog will establish a valued routine and profound bonds with its relatively permanent caretakers between leasings It would be interesting to see whether dogs that are serially hired become sensitized or habituated to this social flux Physiological evidence from shelter dogs indicates that habituation to novel environments takes at least four days So, unless this period is taken as the minimum, dogs are unlikely to adjust fully to each context The motivation of people who rent dogs is worth consideration This maybe reflected in the breeds in demand for this purpose Among several engaging breeds, some pet-renting sites offer Afghan hounds for hire This breed is often described as relatively high maintenance and difficult to train; the Afghan hound breed standard describes them as having an aloof temperament In other words, they are not the most personable of breeds Afghan hounds are generally released from shelters to new homes only after exhaustive questioning of the adopting family’s knowledge of and expertise in dog care These observations suggest that, when acquired on a temporary basis, Afghans have an appeal chiefly as status symbols rather than as companions A dog’s role as a status symbol can be more demanding than that of a companion, since it may require parading in ethologically challenging contexts While a companion dog may accompany its erstwhile caregiver on a recreational trip to a dog park, a status dog may be taken shopping Dogs have a behavioral need for stable social groupings Reflecting this undeniable reality, leasing operators often claim that their dogs live with them when not on visits Although this approach seems humane, it is not necessarily as worthy as it appears, because the dogs are repeatedly withdrawn from the security of their owner’s home One could argue that the dogs somehow know that they will return to their base This knowledge can only come with repeated experience of separation and reunion In the absence of any data to show that dogs can reliably predict the future return of their preferred companions, we should err on the side of caution and assume that repeated disruptions in a dog’s social network are likely to compromise its welfare Dog hiring companies claim that they source their dogs from pounds, and so assert that they have saved numerous canine lives Yet many veterinary behaviorists believe that dogs that have spent time in a shelter need a stable rather than a transitory base Noting that a history of having been acquired from a shelter is a risk factor for separation-related distress, they propose detailed protocols to reduce the recently adopted dog’s chances of becoming distressed when left alone Repeated fragmentation of established bonds with humans may compromise a dog’s ability to cope during periods of separation from its primary attachment figure This means that rescued dogs are likely to be among the least suitable candidates for the social flux typified by pet renting Unsurprisingly, dog hiring companies also offer their dogs for sale This seems to acknowledge that there is a ready supply of replacement dogs, that little training is required to prepare them for their homehopping existence, and that some humans will reliably feel pity for dogs with no permanent home People contemplating this offer should consider bypassing the operators and visiting a shelter directly