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

&gt; While millennials may not own cars or homes, three-quarters of Americans in their 30s have dogs. A little more than half own cats<p>Does anyone else find this very hard to believe? I tried to track down the source [0, 1, 2] but I&#x27;m unsure how reliable &quot;American Pet Products Association&quot;. It&#x27;s describes itself as &quot;The leading not-for-profit trade association serving the interests of pet product manufacturers and importers&quot;<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.vox.com&#x2F;the-goods&#x2F;2018&#x2F;9&#x2F;12&#x2F;17831948&#x2F;rover-wag-dog-walking-app" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.vox.com&#x2F;the-goods&#x2F;2018&#x2F;9&#x2F;12&#x2F;17831948&#x2F;rover-wag-d...</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;business&#x2F;wp&#x2F;2016&#x2F;09&#x2F;13&#x2F;millennials-are-picking-pets-over-people&#x2F;?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.65444adc954c" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;business&#x2F;wp&#x2F;2016&#x2F;09&#x2F;13&#x2F;m...</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;americanpetproducts.org&#x2F;Uploads&#x2F;MemServices&#x2F;GPE2017_NPOS_Seminar.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;americanpetproducts.org&#x2F;Uploads&#x2F;MemServices&#x2F;GPE2017_...</a>

I&#x27;m curious. After the initial matchup, what stops these &quot;independent contractors&quot; and dog owners from cutting out the middleman (Wag&#x2F; Rover)?

Dog walking is a good example of how over-regulated Canada is.<p>To walk a dog for money in Vancouver, you are required to have a $2 million insurance policy.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;ZEVBBuD.png" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;ZEVBBuD.png</a><p>Saner cities covered this liability with the $10 dog muzzle.

&gt; 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.<p>If you didn&#x27;t think we were in the dot com bubble 2.0 and the re-emergence of the Pets.com strategy won&#x27;t show you, I don&#x27;t know what will. I wonder which one will get the superbowl ad.

The idea of buying a dog when you don&#x27;t have time to walk it yourself just seems bizarre to me. Why do people do that?<p>I also find the recent notion of &quot;pet parents&quot; rather offensive. My dog is my property. I have a responsibility to take good care of her, but ultimately I am her <i>owner</i> not her parent.