indoor dogwalking service

Should I be visualizing a stationary track with a traveling, floorless cage? Keeping in mind that the essence of dog walking is to give them a chance to relieve themselves somewhere other than the carpet, it won't work. Dogs don't dump on command. They need to do a lot of sniffing and investigating to find just the right spot. I don't think you device or plan is going to accommodate to canine instincts.

In other words, I dont' think it's an idea worth investing in.

And another big reason for going on walks is sensory stimulation -- smells, sights, social situations, etc., etc. Dogs have a need for that, too. And this seems like it'd be REALLY boring for the dogs.

That sounds pretty horrible to be honest. Like sozobe notes it's not just for exercise the poor dogs want to be outside. My dog lives for smelling grass and the occasional other dog's butt. I think it would be cruel to restrict his exercise to a treadmill.

I was going to respond exactly that Sozobe. Well said.

I like to think I have enough professional experience working with dogs considering I've been working in a dog day care facility for almost 8 years straight.

Dog's need mental and social stimulation like people do and this seems like downright factory labor based torture or at least as fun as physical therapy, aka not enjoyable for the dogs at all.

They need more intellectual stimulation than a hampster, huh?

I think I've read about dogs using treadmills before. I'm not sure I can visualize what you are talking about, ccrunner, but I can only imagine it being useful in some veterinary facilities. Trying to picture that, I think not even there.

Dogs just adore being outside. I have to ask if you've ever had a dog.

We had an irish setter who used to run a mile or more - a dog in his glory. I had a mutt who escaped whenever he possibly could. I should have named him Houdini instead of Sandpaw, that dog needed to be at the beach. I had a corgi who went imbecilically happy at rolling in the grass, all four small feet waving in the air, and at other times I thought of him as Mister Sniffmobile.

So, the contraption you are talking about, which might help dogs exercise but also might not - dogs run at different speeds, you want to put different speeded dogs in a line of moving cages? - sounds at first read as inhumane to me. So not doggy.

In that same vain - I wouldn't want my dog to be "trained" to pee and poop inside. This type of system would unhouse train a dog.

I suspect a hamster needs more than it gets too, but just isn't expressive enough about it to convince its owners.