THE majority of Americans see their pets as family members, surveys show. Those with dogs are more likely to call themselves pet “parents” than canine “owners”. There are more of these parents than ever. In big cities such as San Francisco and Seattle, (owned) dogs outnumber children.

有调查表明，绝大多数美国人都把宠物视为家庭的一员。尤其是养小狗的人更乐意把自己称为是它们的父母，而不是冷冰冰的主人。如今这种“父母”越来越多了。在洛杉矶和西雅图等大城市，有小狗的家庭比有小孩的家庭要多。

The ways in which companies are profiting from the trend are also multiplying. Not only is there organic dog food on offer, but packaged, raw food for dogs so they can follow a “paleo” diet reminiscent of what their ancestors ate in the wild. A different sort of indulgence is orthopaedic pet mattresses. This year Americans spent more than $400m on Halloween costumes for pets.

针对当下这种趋势，一些企业赚钱的手段也多了起来。消费者不仅可以购买到有机狗粮，还能买到包装好的生狗粮，让狗狗们可以体验一把千年以前它们的祖先在野外环境下的饮食口味。还有专门的护脊椎床垫可供宠物享受。

Overall, annual spending on pet food and products in America has risen by around 40% over the past ten years, to $43bn—a remarkable rate of growth for an already large industry, says Jared Koerten of Euromonitor, a research firm. Now a pack of startups has sniffed a fresh opportunity. Much as Airbnb has offered travellers an alternative to staying in a hotel, two firms, Rover and DogVacay, want to give pet owners an alternative to kennels when away from home.

2016年，美国人给宠物购买万圣节服饰就花费超过4亿美元。“整体来说，在过去十年里，美国宠物食品及相关商品年均消费上涨约40%，达430亿美元，这种增长率对本就巨大的市场来说仍令人惊叹。”欧睿信息咨询公司（Euromonitor）的加德·柯腾（Jared Koerten）说道。如今一大波创业公司已嗅到扑面而来的商机。空中食宿（Airbnb）为用户提供除旅馆外的多种独特理想住所。Rover 和 DogVacay这两家公司的理念则与其类似，专为需要出门但又不想把狗狗关到犬舍的人提供寄养对接服务。

Customers search for a nearby sitter and pay for their dog to stay in that person’s home. The cost is around $30 a night, with the majority of that going to the sitter and around a fifth to the company—much less than you would spend to check your dog into a kennel.

消费者先搜索附近的寄养者，然后支付自家狗狗寄养在对方家的费用。每晚收费约30美元，其中绝大部分（24美元）支付给寄养人，剩下约6美元流入公司囊中，这比寄养在宠物店的犬舍要便宜得多。

The other big selling-point is that pets by and large receive better treatment. There are ways, apparently, to vet dog hosts to find the real pet lovers: only around 15% of those who apply to serve as sitters are approved. Besides offering pooches more attention and room to roam, the platforms try to offer extra add-ons that appeal to helicopter parents. Rover has launched a feature that enables customers to see how far their dog has been walked via the GPS in the host’s phone. Like Airbnb, both DogVacay and Rover insure stays against accidents.

除此之外，另一大卖点是，宠物大体上会得到更好的照顾。公司对寄养家庭有一套严格的审核机制，以确保其真心喜爱宠物。只有大概15%的申请寄养者通过检测，得到正式许可。除了给予狗狗们更多关爱，更自由的活动空间，这些平台还提供单独计费的附加服务，来吸引“直升机父母们”（这里指十分珍爱自家宠物，时刻小心注意其一举一动的宠物主人们，译者按）。Rover发布了一项功能，通过寄养人手机上的GPS方便宠物主人直观了解到自家狗狗走了多远的路程。和Airbnb一样，Dogvacay和Rover为宠物主人提供意外保险。

Another advantage of the model is that, unlike other platforms that match consumers with workers, like handymen or masseuses, for one-off visits, consumers often use dog-sitting services many times a year, and they tend to be loyal. That has helped DogVacay and Rover attract a lot of venture-capital money—around $140m between them.

不同于其它公司给顾客介绍服务人员，比如短工和按摩师，双方只打一回交道，这种模式的另一大好处是，消费者在一年里会使用狗狗寄养服务很多次，而且往往具有很高的忠诚度。因此，DogVacay和Rover吸引了共计高达1.4亿美元的风投资金。

But firms that connect pets with hosts will face daunting competition as they try to go global. Companies offering home-stays for dogs are now cropping up in many different countries, including Australia, Brazil and Britain. And unlike Airbnb, which pulls in customers thanks to its presence in lots of markets that people want to travel to, the network effect for services like DogVacay is local. Despite having anticipated the trend early, such firms may never achieve the same scale as an Airbnb. But then no one ever said it was easy to be top dog.

然而，宠物寄养对接服务企业要想开启全球化战略，仍任重而道远。狗狗短期寄养平台如今在澳大利亚、巴西和英国等很多国家兴起。不同于Airbnb通过在潜在旅游目的地开设业务以吸引游客，Dogvacay等服务平台的网络效应仅限于当地。虽然早已预测到这种趋势，但这种宠物短期寄养公司或许永远达不到同Airbnb一样的宏大规模。然而，人人都清楚，成为王者绝非易事。

编译：张玺元

审校：张雪晴

编辑：翻吧君

英文来源：经济学人