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Petpalio. com is the brainchild of Aaron Rodrigues, a 17-year-old self-styled "student entrepreneur" from Auckland.
Rodrigues said he came up with the concept after an agonising search for a canine companion for his two-year-old bichon frise, Lasie.
"I contacted all the pet stores and they didn't have anybody to connect me with other pet owners. They told me to join clubs, which were offline, and it was such a hassle, I thought there has to be a better way to do this," Rodrigues said yesterday.
The website, launched just over a week ago, has attracted 40 eligible pets, mostly from the United States and the United Kingdom.
Rodrigues said he did not want to restrict the service to New Zealand because pet preferences are wide-ranging and sometimes exotic.
"New Zealand's a pretty small country, so I didn't want it to be that narrow," said Rodrigues, who moved here five years ago with his family from Mumbai, India.
While the website was designed as a dating service for pets, Rodrigues said it had potential for so much more – to be a forum for doting pet owners, a place to turn to for medical advice and problem solving, and a handy way to arrange breeding.
But Rodrigues has also sniffed out the economic opportunity.
Although the service is free now, he said there was potential to capitalise on advertising revenue and possible membership fees, if Petpalio took off the way he hoped.
"I'd like it to be a business but it's basically a place where pet owners can connect with each other ... sort of like MySpace but for dogs and cats and whatever else."
Some might scoff but pet fanaticism is a growth industry.
The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association estimated that pet owners spent $US38.4 billion ($NZ51.89b) on their animals in 2006. Food was the big ticket item, at $US15.2b, but another $US2.7b was spent on special services.
Stephen Pipe, a fellow dog lover and schoolmate of Rodrigues, thought his buddy might be onto something big.
"It's a great way to hook up with other pets," said Pipe, whose jack russell terrier will soon grace the web pages of Petpalio.
As for Lasie, whose cute little mug remains active on the website, he has already been spoken for.
In the lead-up to Petpalio's launch, Rodrigues finally found a suitable bichon frise for Lasie.
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