New app 'Wag' unleashed to help keep track of your dog walker

NEW YORK (WABC) -- You consider them your best pal, a member of your family. But do you really know the person who is walking your dog?

Maybe you're even reluctant to hire someone because you don't want to give strangers a key to your home.

Now there's a new tool to make life a lot easier for dog owners.

Americans spend close to $60 billion a year on their pets, and now there's a dog walking service that not only allows you to monitor the walk, you can also book a walk at the very last minute.

Julien LoPresti's first experience with a dog walker for Reptar didn't go so well.

"The dog walker had a few successful walks and then left my door open for six hours," he said.

Since then Julien has tried to race out of work for midday walks but that's often impossible.

So now he opts for Wag, a new dog walking app.

"You immediately know when your dog's picked up, you can see in real time where the dog is being walked and you get a report card at the end telling you how the dog did," said Julien.

Once the walk begins, the walker actives the GPS. The walkers are all insured and trained in the Wag way. You can even choose your walker based on their videos.

You can schedule walks daily, weekly, or on demand.

And there's no pack mentality. All walks are private, tapping into the fact that New Yorkers love to indulge their dogs.

"They want to see that personalized interaction that our walkers are having with the dog and it gives them the comfort of being there for the walk when they can't be there for the walk," said Matt Kinzle. "Whether they're in their office down the block or a thousand miles away, it's really important to them."

"It's really comforting to know i can just click on the app," said Julien. "I think she enjoys it more than walking with me, which hurts my feelings a little bit but I'm happy that she's happy."

And Wag walks are $20 for 30 minutes. If you have two dogs, it's only $5 extra for the second dog, and walks are available from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m..