Walking With Dog Not a Pet Peeve at Resort

Rental fee: a dollar per mile. Fuel: dog biscuits.

Hiring a motor vehicle is out in this car-free resort, but a rental canine named Gen. Sam Houston Jr.--Housty for short--has become something of a craze for tourists who go walking.

Christian Straessle, who manages his family’s four-star hotel, said the shaggy 2-year-old is a hit because he adapts easily to all of Wengen’s international clientele.

“I always speak Italian with him,” said Straessle, a multilingual Swiss. “He also understands German, French, English and Spanish. Now he’s learning Japanese like crazy.”

Guests who want to take Housty out usually face a waiting list. The enterprise, launched 18 months ago, has generated a file of about 500 customers.

“I need a dog that gets along well with guests and likes kids,” Straessle said.

Housty was named after the Texas city where Straessle bought him. The rent-a-dog idea came when Straessle was looking for something catchy to advertise at the hotel reception desk.

Payment of the mileage charge is not enforceable, though people do pay something close to it, said Straessle, who strictly forbids guests from feeding Housty on their own.

“We give them dog cookies to take along. You just can’t restrain children, but this way we know how much he eats.”