If you hate leaving your dog at home when you go shopping, Santa Monica’s Zingy Pet Inc. wants to help.

Soon, dog owners will be able to drop off their pooch at one of Zingy’s dog valet stands at Westfield Corp. shopping centers throughout Los Angeles, where its staff will walk the pup for up to an hour.

Prices start at $10 for a 15-minute walk, increasing in 15-minute increments with cap of $24 for an hourlong walk. Owners receive updates through Zingy’s app and there is a 10-minute grace period for pickup until overtime rates kick in. Walkers only take one owner’s dog at a time, so if demand exceeds supply on site, patrons can use the app to request another walker meet them. The company has 735 approved walkers, and each one receives a 70 percent cut of each transaction.

The service is available at Westfield’s Topanga location in Canoga Park, and an expansion throughout Southern California and beyond is expected in coming weeks.

“We have the ability to expand throughout every location they’ve got,” Tobi Skovron, Zingy’s founder and chief executive said of the deal with Westfield. “It takes a little bit of time and money.”

Skovron, who founded indoor dog-toilet company Pup-Pee Solutions in his native Australia, launched Zingy in the fall with $1.3 million in funding from Knoxville, Tenn., pet product manufacturer Radio Systems Corp., which acquired Pup-Pee in 2013.

Skovron said he’s looking for $1.5 million more in seed funding to kick-start the valet stand expansion locally and to move into San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Seattle by the end of the year.

Most of Zingy’s business comes from dog owners who use the app to order a walk for their pet at home or work. The company claims some 6,000 customers in Southern California, and Skovron expects the shopping center stands will help introduce the company to more people.

“It’s really a way for us to embed ourselves in the community,” he said.

– Omar Shamout