Ever looked at your dog and thought how nice it would be if they had a soulmate or a best friend? Well, one man in Toronto, Canada definitely considered that and went about creating an app to connect people's furry friends with other playmates.
Discover our latest podcast
Paw Little Pal
According to its creator Colin Jarvis-Gaum, the free app, called 'Pawmates' is quite similar to Tinder in the way it works.
Users can swipe right or swipe left and find dogs in their area who are looking for a friend. He explained to CTV News Toronto:
So if you swipe right on a person, and they've swiped right on you, then it starts a chat.
Users can then go ahead to schedule meetings between the matched dogs.
For Jarvis-Guam, he got the idea to create this app when he realized his golden retriever, Pal, was getting old and did not have the same energy as before to keep up with younger dogs at the park.
It actually started with my own dog, he was getting a little bit older. I thought to myself it would be great if we could find him some other playmates that were sort of more his speed.
It’s Pawsibble
The 27-year-old who studied environmental science in school did not know the first thing about coding and so had to teach himself via YouTube. The app was an instant hit when it launched with some 10,000 users as of Oct.27. It also has a strong social media presence.
One user said:
(Dogs) can have their own socialization, you can have your own exercise, and the dogs exercise too.
Jarvis-Guam is looking to expand into other pet related services, such as helping people find their lost pets and streamlining the adoption process for pets.
He found that some people use the app to find love as well.
I saw that there could be a side of meetups where people use it for social aspects, or for people who want to use it for dating…[to] make sure that they're pet friendly.
