Charlie and Christina Saunders came up with the idea for Walkzee, an app that matches people interested in a walking buddy with a shelter dog in their local area, while on their honeymoon in Hawaii. Now, after a successful crowd-funding campaign, the app will be ready to launch next month.
During their honeymoon the Saunders’ stumbled upon the Kauai Humane Society which encouraged both locals and tourists to take shelter dogs for walks or out on a day trip with them. The couple took an adorable dog for a walk while he was wearing a vest with the words “Adopt Me” on it.
The Saunders’ thought the program was wonderful. Many dog lovers are unable to have dogs due to home or job situations, and there are thousands of dogs sitting in shelters every day just waiting to be walked. So why not pair the two parties together?
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It’s really a win-win for everyone involved. The dog walker gets a companion for their outing, the dog gets some much needed exercise and attention, and the shelter workers don’t have to take time away from their duties to walk all the dogs in their care. Not to mention, the dog gets a ton of exposure to potential adopters.
Once home the couple decided to create Walkzee, which will not only be an app, but a website as well and will have a BETA version for ambassadors and shelters debuting later this month. The app will be available on Android and iOS, plus the web application. The app will be free to download.
Walkzee is actually pretty simple. Participating shelters list their dog on Walkzee and then walkers are able to search for dogs in their area. Once they select a dog, they contact the shelter and arrangements are made for the pair to meet and go for a walk.
Once the walk is over, walkers can review both the dog and the shelter on the Walkzee app and users can even make a donation to the shelter of their choice through the app. Walkzee does not take a cut from any of these donations.
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Their goal is to tap into the volunteering community who may not have time to commit to helping out for multiple hours every week, but could bring a dog along for their regular morning walk or wouldn’t mind pitching in for 30 minutes here or there to help a dog in their local shelter.
The app is highly anticipated. In fact, articles have been written about it in Bustle, the Huffington Post, and even Playboy. They already have over 250 shelters registered to use the system when it launches. The Saunders’ were even awarded a free exhibition to display their Walkzee program at the Collision Technology Conference earlier this month.
