Who let the dogs out? A wearable for your pup will let you know

Perhaps it’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all, but the nobility behind that thought does little in the face of the devastation of a runaway pet.

The idea for Wagr emerged in large part due to then-stray dog Jambi, who trotted onto the scene and changed everything.

You put up lost posters, you remind yourself about every Hollywood movie about a scrappy bunch of dogs (with optional cat sidekicks) determined to get back to their owners, you convince yourself that someone will call and let you know that your furry friend has been found. Maybe someone does, and all the stress you’ve been feeling up until that moment vanishes. Or maybe no one does, and you find yourself dealing with the excruciating helplessness that comes with not knowing for sure what happened.

The founders behind Bangalore-based Wagr know these feelings, and if they have their way, you’ll never experience them – their wearable/app combination helps you keep track of what your animal BFF is up to.

Currently designed with dogs in mind, Wagr comes in the form of a wearable that attaches to a dog’s collar or harness. Through the partner app, a dog owner (or, as the founders prefer to call him or her, a dog parent) can set up a “safe zone” for the animal.

GPS tracking notifies the dog parent when their little buddy has left the zone, and if need be, he or she can follow the GPS tracker to retrieve the canine companion. Machine learning algorithms also learn dogs’ behavior and notify dog parents about peculiarities. The device also creates summaries about the pet’s sleeping, walking, and playing behavior.

The app, in addition to services connected with the wearable, also connects dog parents with a bevy of resources related to their favorite animal, including vets, food, supplies, accessories, grooming, dog walkers, and dog sitters. The goal is to eventually curate a community of dog lovers through the app, and Wagr plans on adding features including community-organized dog rescues, digital vet consultations, walking route suggestions, and training assistance. Features have been made with advice from dog psychologists, and the founders hope to add in consultants on pet adoption.

“We want to bring the dog community to this single portal,” co-founder Siddharth Darbha tells Tech in Asia.

The dog that launched a startup

Pet ownership in India has been rising since 2006, and rises in dog ownership in particular has the country estimated to be the fastest growing global pet market. For Wagr founders Advaith Mohan, Ajith Kochery, and Siddharth, though, the idea for Wagr emerged in large part due to then-stray dog Jambi (who has his own Facebook profile), who trotted onto the scene and changed everything.

IIT Madras grad Advaith had been toiling away at Flipkart (and moonlighting as a guitar playing musician for this band) in Bangalore. He met Ajith, an alumnus of the Technical University of Munich working in broadcomm, at a concert, and they decided to build a number of projects together, including Mobius – what they describe as a Roomba-like talking robot – and a handful of home automation systems.

They weren’t really looking to make anything in particular, Advaith explains. Around then is when Jambi pawed his way into the picture.

The road to becoming top dog