Fido Did His Business! Dogwalkers Go Digital
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Customers of a dog-walking company in New York City need no longer wonder whether or not their pet stopped for a bathroom break while out for its daily stroll – they now receive a text message each time their dog does the deed.
Swifto, which walks dogs in the city’s boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, introduced the service earlier in November based on customer feedback.
“We used to not have that feature, but everyone seems so interested in when their dog is going to the toilet we included that as well,” said Ceilidh McGrath, the company’s marketing director.
The company launched the service in February after creating a smartphone app which is installed on both the walker and the customer’s phone.
The app uses GPS technology to chart the walk’s progress on a map, which can be observed by the owner, and sends out text-message notifications when the walk begins and ends, including the walker’s summary of the walk’s highlights.
The walker can also press buttons to notify the owner each time their pet plays with another dog or stops for a bathroom break.
“It says, ‘Fluffy has just pooped,’” McGrath said. “Some people laugh at the idea,” she added, but other customers found the texts reassuring, she said.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
