Astor's story
Astor came to me as a two-year-old Great Pyrenees through a small rescue in Chicago. He'd already been adopted once and returned. The reason on the paperwork was: "sheds too much."
Astor does not shed. Astor molts.
Twice a year, clumps of undercoat the size of small mammals come off in your hand. I keep the fur in a bag. The long-term plan is sweaters.
Back in Chicago, his littermates had also been adopted around the city, so we'd meet at parks and let them reunite. Four enormous white dogs barreling into each other like a slow-motion wrestling match. Crowds formed every time. Phones came out. Someone always asked if we were breeders.
We were not.
We were four people who said yes to dogs someone else had returned.
Eventually we moved to Toronto. He's now 130 pounds and the calmest animal I've ever lived with.
The Toronto rescue community quietly pulls dogs like Astor from overcrowded American shelters using volunteer time and donor money that never quite covers the cost.
That's the pipeline Packwalk is built to fund.
Why Packwalk
Every time I booked a walk on Rover, I watched 20% of the cost disappear to a US public company that has nothing to do with Toronto. Meanwhile the rescues that saved dogs like Astor were running fundraisers to cover spay surgeries.
The math is obvious. The platform fee should stay in the city. It should go to the organizations doing the work this whole industry is built on. So I built Packwalk. Same product, same price for owners, same pay for walkers. The 20% just goes somewhere different.
That's the whole pitch. Walk dogs. Fund rescues. Don't send the money to Seattle.
Who built this
I'm Sandeep. Solo founder. I'm based in Toronto and I built the entire Packwalk app myself, including the iOS app, the backend, the payment system, and this website. No co-founders, no investors, no agency.
I have ataxia, which affects my speech. Most of my work happens in writing. Email is the way I prefer to do business and it's the way Packwalk gets built. If we end up working together (as a walker, an owner, a rescue partner, or anything else), expect a lot of email and a lot of follow-through.
What happens next
Packwalk is incorporated as a Canadian for-profit company today. That's the structure that lets me build it solo without spending years on charity registration. The plan, once the platform is self-sustaining, is to transition to a not-for-profit or steward-ownership model so that all surplus flows to Toronto rescues permanently. The for-profit structure is for getting started. The values are the point.
Get in touch
I read every email myself. hello@packwalk.ca.
Astor is usually on the floor next to my desk while I'm replying.