Pawsome Pets: This Christmas, help your dogs play Secret Santa

Dhiraj Gopinath, who co-founded it with Divya Vummudi, tells us how he came up with this concept of Secret Santa for dogs. “We go to a lot of people’s houses throughout the city to train and we’ve noticed that very often, two families living in the same locality or apartment complex don’t know that a neighbour of theirs has a dog. People don’t get in touch with each other but call us to arrange play dates for their pets to socialise them. We thought it’ll be nice if we can get all of them on a platform together where they can meet each other or make sure they can set up play dates or have company for their pet,” he explains.

At the same time, they wanted to make it equally fun for the pets and their ‘hoomans’ so they decided to choose Christmas as the perfect day to facilitate this. For example, if a pet owner lives in Nungambakkam, Top Dog Academy will match him/her with another dog from the same locality and assist with the exchange of gifts. “The pet parents can exchange contact details through this event and the next time they want the dogs to go out for walks together or just find their dog a friend, they can get in touch,” adds Dhiraj.

This is the first time such an event is happening in India and the responses has been great, feel the founders. The participants can either buy anything for the pet, gift-wrap it and exchange it, or they can purchase something from the academy’s store and they’ll keep it wrapped and ready. He says, “We’re talking about basic gifts like toys and treats within Rs. 1,500. However, a lot of people are coming up with innovative ideas like homemade treats or handmade gifts. Some are even writing letters for other dog owners narrating the story of how they got their pet.”