Why I built POOPIEMATE
Hi, I’m Jin, the developer behind POOPIEMATE. Here’s how the app came to be, from the very beginning. It’s a bit of a long one.
Bunhong, from an Instagram post
Our dog’s name is Melona. She’s now four, a 13 kg white Jindo mix — part Jindo, part Bichon, which is why her fur curls slightly.
Her mother lived on a short chain in the countryside. She had been someone’s dog in Seoul, until her owner abandoned her out there and left. She had puppies with a stray dog, and our dog is one of them.
They were about to be sold off to who knows where when the animal rescue group WithAllAnimals (WAA) rescued them. I first saw her in a photo on WAA’s Instagram. Back then she was called “Bunhong” — little pinky.
At first I offered to foster her. Then the idea of being responsible for a life scared me, and I said I couldn’t. The next day I got back in touch: “I’ll foster her.” That’s how she came home with us.
Scared, yet somehow she knew I was Mom
On her first day with us, she was scared of me — and yet she seemed to sense that I was her mom. Looking terrified, she sniffed my hand — then stood still, let me pet her, and looked up at me.
She was so timid. Even a person’s touch frightened her. When I came close, she would study me for a long time, unsure.
But oh, she was so, so cute. This scared little dog started falling asleep on my lap from her very second day. I could watch her sleeping face for hours.
On our first walk, she couldn’t even walk on a leash. I didn’t know what to do either. We practiced together, one step at a time, starting with just putting on her harness.
We couldn’t live without her
While fostering, I hoped to find her a home abroad, somewhere a little more pet-friendly than Korea. So I gave her an English name, Lona, and the family name Me. That’s how she became Melona.
Then my husband said it first: we can’t live without her, let’s adopt her. And so fostering turned into adoption.
She’s still a scaredy-cat around strangers, loud voices, trucks and moving ladders — but the bravest of us all in front of food. She loves carrots and chicken breast, and when she’s hungry she politely offers a paw. And now her favorite people are Mom and Dad.
A dog who never goes indoors
Our dog only poops and pees outside. Not on a pad, not even when she’s been holding it for hours. When she wants to go out, she brings us a shoe from the doorway.
The Jindo, Korea’s native breed, is known for refusing to go indoors — it’s often said nine in ten Jindos only go outside. Our Jindo-Bichon mix inherited that habit, all of it.
So rain or snow, she goes out three times a day. On every walk she has one mission: find the best poop spot. Crunchy dry leaves, soft dirt, or a patch covered in pinecones all pass the test.
The calls we made every day
We both work, so we split the walks. The trouble came after. What time did she go out this morning, and how long was the walk? Did she poop? How many pees? We had to call and check every time.
Did Lona poop?
How many poops on the morning walk?
Who’s going out tonight?
The calls we traded every single day
We always had to tell each other when we’d be back home. Lining up who walks her when, one phone call after another, was harder than it sounds. For a dog who only goes outside, when she last pooped is a health question too. We always wondered whether she’d been holding it all day.
In the end, I — Mom — found work I could do from home. And I thought: rather than calling like this every time, why not build an app?
Turning that call into a button
One person logs a poop or pee and everyone in the family gets an alert right away. A daily timeline shows who walked and cleaned up, you can ask someone else to take the walk on a busy day, and send a heart when they’re back.
In summer we always worried about hot pavement, so we added a walk safety score that combines her body type, coat and age with the weather. The potty gauges, filling up with her rhythm, let the whole family notice when she’s been holding it a little too long.
Poochie looks just like her
Our mascot Poochie comes straight from our dog: a poop-shaped face, big floppy ears, a foodie and a scaredy-cat who offers a paw when she’s hungry. Every time Poochie waves on the app’s screen, we think of her waiting at the door with a shoe in her mouth.
Flower dog at our wedding, and a family photo every year
Our dog was even the flower dog at our wedding, and she’s in our wedding photos too. Ever since, we’ve taken a family photo together every year.
If your family shares one dog, we hope POOPIEMATE cuts down on the “Did our dog poop?” texts, even a little. And today, as always, our dog is out looking for the best poop spot.
