Why I Am Building Kadoga

A Life with Animals

For as long as I can remember I’ve had pets in my life. At three, my parents brought home two wild little dogs who tore through cushions and chased cars. Later came Gabe, a dopey golden retriever; Stolie, the anxious German shepherd I adopted in my twenties; and Griffin, a rescue chihuahua-dachshund mix who became the dog of my thirties. Now, in my forties, I share life with Gus, a min-pin-dachshund mix and absolute prince of chaos. And alongside all these dogs, there have always been cats. What does that mean for me? That I’ve never really known life without animals, and at my core, I have a deep love and passion for them.

That love has always been part of my personal life, but for years my professional life was something else. In my twenties I obtained a degree in Computer Science and ever since have been working as a software engineer. Recently, after almost fifteen years of continuous employment, I decided to take my first sabbatical, which has given me some time for reflection. This time off has made me realize that I want to spend the rest of my career using my skills to work on something that I deeply care about, which has led me to Kadoga.

Searching for Meaning in My Work

For over a decade, I worked as a software engineer in education technology. It was important and meaningful work, and sometimes even inspiring, but in reality I was not deeply passionate about it. Education is essential, but the software I built often felt disconnected from the human side of things and it also felt like I was working long hours to fulfill someone else’s dream, not my own. In the last few years, I longed to work on something where my skills and my heart could meet, but I didn’t know exactly what that was.

When I thought about the things that genuinely mattered to me, pets were always there—and so was the challenge of finding care for them.

Finding Kadoga

My first day landing in Munich and reuniting with my husband, Jason

In 2021, after having just gotten married, Jason and I moved from Canada to Munich. We brought our middle-aged pets, Griffin and AJ, along for the journey. All of a sudden we were living in Europe. Our lives were upended, which was both frightening and exhilarating. One thing we were thrilled about was the ability to now travel to unexplored places—new countries were just a short train ride away—but every potential trip meant one big question: who would take care of our pets?

At first, friends helped out. We’d leave our dog Griffin with them, and our cat AJ just needed the occasional house visit. If friends were unavailable we would then have to find someone we could pay to care for them. Travel was exciting, but it always carried this additional source of stress: organizing the care, making sure it was affordable, and then making sure it was also trustworthy.

Then life changed. On New Year’s Day of 2023 Jason and I discovered two lumps on Griffin’s neck. I remember Jason and I were having a conversation together in our living room with Griffin lying on Jason’s lap. While speaking, I noticed the lumps and asked, “What are those?” Jason and I looked at each other and in that moment we both knew the outcome was not going to be good. Six weeks later, after Griffin’s short battle with cancer, I was now returning home from the pet crematorium with his ashes, and was overcome with grief.

In that grief, Jason and I both decided to find another dog and started perusing rescue sites in Germany. It was on one of them that we came across Gus, a min-pin-dachshund mix. We both fell in love with the pictures and videos we saw on the site and within a couple of weeks he was welcomed into our home. Gus was extremely difficult from the start: reactive, anxious, and full of energy that turned destructive when left alone. After about ten months of trying to “make it work”, at our wit’s end we put him back up for adoption. 

AJ and Griffin in 2021, Munich

But just as that happened, our cat AJ fell ill and we lost him too. Once again we were thrown into a pit of grief and once again it would be Gus who would rescue us from it. We decided to take him off the rescue site and we recommitted ourselves to making it work with him. After having lost both of our previous pets in the same year we couldn’t bear the thought of letting Gus go now too. And from then on he started to become tightly integrated into our lives.

Today, Gus is our little prince. Quirky, sweet, endlessly himself. But he’s still reactive, and that makes finding care for him even harder. Friends who once eagerly helped with Griffin often seem busy now, and professional care is brutally expensive—up to €100 a night.

Earlier this year, Jason and I planned a three-week trip to Canada. Doing the math, boarding Gus would cost over €2,000. That felt impossible. To reduce costs, we asked friends, and one couple agreed to host him for a week in exchange for us later watching their dog, Moose. That small arrangement saved us €700 and gave us something else: joy!

Moose was a delight to have in our house. The daily routines, the long walks, even the chaos of watching the two dogs together—it all felt natural and enjoyable. It made me realize that caring for someone else's pet isn’t actually a burden. It can be fun, meaningful, and create or strengthen bonds between people.

That’s when the idea for Kadoga, a way for pet owners to exchange care, began to take shape. If this resonates with you, join Kadoga today and be part of the founding group.

Moose and Gus playing together this summer

Around the same time, while visiting friends in Canada, we learned about HomeExchange.com. Instead of paying for hotels, people swap homes using points. The idea stuck with me: if people can exchange homes using points, why not pet care?

The Spark of Kadoga

That was the moment the idea crystallized. We’re all pet owners. We all already know how to care for animals. Why do we default to paying people at sometimes exorbitant rates, when we could simply exchange care with each other?

The experience with Moose confirmed it. We enjoyed hosting him, our friends were grateful, and everyone benefited. It wasn’t just about saving money. It was about creating trust, connection, and reciprocity.

That’s what Kadoga is about: pet owners exchanging care.

Building Community, Not Just a Platform

Too often, services today reduce everything to monetary transactions. But I believe exchanges like this can build real connections. They save people money, yes, but they also create new friendships, strengthen neighborhoods, and can restore a sense of trust and community.

I want Kadoga to make it easier and more affordable for people to travel or simply step away, without worrying about their pets. I want it to help neighbors connect with each other. And I also want to take some of the value it generates and reinvest it right back into the areas where it operates.

Kadoga is not for everyone, and that’s okay. But I believe there are many people who will see themselves in it—those that are happy to host a dog for a few days, stop by to feed a cat, or (eventually) take a quick walk with a neighbor’s pup, knowing others would do the same for them. For those people, Kadoga can be transformative. 

For me, it’s more than a platform. It’s a way of reimagining how we care for our pets—and each other. And I believe it can change things for the better.

That’s why I am building Kadoga. If you feel the same, I’d love for you to join us.

And, if you have thoughts or feedback, I’d love to hear them: aaron@kadoga.com

Yours truly,

Aaron Webster, Founder of Kadoga