内容来源：https://www.geekwire.com/2026/pet-project-emerges-from-seattle-startup-studio-a-new-app-that-connects-dogs-and-their-parents/

内容总结：

西雅图男子推出“嗅探”A以狗为媒，破解邻里社交困局

在西雅图马德拉纳社区，居民阿米什·帕特尔有一个独特的习惯：他往往先记住邻居家狗的名字，然后才记起主人叫什么。这个发现促使他开发了一款名为“Sniff”（嗅探）的iOS应用，旨在将遛狗时狗狗之间的偶遇，转化为宠物主人之间持久的社交联系。

帕特尔表示，这一创意的灵感源于他自身的经历。疫情前夕，他带着自己的标准贵宾犬“Chewie”搬入新社区。由于没有孩子且社交途径有限，社区公园成了他主要的社交场所，一个群聊短信组也逐渐成了他的“社区归属感”来源。但问题在于，他的通讯录里大部分联系人备注名都是“Glory的妈妈”或“Louie的爸爸”。

帕特尔坦言：“我在马德拉纳常来往的五个人，大多都是通过Chewie认识的。” Sniff的目标远不止拓宽个人社交圈，更旨在应对美国卫生局2023年报告中指出的“孤独与隔离”这一社会流行病。他指出，年轻人越来越少生育、越来越孤立，“即使彼此相邻，也都在低头玩手机，四分之一的人不认识或不与邻居交谈。”

Sniff通过验证用户的地址和位置信息，确保其是社区的真正居民，并使用地理围栏技术，让用户只能发现附近的犬友。在应用内，用户仅能看到狗狗的资料和照片，在建立联系之前，不会显示主人的姓名等个人信息。帕特尔强调，人工智能仅用于信任与安全验证，而非匹配用户。一旦建立联系，邻居们便可通过应用交流、组织线下聚会，或在遛狗、照看宠物时互相帮忙。

目前，该应用已在西雅图多个社区开放试点。每个社区都受地理围栏限制，直到有足够多的活跃用户注册才会开放。首个启动的马德拉纳社区已有约100人加入。为了推动发展，Sniff正与西雅图联结商会合作招募“犬群领袖”，负责组织聚会和介绍。

帕特尔是微软出身，曾参与Xbox Kinect等项目，后投身初创企业。他于2020年成为西雅图初创工作室Pioneer Square Labs的入驻企业家，两年后与人联合创立了Conduit Venture Labs。Sniff是该工作室孵化的第四家初创公司，前三家分别涉及宠物日托视觉识别平台、面向孤独人群的AI有声书，以及一个尚在保密中的健康科技项目。

Sniff应用本身团队精简，最近已转向AI辅助开发以提高效率，并正在寻找一位首席执行官全职接管该项目，同时筹集资金并开发硬件相关功能。帕特尔表示，无论技术如何复杂，Sniff的核心始终是让狗狗做它们最擅长的事。人类从中获得友谊、互助和社群，而狗狗得到的则更简单：“它们只是变得更善于社交了，因为我们不再一边刷着手机，一边把它们关在家里。”

中文翻译：

阿米什·帕特尔认识邻居时，往往先记住他们狗的名字，然后才知道邻居本人叫什么。这是他在西雅图社区留意到的现象——如今他围绕这一点开发了一款应用程序。

帕特尔的最新宠物项目Sniff出自他的创业工作室Conduit Venture Labs，这是一款iOS应用，能将两只狗在散步时打招呼的日常瞬间，转化为它们主人之间持久的联系。

这个想法源于帕特尔本人居住的西雅图马德罗纳社区。疫情前夕，他带着标准贵宾犬丘比搬到这里。没有孩子，社交方式有限，社区公园就成了日常去处——用帕特尔的话说，一个群聊短信线程反倒营造出了真正的社区感。关键点在于：大多数联系人都是以“格洛丽的妈妈”或“路易的爸爸”这样的名字保存的。

“我在马德罗纳常一起玩的五个人，大多是通过丘比认识的。”帕特尔说。

除了拓展帕特尔的个人社交圈，Sniff还有一个更大的社会目标——应对孤独与隔离。美国卫生局局长在2023年关于社会联系的咨询报告中，将孤独列为一种流行病。

“年轻人越来越少生孩子，越来越孤立……我们明明彼此相邻，却都埋头看手机。”帕特尔说，“四个人里就有一个人不认识自己的邻居，或从不与邻居交谈。”

狗——以及Sniff——或许能成为解决方案。

Sniff利用地址和位置数据验证用户是真实存在且确实居住在其声称的社区内；应用程序设置了地理围栏，因此会员只能发现附近的狗。在应用内部，用户只能看到狗狗的资料和照片——没有人类的姓名或个人信息——直到建立联系为止。帕特尔说，人工智能只在信任与安全层面发挥作用——确认身份和位置——而不参与匹配用户。

建立联系后，邻居们可以通过应用发送消息、安排见面，并互相帮忙——遛狗、照看宠物，或者只是遇到突发情况时搭把手。帕特尔表示，因事先认识对方的狗而建立起的信任，往往直接促使人愿意提供帮助。

试点项目已在马德罗纳、莱斯奇、麦迪逊公园、中央区和国会山开放，但西雅图任何地方的宠物主人都可以立即注册。每个社区都会保持地理围栏状态，直到注册人数达到足够活跃水平，届时Sniff才会开放该区域——第一个启动的马德罗纳社区已有约100人加入平台。

为了在每个社区推动发展势头，Sniff正与西雅图连接商会（帕特尔是其董事会成员）合作，招募“群犬领袖”：即在各自社区用户基础增长时，协助组织见面和非正式介绍的当地狗主人。

帕特尔是微软老将，曾参与Xbox Kinect和Microsoft Band等项目长达八年，之后进入创业领域，先后在健身可穿戴设备制造商Katalyst和橄榄球头盔制造商Vicis工作过。2020年，他在西雅图创业工作室Pioneer Square Labs获得驻场创业者的职位；两年后，他与Beats by Dre前首任首席执行官苏珊·佩利共同创立了Conduit Venture Labs。

Conduit专注于融合硬件与软件的“硬科技”创业公司。Sniff是Conduit内部孵化的第四家初创企业，前三个分别是：面向狗狗日托中心的计算机视觉平台Fluffy，以及一个针对孤独领域的AI有声书项目——帕特尔称该项目正为今年秋季的公开种子轮融资做准备。第四个健康科技项目目前仍处于保密阶段。

Sniff应用本身以精简模式构建：几名开发者、一名产品负责人，以及帕特尔将时间分配在工作室的其他项目上。帕特尔表示，团队此后已转向AI辅助开发以加快速度，目前正在寻找一位首席执行官，以便在筹集资金和开发部分硬件相关功能时，将该项目转为内部全职运营。

尽管围绕着信任机制、地理围栏和未来硬件等话题，Sniff的整个初衷仍然归结为一点：让狗做它们该做的事。人获得了友谊、帮助和群聊。而狗，帕特尔说，得到的东西更简单。

“它们只是更社交了，”他说，“因为我们不会在我们没完没了地刷手机时，把它们关在屋里陪着我们。”

英文来源：

Amish Patel knows his neighbors by their dogs’ names before he knows their own. It’s a pattern he noticed in his Seattle neighborhood — and one he’s now built an app around.
Patel’s newest pet project — born out of his Conduit Venture Labs startup studio, is Sniff, an iOS app that turns the everyday moment two dogs greet each other on a walk into a lasting connection between their humans.
The idea traces back to Patel’s own block in Seattle’s Madrona neighborhood, where he moved with his standard poodle, Chewie, right before the pandemic. With no kids and limited ways to meet people, the neighborhood park became the default hangout — and a group text thread became, in Patel’s words, a real sense of community. The catch: most of those contacts were saved under names like “Glory’s mom” or “Louie’s dad.”
“The five people in Madrona that I hang out with, more often I met through him,” Patel said of Chewie.
Beyond widening Patel’s own social circle, Sniff has a greater societal objective — taking on loneliness and isolation, an epidemic cited in the U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory on social connection.
“Younger people are having kids less, getting more isolated … we’re sitting on our phones, even though we’re all next to each other,” Patel said. “One out of four people don’t know their neighbors or talk to their neighbors.”
Dogs — and Sniff — could be an answer.
Sniff verifies that users are real people who actually live in the neighborhood they claim, using address and location data, and the app is geofenced so members can only discover dogs nearby. Inside the app, users see only dog profiles and photos — no human names or personal details — until a connection is made. Patel said artificial intelligence plays a role only on the trust-and-safety side — confirming identity and location — rather than in matching people up.
Once connected, neighbors can message through the app, arrange meetups, and lean on each other for help — dog walking, sitting, or just a hand when something comes up. Patel said the trust that builds from already knowing someone’s dog often translates directly into people who are willing to help.
The pilot is open in Madrona, Leschi, Madison Park, the Central District and Capitol Hill, but pet parents anywhere in Seattle can sign up today. Each neighborhood stays geofenced until it reaches enough engaged sign-ups, at which point Sniff opens it up — Madrona, the first to launch, already has about 100 people on the platform.
To help build momentum in each neighborhood, Sniff is partnering with the Seattle Chamber of Connection — where Patel sits on the board — to recruit “Pack Leaders”: local dog owners who help organize meetups and informal introductions as their neighborhood’s user base grows.
Patel is a Microsoft vet who spent eight years on projects including Xbox Kinect and Microsoft Band, before moving into the startup world with stints at fitness wearable maker Katalyst and football helmet manufacturer Vicis. He landed an entrepreneur-in-residence role at Seattle startup studio Pioneer Square Labs in 2020, and two years later co-founded Conduit Venture Labs with Susan Paley, the former first CEO of Beats by Dre.
Conduit focuses on “hard-tech” ventures that blend hardware and software. Sniff is Conduit’s fourth in-house startup, following Fluffy — a computer vision platform for doggy daycares — and an audiobook AI venture in the loneliness space that Patel said is preparing for a public seed round this fall. A fourth project, in health tech, remains under wraps for now.
The Sniff app itself was built lean: a couple of developers, a product lead, and Patel splitting his time across the studio’s other projects. Patel said the team has since shifted to AI-assisted development to move faster, and is now searching for a CEO to take the project in-house full time as it raises capital and pursues some hardware-related features.
For all the talk of trust layers, geofencing and future hardware, Sniff’s entire premise still comes down to a dog doing what dogs do. The humans get the friendships, the favors, the group texts. The dogs, Patel said, get something simpler.
“They just get to be more social,” he said, “because we don’t keep them in our house with us while we’re doom scrolling through everything.”