IT entrepreneur Rakesh Shukla had never owned a pet growing up.

He only got his very first dog aged 38.

Now, ten years later, he's adopted more than 850.

He began by taking strays off the streets to his home in Bengaluru in southern India's Karnataka state.

After protests from his wife, he moved the dogs to his office but as the numbers of animals grew, he purchased some land outside the city and built a farm with his own money to house all the dogs.

Now, he runs an organisation called "Voice of Stray Dogs" (VOSD) to rescue and rehabilitate injured and abandoned dogs.

Rakesh lives at the farm and looks after the animals himself with a few employees.

Meanwhile, he also runs his IT business in Bangalore remotely.

However, as there's no connection on the farm, he has to park a van on the main road some 6 kilometres away to pick up a phone signal and access the internet.

Rakesh spends six to eight hours per day inside the vehicle before returning to the care for his growing pack of dogs.

The unusual working conditions are essential for now as Rakesh pays for the upkeep of the farm and its many canine residents mostly from his own pocket.