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Because Dogster thinks the world of rescuers, this is a special place for to discuss shelters, rescue organizations, rescue strategies, issues, solutions, etc. and how we can all help in this critical endeavor. If you are interested in fostering for one of these great organizations or on your own, here's the place to seek friendly advice. We also welcome shelters and rescue organizations to post here about dogs looking for foster homes but we recommend that you put your location in the topic of your thread so those close by can find you!
Help us Make the Best Adoption/Rescue Site on the Web
Maybe HQ could have a program written that automatically sends an email each week to the person who listed the dog. For the dog to remain on the site as adoptable another week they have to click a link to confirm the dog is still adoptable. If they don't click the link the dog is automatically removed from the adoptable list. This removes the responsibility of removing the dog from the rescue and allows Dogster more control to keep the list current.
Gabrielle FM Easy, Breezy,- Beautiful...- Gabby Girl
Barked: Fri Apr 20, '07 11:21am PST
An easy way for people to update a dog's profile to say "Adoption pending." When I was looking for a border collie, I contacted a group about a dog and they said he was adopted. He stayed up on Petfinder for weeks after that. I had already gotten Gabby, but I finally emailed and asked why I was told he was adopted. Turns out that he only had an application turned in for him when I contacted them the first time and it had been denied. I always wonder if they had put up 'Adoption pending' and taken it down when the application was denied, if I would have seen it and ended up with him instead. Oh well, it worked out for me and Gabby.
This has probably been mentioned before, but what about having a Lost and Found Forum so if anyone has found a dog, or if somewoof is missing a dog they can post there, I know when a dogster pal goes missing it is usually cross posted all over the forums but it would be nice if there was one forum to accomidate all the missing and found pups. You could, at the top of the main forum header suggest that pups list "Breed, color, sex and area and date" to make it easier to look for lost pets.
This is huge but worth suggesting. I was watching Animal Precinct the other day and they did a segment about a new way of adopting. The NY ASPCA had a 30% return rate when it came to adopting out their dogs. So an applied animal behaviorist came up with a color code system to help match people to the right type of dog for their lifestyle. Here is a link and excerpt from a great article that explains it in depth:
In an effort to put some science behind the shelter matchmaking service, certified applied animal behaviorist Emily Weiss, senior director of shelter behavior programs at the ASPCA in New York City, created Meet Your Match, which uses color-coded tags to match people with pets. Adoption counselors at participating shelters learn to evaluate the personalities of the dogs, which she calls "canine-ality." Depending on their canine-ality scores, moderate-energy dogs are given an orange card, calmer canines are purple, and the intense, high-energy dogs -- Weiss calls them Donald Trump dogs -- are green. People fill out a survey and are scored by color, too. Type A personalities who happen to also be experienced dog owners, for example, are green. And, ideally, they are matched up with green dogs. Other shelters use similar systems.
Lois Tiedeken of Peaks Island, Maine, met her match at the nearby Animal Rescue League. Tiedeken filled out a lifestyle survey, then she was given an orange ticket. She was told that although she could adopt any pooch, those with orange-colored cards would suit her the best. Grady, a1-year-old miniature poodle, had an orange card. "I'm impressed with how this works," Tiedeken says. "Grady turned out to be exactly the kind of dog that I wanted."
Weiss reports that participating animal shelters reduce their return rates by half, and they increase adoptions -- sometimes even doubling them. "The program really forces people to think about the kind of dog they want," Weiss says. (A "feline-ality" program has just launched, as well.)
My thought is that Dogster could create a system whereby those adopting could take an online quiz to come up with their "color" while dogs being fostered can be rated by their fosters. The result? Dogs could be categorized by region, age, breed, etc... But they could also be categorized BY COLOR, thereby implementing a system similar to Meet your Match.
I would be nice (even now) if, when applicable, you could include a link to the page(s) of the person inquiring about a dog. I don't want to offend anyone, but we do a screening process that includes ref and home checks. It would be uplifting just knowing that someone loves their dogs enough to create a Dogster site.
I would like to know how many cats have actually already been adopted through Catster. I had a stray cat who was adopted through Catster via Craigslist.org. I know there is a search feature for "Cats Adopted through Catster" on the Advanced search but it doesn't work! I tried it and put my state, my country, checked both on the gender and nothing came up. Then I tried it w/ just male cats and checked "Adopted through Catster" and it said there were 946 matches. Earlier I had typed in one of my cats name in the Advanced Search who was NOT adopted through Catster but checked "Adopted through Catster" to see what would happen and he did come up. So this time when I checked all male cats instead of a specific name I scrolled through some of the pages and there was my cat again that was NOT adopted through Catster. I got suspicious so I ran the state/country/Male search WITHOUT checking "Adopted through Catster" and sure enough there were 946 matches. It was the same # of matches for Male cats in my state/Country as it was for Male cats in my state/country who had been "Adopted through Catster". It was the same for females. Without seeing the successful results of pets who have been adopted through Catster how will people want to post adoptable cats? I think there is one good thing that Catster/Dogster has over Petfinder.com In Petfinder if you are a pet foster parent you can only write about the pet. In Catster/Dogster you can post a picture. People want to see a picture of the pet they are interested in.
When a pet is adopted you have to uncheck the "Adoptable" box in their profile. I think there should be a special box to check that says "Adopted through Catster/Dogster" in their profile too. That way the pet would be immediately added to the list of pets adopted through Catster/Dogster.
High Maintenance versus Low Maintenance
Child Compatibility (for ex. good w/ kids over 10 or under 10 etc)
Training Level (Does the dog know basic obedience? Is s/he housebroken?)
Good for Single Owner or Good for Family/Partners
Good for Senior Citizens (the people not the dogs)
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