Posted Sunday on allfacebook.com: Nick O’Neill’s article, marveling at the fact that Facebook users are harnessing its power and prevalence to draw attention to shelter dogs facing possible euthanasia. A brilliant idea – users posting photos of dogs in need, in hopes of getting them adopted.
Sounds familiar, of course, because that’s exactly what the Facebook application Save a Dog has been doing on a large, community-interactive scale for over a year. If you’re not familiar with Save a Dog (and sister app, Save a Cat) here’s how they work:
Once you install the Save a Dog or Save aCat application, you earn points by simply selecting one of the actions presented (for example, “foster a dog” or “walk your dog”). For every 2500 points you earn, Dogtime donates the financial equivalent of a cup of food to non-profit animal welfare organizations across the country. These include RescueGroups.org, an organization that provides free and low-cost technology services to animal shelters and rescue groups across the country. We also make donations directly to animal shelters and rescues via monthly DogTime Grants, annual DogTime Grants, and the DogTime Media Pet Blogger Awards. Here’s the great part: It’s free to use. The only thing you spend is a moment of your time. And yep, you’re helping to save real dogs.
So to anyone listing individual dogs on their Facebook profile and to everyone interested in generating exposure for the millions of animals currently in desperate need of a home: Make sure your local shelter is listing dogs with RescueGroups.org. (The Save a Dog app uses RescueGroups’ feed of available animals.) The network of Save a Dog users can help spread the word faster than any one person on his/her own.
Fellow cat and dog lovers, let’s combine forces. Working together, we can save lives.
