frequently asked questions
- Do the points I earn on Save a Dog translate into real donations for real dogs in need? How do the cups of food figure in?
- How do I earn points on Save a Dog?
- How do my visits to Save a Dog help save real dogs?
- What are Rescue Friends?
- Where does the money DogTime donates come from?
- Where is the money donated and how is it spent?
- Where does Save a Dog get its shelter and animal data?
- How can I add my own rescue group's dogs to the Save a Dog dog listings?
- Is there a limit as to how many animal suggestions we can send per day?
- I can't add a foster dog to my profile, and my current foster no longer shows up. Why is that?
- How do I become a fan of Save a Dog and DogTime on Facebook?
- Who is DogTime?
- What's the deal with this recruitment drive and how does it help me earn points?
- But what if I want to recruit people who aren't on Facebook?
- What is the Food for Five Recruitment Drive?
- I'd like all my Facebook friends to be able to see the animals I'm fostering. Is there a way to feature them on my profile page?
- Doesn't giving people the option to upload photos of their own dogs take the focus away from animals who really need our help?
- Just who can see my Save a Dog profile, write on my wall, and read my updates?
- My foster dog is now listed as adopted on Save a Dog but I did not receive my 250 points.
- My foster dog is listed as adopted on the shelter's website, or I called the shelter directly and they verified that my dog was adopted, but he or she is still listed as available on Save a Dog and I did not receive my 250 points.
- What is Save a Dog Shopping and when I shop through Save a Dog Shopping how are dogs helped?
- How quickly should I expect answers to technical questions/issues I send to editor@dogtime.com?
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Do the points I earn on Save a Dog translate into real donations for real dogs in need? How do the cups of food figure in?
Yes, your Save a Dog points become real dollars for shelter animals around the country.
Here’s specifically how it works: For every 2,500 points you earn, we donate the financial equivalent of a cup of food – about 15 cents – to our nonprofit partner, RescueGroups.org. This organization provides essential free and low-cost technology services to animal shelters and rescue groups nationwide. Thanks to RescueGroups.org, thousands of homeless animals get the crucial exposure they need to get adopted.
(For more information about RescueGroups.org – and their work in the rescue and shelter community since 2002 – check out their website and the testimonials from their members.)
For the purposes of playing the game, we use “cups of food” to represent these real monetary donations. To date, our users have earned tens of thousands of dollars for animals in need. (For the most current total, check the number on your Save a Dog or Save a Cat profile page in the “My Totals” column under Donations raised by members.)
DogTime.com, the makers of Save a Dog and Save a Cat, is committed to improving the lives of companion animals. Please check out all the ways we are making a difference:
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How do I earn points on Save a Dog?
Earning points is easy. All you have to do is join the Save a Dog application and then choose a particular action. Each time you take action, you earn points. Or in some cases, you earn points when someone else takes action.
For example, join the Save a Dog application and you automatically earn 100 points. Fostering a dog scores you 100 points and walking your dog scores you 25 points each day. Ask a friend to foster a dog - or co-foster yours - and that's another 100 points when they accept.
It's easy and fun, but the best part is it costs you nothing except a moment or two of your time. And, your actions help feed real dogs in real shelters.
A breakdown of all actions and their corresponding point values:
Log in to the app 25 points 1 per day Pet an animal 10 points 50 per day Virtually foster a rescue animal 100 points 2 per day Re-foster your current foster 100 points 1 per day Perform daily activity with your foster 25 points 2 per day Friend accepts your foster request 100 points Your foster leaves the shelter 250 points Install the application 100 points Foster request reminder 0 points Animal suggestion reminder 0 points Shelter volunteer invitation reminder 0 points Friend accepts your shelter volunteer invitation 25 points Become a fan of a shelter 25 points Volunteer at a shelter 25 points 1 per day Enter the sweepstakes 50 points Recruit a new user to install 100 points
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How do my visits to Save a Dog help save real shelter dogs?
For every 2,500 points you score, we donate the financial equivalent of a cup of food directly to animal shelters and rescues via monthly DogTime Grants, annual DogTime Grants, and the DogTime Media Pet Blogger Awards. We also work with RescueGroups.org, an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides essential technical services that allow rescues and shelters to post their pets on the Internet, thereby greatly increasing their chances of adoption.
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What are Rescue Friends?
Rescue Friends can be any of your fellow Facebook friends who use Save a Dog -- all you need to do is invite them to be on your Rescue Team. Having a Rescue Team is a great way to earn additional points.
For example, invite a Rescue Friend's foster dog to a play date and earn 25 points. You can send up to 6 invitations per day -- it's easy, fun, and a terrific way to help even more dogs in need.
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Where does the money DogTime donates come from?
The money comes from DogTime and its Save a Dog advertisers and publishing partners.
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Where is the money donated and how is it spent?
The money helps non-profit animal rescues and shelters nationwide. We donate directly to animal shelters and rescues via monthly DogTime Grants, annual DogTime Grants, and the DogTime Media Pet Blogger Awards. We also work with RescueGroups.org, an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides essential technical services that allow rescues and shelters to post their pets on the Internet, thereby greatly increasing their chances of adoption. Through donations, RescueGroups.org is able to provide its services free or at a low cost to animal welfare groups that could not otherwise afford them.
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Where does Save a Dog get its shelter and animal data?
Save a Dog gets its listings from RescueGroups.org, a nonprofit organization which provides data management and communication services to independent rescue groups across the U.S. Ultimately, shelter staff and volunteers – the individuals who manage these rescues – are responsible for creating and maintaining listings for their individual shelters. Please keep in mind: Rescue workers are often volunteers, busy people who hold down fulltime jobs while helping animals in their spare time. We ask for your understanding should you encounter any data that has become outdated. If you notice information that needs updating, we encourage you to visit http://www.rescuegroups.org/contact to report the error. We'll do our best to reach out to the rescue and request they make the required changes.
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How can I add my own rescue group's dogs to the Save a Dog dog listings?
All of our Save a Dog listings come from data that DogTime receives via RescueGroups.org. Visit their website to sign up for their free Pet Adoption Portal, Data Management, or Website service to begin listing adoptable dogs on Save a Dog.
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I can't add a foster dog to my profile, and my current foster no longer shows up. Why is that?
The Facebook administrators are doing away with the Facebook profile box. For easy access to Save a Dog, Bookmark us instead! Due to this change, you can no longer add your foster pets to your profile. If you currently have a foster pet showing on your profile, the points have stopped updating and the pet will soon disappear. You can read more about the Facebook administrators changes here: http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Roadmap_Profile
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Is there a limit as to how many animal suggestions we can send per day?
Yes, and that limit is 200. For example, you can send one dog to 200 people, 200 dogs to one person, or any combination in between. The reason for the cap? Anything higher than 200 tends to clog the system and can result in Facebook spam alerts.
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How do I become a fan of Save a Dog and DogTime on Facebook?
It's easy. To become a fan of Save a Dog, just go to the application page and click "become a fan" at the top of the page.
For DogTime, go to http://www.facebook.com/dogtime and click "become a fan" at the top of the page.
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Who is DogTime?
At DogTime.com, our mission is to keep pets out of shelters and in good homes by equipping novice and experienced owners alike with the information needed to make them, and their pets, very happy. Our parent company, DogTime Media, is the largest vertical media community focused exclusively on pet owners and the 50 billion dollar annual pet market spend. DogTime Media reaches 40.3 million monthly users via its community of pet-focused websites, pet bloggers, and rescue groups. So come find your wag at DogTime.com.
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What's the deal with this recruitment drive and how does it help me earn points?
Think of the recruitment drive as your very own points-earning bonanza, and therefore, an incredibly effective way to help animals in need. Here's how it works:
For every new installation of the Save a Dog application that can be traced back to you, you earn 100 points. (More in a second on how an installation is traced.)
On top of that, for every five new Save a Dog installations traced to you, you earn an additional 2,500 points. That's a total of 3,000 points after each time you recruit five new Save a Dog users!
So how exactly do you recruit new users? Very easily – and by doing things you already do:
- Send a co-foster request to a Facebook user who has never installed our application
- Invite an uninstalled user to foster an animal via the Send-to-Friend feature
- Invite an uninstalled Facebook friend to become a fan of a shelter
- Hang a poster of an animal on your wall so that your uninstalled friends will see it in their news feeds
When a Facebook Friend goes on to install the application after clicking on your request, invitation, or poster, you get the credit for recruiting a new user.
We know what you're thinking: Is it even possible to send requests to your non-rescue friends? Folks, for a limited time, yes – so take advantage of the opportunity. The more you promote your Save a Dog favorites, the more it pays.
Like all good things, this points-earning bonanza must eventually come to an end – so start recruiting! Together we can find homes for thousands of animals in need.
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But what if I want to recruit people who aren't on Facebook?
No problem.
Link (URL) Sharing is now an option on shelter pages, on individual animal pages, and from your Save a Dog profile page. When you click the sharing link that we've provided on these pages, a unique URL is created for that particular page. You can then paste that URL at just about any location outside of Facebook (email, blog sites, websites, etc.). When anyone who has yet to use our application clicks on that link and installs the application, you will get 100 points for recruiting a new user.
Please note: If you want to get points for the new users you recruit to the application, you must use the link sharing feature that we've provided in the body of the page. You will not get points if you use the address that you see in your browser's URL field because we have no way of tracking this URL back to you!
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What is the Food for Five Recruitment Drive?
It's the fastest way to earn a bunch of points... and therefore help a lot of animals. Here's how it works: For every new user you recruit to install the Save a Dog application, you earn 100 points. And for every five new Save a Dog users you recruit, you earn an additional 2,500 points.
This is a limited time opportunity. When you see the Food for Five logo right below the navigation bar the program is available, so act fast!
So how exactly do you recruit new users? Very easily – and by doing things you already do:
- Send a co-foster request to any Facebook user who has never installed our application
- Invite a non-Save a Dog user to foster a dog via the Send-to-Friend feature
- Invite a non-Save a Dog user to foster a dog via the Co-foster feature
- Invite a non-Save a Dog user to become a fan of a shelter
- Hang a poster of a dog on your wall
For every five friends who install Save a Dog – per one of your suggestions (above) – you earn an additional 2,500 points!
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I'd like all my Facebook friends to be able to see the animals I'm fostering. Is there a way to feature them on my profile page?
Yep, it's easy – all you need to do is create a new "tab." Here's how:
- Go to your profile page, where you'll see the row of navigation tabs ("wall," "info," "photos," etc.) right under your name.
- Click that last tab – the plus sign – and a drop down menu will appear.
- In the search bar at the bottom, type in Save a Dog and select it by hitting "enter" or "return."
Voila – all your Save a Dog info, including images of your foster animals, will appear there, visible to your Facebook friends.
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Doesn't giving people the option to upload photos of their own dogs take the focus away from animals who really need our help?
Our goal in allowing users to post profiles of their own pets is to entice even more people to use the Save a Dog application, and therefore, help an even greater number of homeless dogs and cats. The focus of the app will continue to be generating awareness around shelter animals, and opportunities to earn points will remain exclusive to activities involving foster animals (walking, arranging playdates, etc.). But by allowing proud pet parents to show off their own dogs and cats, our hope is to increase exposure for the shelter animals who are sitting right there beside them on their Save a Dog profile page.
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Just who can see my Save a Dog profile, write on my wall, and read my updates?
Any Facebook friend who has installed the Save a Dog application can see your Save a Dog profile, including your update wall. Only your Rescue Friends, however, are able to write on your wall, accept playdate and co-foster requests, or participate in any other point-generating activities.
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My foster dog is now listed as adopted on Save a Dog but I did not receive my 250 points.
Often, shelters will mark a pet as adopted but leave the dog on their available pet list so that anyone interested will know that he or she has found a home. The shelter usually removes the pet from the list within a week or so of adoption. When a shelter notifies our listing partner, RescueGroups.org, and removes the pet from their available listings, you receive the 250 points.
If your foster dog is listed as adopted but not removed from the adoptable pet list after a week, please send an email to us at editor@dogtime.com with a link to the pet's profile page on Save a Dog. We will contact RescueGroups.org who will contact the shelter and ask them to remove the pet from their list.
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My foster dog is listed as adopted on the shelter's website, or I called the shelter directly and they verified that my dog was adopted, but he or she is still listed as available on Save a Dog and I did not receive my 250 points.
If you see your foster dog listed as adopted on the shelter's website or, if you have verified in another way that he or she has been adopted but is still listed as available on Save a Dog, please send an email to us at editor@dogtime.com, let us know how you learned of the adoption and please include a link to the pet's profile page on Save a Dog. We will contact RescueGroups.org who will contact the shelter and ask them to remove the pet from their list.
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What is Save a Dog Shopping and when I shop through Save a Dog Shopping how are dogs helped?
We are very excited to introduce Save a Dog Shopping. For more detailed information (CLICK HERE)
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How quickly should I expect answers to technical questions/issues I send to editor@dogtime.com?
Save a Dog and Save a Cat customer service representatives answer emails between 9 am and 5 pm PT Monday through Friday. We strive to respond to all messages within 48 hours of receipt. Your patience is greatly appreciated.