Just being able to get in contact with other local dog walkers before you bump into them has got to be a hugely beneficial thing, though. With certain breeds, it might not be easy to tell individual dogs apart, but in my experience, dogs that need more space/consideration tend to be rescues and rescues are slightly more likely to be crossbreeds (at least in the UK, pedigrees in rescues aren't as common). It would be nice to not have to explain to everyone I meet that my dog isn't aggressive, but is nervous and has really hit and miss reactions to dogs his size
I absolutely agree about Android users. Given the phone model availability of Android vs iPhone, I assume there are far more people with Android phones, so to make the app effective, it needs to be available for Android, as well.
@mcl123 I think it’s a good idea, and I think that people on our local dog owners Facebook page would really get some benefit out of an app like this, whether it’s from getting an advanced warning about a dog that might not be friendly/needs space, or if there are dogs at the park that are happy to play with yours.
On the other hand, I think there would be people who take advantage. As anyone can see exactly where you are on the map, as well as what breed of dog you own, this could be attractive to dognappers. I’d just be worried about broadcasting my location due to that.
@amazinglord123 Good spot. User are sharing their location only when they tap "Walk mode", after tapping it again to "Sit mode" even I as owner of database don't have any information of user location and even historical location as it is delated after user tap "sit". Collecting data is not my goal here. And of course user don't have to set Breed of his dog/
@mcl123 Maybe if there was an option to not make your information public. When someone sees a private dog on the app, it just shows the mood of the dog and no additional information.
Further down the road you could even add a Friends list so that your friends can see you walking your dog and all its information, but non-friends only see what information the user decides to make public.
Edit: BTW, I want to say that I love the idea of the app and I would be happy to be a beta tester for Android when it is ready enough to test.
@mcl123 That’s a good point. Is there a set radius on how far you can view dogs around you? Just to discourage unsavoury people from scoping out dogs to target from a distance.
Also, the mood indicators might need a little revising. Because if I see someone whose dog has “You pull the knife, I pull the gun” as their dog’s mood, you best believe I’m getting the hell out of that park
It would also be really cool if you could write your own little description of your dog to be displayed to other owners, like “Sorry, my dog is reactive towards big dogs!”, “My dog is currently recovering from surgery and needs space”, “My dog does not get on well with unneutered male dogs” etc. so it gives a bit more reasoning behind why the dog needs to be approached with caution.
@amazinglord123 I would be much more likely to use something like you suggest, an app to show dogs that want to play. Does something like that exist already? I want something like bumble bff for dogs and their owners, haha. I’m in a new area and neither my dog nor I have friends!
@mcl123 You could accomplish a better analogue version of this by getting all dogs to wear color coded collars.
Your app would require EVERY dog owner to register. Impossible feat.
Most dangerous dog owners do not think their dogs are dangerous. They would probably put him under "friendly".
If it's about users reporting other dangerous dogs and their location, that dangerous dog would be gone within minutes of the report.
Great on you to think of dog safety and as a small dog owner, I recognize the dangers that you are trying to address BUT it would be impossible to get every dog to register so the app would always be operating with the assumption that every dog is accounted for.
Maybe tweak the app for play dates. I find it impossible to find dog dates for mine because he is freaked out by most dogs and often barks at them. Most owners get offended when you tell them to be careful of your dog. I wish someone would address this.
@justsmile535 Maybe something where people set when they are going out for a walk and the planned route/area. Less precise but can give an idea if lots of dogs are out for a walk. Still needs more people to work better, but I could see there being ways to make user incentive. Like a map showing all the different routes you've taken.
@justsmile535 I think collars is hard—one, some dogs (like mine) are both small and scruffy enough that no one is going to be able to see his collar's color until they're within about 5ft of him, and two, some dogs are so reactive that seeing a dog a hundred feet away is going to set them off. If this app could work ideally, it would be really nice. But I do think it would be hard to attract enough dog owners to use it to actually make it helpful.
@timofey Same here. Loves people, needs lots of space with other dogs. And some people just don’t understand that. “Oh it’s fine! He can be near my dog.” No. He can’t. I’m trying to responsible here.
This would work well for me if a lot of people used it.
@mcl123 I have an android so I can't test it out, but I like this a lot if it has a notification feature especially. I don't want to have to be watching my phone to see if a dog pops up on the map ahead, so something where you can set a radius and as you're walking if a dog (or only dogs of a certain mood) enters that radius you get a notification that warns you. That would be an awesome resource for those with reactive dogs to help plan for/avoid interactions.
@cidalia A lot of people has really nice ideas like you and believe me I would me more that happy to implement that, but I said I'm alone here and this is "after hours" project, so things needs time :/