Tech Stuff Tuesday * Walk Your Dog and Save Another

You guys know how much I love our dogs. From the crazy every three week process of making the black lab's dog food to all of the drama with the red dog this summer and his "happy tail" issues (he's all better and back to his typical crazy antics now, by the way). And everything in between. The girls' Irish Setter is goofy and crazy (and often naughty) and my lab is like my kid.

So when a friend posted on Facebook that there's an app out there where I can make money for a local animal shelter just by walking Lark and Smitty, which I do every day, I was downloading it faster than you can say lamb hearts (this will only be funny to those of you that have read about the homemade dog food extravaganza. That's a not so subtle hint to go read that post). 

I headed to iTunes and downloaded WalkForADog by Wooftrax right then and there. I set it up with the names of the dogs, their breeds and ages and it automatically found the nearest shelter (which some neighbors also volunteer at, so I'm pleased with the choice. What I'm not sure about is if you can choose which shelter gets the money if you don't like their choice). And then we headed out for a walk.

When we stepped out the door, I opened the app and hit "Start Walking for Saving Grace Animals for Adoption" (SG is our local shelter) and off we went. When I was done, I opened the app and hit stop. And when Lark decided midway through our walk that she needed to pee for the 4th time (she likes to mark her path - it's her version of leaving breadcrumbs in case she gets lost, I think), I just opened the app and hit pause and then resume once we were back on our way. 

The app tracks your walk (the actual GPS path you took), how far you walked, how fast and how long it took you. And while it doesn't tell me how much we earned for Saving Grace (are you listening app developers? This would be awesome info to have) it does tell me under the about tab that I've walked a total of four times so far, for a total of 12.1 miles and that as of today, 56 people have walked 625 times for a total of 1025.7 miles for Saving Grace. And when they send SG a donation (which happens about twice a year), they'll send me an email and post it to their Facebook page, so I know the money is on the way.

I love that by doing something good for myself and my dogs, I'm helping other pets that have yet to find their forever homes. And that I can have a piece of chocolate when I get home as a reward (not for using the app but for burning the calories chasing after the red dog). Two rewards in one! 

If you have dogs, go download the app and use it. If you don't, tell someone you know that has dogs about it. You're out nothing (the app is free) and you can help save lives.  You're totally welcome.