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Doggone is an innovative and sustainable technology-based solution for the quick and safe reuniting of you and your dog.

Doggone offers the best of both worlds – App-based reuniting technology and SMS (text) technology. The Bluetooth chip in every Doggone tag is programmed to connect with the GPS capability on any phone nearby that has the Doggone App installed. This enables the GPS on that phone to be used to create a location point for the sighting of your dog – these sightings are then sent anonymously and encrypted from that device.
In addition, the SMS technology enables all members of the community to immediately help reunite a lost dog with its owner by simply free-texting the dog’s registration number to 4133.

We are working with Councils around New Zealand to integrate Doggone into the annual dog registration process, to add greater value for you, and even greater safety for your dog.

Register your interest with Doggone + Your Council

How it works

Doggone’s innovative IT-based solution has been specifically designed to help reunite dog owners with their lost dogs – quickly, efficiently and safely.

For dog owners whose Council is partnering with Doggone, you can upgrade to a Doggone Bluetooth registration tag, either at the time of registering your dog or any time during a dog registration year. Your Doggone registration tag will be your dog’s official Council registration tag.

Once you’ve received the Doggone Bluetooth registration tag, you create a Virtual ID profile for your dog in the App.  This ensures that all sightings of your dog are recorded, and visible to you as the dog’s owner, in your dog’s Location History in the App.

The Doggone Bluetooth tag acts as a beacon, sending out multiple signals every second, looking for any nearby phones with the Doggone app installed.  Whenever a dog wearing a Doggone tag comes within 60 metres of a phone that has the Doggone app installed, the tag will be ‘discovered’ by the App and will automatically record a sighting of the tag using the phone’s GPS.  The sighting shows the location of the phone at the time the tag and the App interacted.  Every sighting is date and time stamped. The sighting is only ever visible in the dog owner’s app and never on the phone that created the sighting.  All sightings made by other devices are sent anonymously and encrypted.

You can use the App to mark your dog as missing and you’ll receive real-time notifications of all new sightings of your dog – providing a bread crumb trail for your dog every time it passes a phone with the Doggone app installed. If you mark your dog as missing on the App your local animal control team will be notified, so that they too, can help quickly reunite you with your dog.

If someone in the wider community who has the Doggone app on their phone sees your dog out wandering alone, they can quickly and easily mark your dog as wandering on their phone and you will receive a real-time notification of its location. In addition to this, every Doggone registration tag has a unique registration number printed on it, so anyone who finds your dog can access your emergency contact number by texting your dog’s registration number to Doggone’s free-text service, 4133.

Creating your Dog’s Virtual ID Profile

A virtual ID is simply an ID that is stored in the Cloud – as opposed to written down somewhere.

Your dog’s virtual ID profile is created by you, its owner, and is stored by Doggone in the Cloud. When creating your dog’s ID profile, you simply enter information about your dog that would help you be reunited with them. Some of the fields within the profile are mandatory (e.g. dog’s name, owner’s phone number).

You can update your contact details and/or your dog’s details at any time on the Doggone App. Updated information is live immediately.

If you have a need to remain anonymous, or if you don’t have a cell phone, you can nominate an alternate contact on your dog’s profile, or opt to select your local Council animal shelter.

No member of the public has access to any information about your dog or its location, other than you. Your dog’s virtual ID is password protected to ensure your privacy and security of information.

Doggone is fully compliant with the Privacy Act.

 

The Hardware

Every tag contains a Bluetooth chip which allows it to connect with the Doggone app on nearby phones that have the App installed, via Bluetooth.  The tag does not need to be synced with the owner’s phone. Doggone uses iBeacon, which is compatible with both iPhone and Android technologies.

The Doggone tag is lightweight and robust, with a toughened outer casing and a UV coating. The tags are water resistant to iPX7 standard, and do not require battery replacement – they are designed to last the full 12 months of the dog registration period. The Doggone tag uses Smart Bluetooth 4.2 (low energy) which means it’s safe for your dog to wear.

Participating Councils will give you the option of having a standard plastic dog registration tag or a Doggone Bluetooth registration tag as your official tag. The tags are coloured to comply with the Dog Control Act colour specifications. You need to opt for the Doggone Bluetooth tag when completing your dog registration and it will be sent to you once your registration is complete. Councils may choose to charge a fee for the Bluetooth registration tag additional to the standard dog registration fee for that Council.

The dog’s unique registration number, expiry date, and the corresponding Council and Council’s phone number are printed on one side of the tag.  On the other side of the tag is a message to free-text your dog’s registration number to Doggone’s free text service, 4133, if your dog looks lost.  By doing so, the emergency contact phone number that has been nominated by the dog’s owner is immediately made available via return text message.

The Doggone Bluetooth registration tag links with your dog’s Virtual ID profile created as part of activating the Doggone service. You will need to include your emergency contact number in this profile so that if someone uses the free 4133-text service to help reunite you and your dog, your nominated contact phone number is available to be shared by return text.

The Free Doggone App

The Doggone app is free and very simple to use.  It doesn’t need to be open on your phone to work, so it’s not constantly drawing on your phone data or battery life.

Bluetooth and location permissions do, however, need to be enabled in both your phone’s settings and in the Doggone app to ensure that you get the optimum number of location sightings of your dog and receive any information about your lost or wandering dog. This will also allow your App to create location sightings for other dogs which could in turn assist that dog’s owner in finding their lost dog. All sightings made are sent anonymously and are encrypted, whether they are generated by your phone or someone else’s phone.

The Doggone app is available for anyone to download – dog owner or not.  Simply by having the App downloaded, anyone can passively help owners be reunited with their lost dogs.  The App discovers any nearby Doggone tags and creates a sighting for that tag.  If an App user wants to use the ‘Report a Wandering Dog’ feature, they will need to register an account with Doggone, which is very quick and easy and simply involves entering their email address and creating a password.

Some of the things you can do with the Doggone app include:

  • View all of your dogs within the App.
  • See a location history for your dog(s); displayed in chronological order.
  • Mark your dog as ‘missing’. When you mark your dog as missing, your local animal control team will be notified so that they can help you look for your dog too.
  • Mark your dog as found once you are reunited.
  • Mark someone else’s dog as ‘wandering’ if you see a dog out and it is clearly alone.
  • Update any information about your dog.
  • Update your contact details.

Download the App for free

1

Open the App Store (Apple) for iPhones (iOS)
or Play Store (Google) for Android

2

Search “Doggone reuniting dogs”

3

Tap to install the App:
Get (Apple)
Install (Android)

Free text service

Anyone can use Doggone’s free 4133 text service to help reunite a dog with its owner – whether they have the Doggone app on their phone or not.  By simply texting the six digit registration number that is displayed on a dog’s Doggone registration tag, to 4133, they will immediately receive the emergency contact number for the dog’s owner by return text.  This number will be nominated by the dog’s owner when they set up their dog’s Virtual ID profile.

'Report a Wandering Dog’ feature

Anyone with the Doggone app on their phone can use the ‘Report a Wandering Dog’ feature to help reunite you with your dog.

By tapping on the ‘Report Dog’ button, and then selecting the ’Someone Else’s’ button, a photo of all dogs within 60 metres that are wearing a Doggone Bluetooth registration tag will be displayed.  Simply identify the wandering dog from the photos displayed and a notification will be sent to that dog’s owner alerting them that their dog is out wandering alone.  The animal management team at Council will also be notified so that they can assist if required.

If a photo of the wandering dog does not appear, it’s either because the dog is not wearing a Doggone registration tag or its owner has not yet created a profile for the dog in the App.

This is one of the many unique features of Doggone and in addition to patent pending for the Doggone service, this specific innovation also has a patent pending status.

Never say never

Avoid the anxiety that comes with losing your dog

Anything that has a dog’s welfare at heart is a friend of ours. And like good friends do, we like to spread the word when someone needs some help.

 

Did you know that SPCA receives almost no government funding? Everything SPCA does depends on the generosity of caring New Zealanders.

It costs over $40 million a year to take care of the more than 40,000 animals that need SPCA help each year. Donations help SPCA rescue, rehabilitate and re-home thousands of animals in need every year.

If you would like to help please donate here https://www.spca.nz/donate/donate-now