FAQ

Spotwag is your alternative to kennels and pet hotels.

Spotwag turns your social network into a support network, making it as easy to coordinate pet sitting from friends as it is to call a professional. Never again feel pressure to leave your pet with a stranger. Spotwag makes asking for help, or offering it easy for everyone.

We exist for anyone that’s ever said “I wish someone could help me...”

Have a date night!
Andrew uses Spotwag to enjoy the occasional evening out with his wife, away from doggie duty responsibilities.

Travel more!
Lori uses Spotwag to escape the grind of 9-5, exploring new territories while her dog comfortably catches up on his slumber.

Share the love!
Caroline uses Spotwag to connect with friends that own pets, because she can then enjoy the benefits of pet ownership herself without the same long-term commitment.

Do a good deed!
Karl joined Spotwag to help his friends with their dog when they travel. He does it to be helpful, but he also secretly wants a dog... just don’t tell his wife. ;)

Try before you buy!
Danielle uses Spotwag to give her daughters a taste of responsibility, and to see whether they can care for a pet long-term, before they adopt one of their own.

It's FREE! We believe in the value we're providing so much that we want to share it with every pet owner we can! No one should miss out!

We have some unique ideas around making money, but we will never outright sell your data or sacrifice your experience—every idea we have would actually add to your overall experience and benefit from using Spotwag. Rest assured, as dog owners ourselves, we have your best interests at heart, and we believe in the strength of this community!

Sign up! After that, it’s up to you—if you have an immediate need for some help, add your pet’s important details (note: we only require a name to get started, but we know your friends LOVE a good story), schedule a request and share with friends. You’ll probably be surprised by how many of your friends WANT to help.

If you don’t have an immediate need, update your pet’s profile and share with some friends to see who would be interested the next time you need help.

Or, if you don’t have a pet but want to watch others’ pets—update your profile, and share away! Let your friends know you’re dying to have a pet around.

Click the sign up button from the homepage, it’s free and takes less than 30-seconds. We use Facebook Connect to make it as simple as possible. We’re working on sign up via email as you read this, so if you do not have Facebook, or prefer an alternative, you can always leave your email address for us to notify you as soon as this alternative is available.

For now, yes. We will offer sign ups via email shortly. Note: We will NOT post to your Facebook wall without your permission. We aim to remove the “awkward” from asking for help. Most people do not ask strangers for help—they ask friends, family and others they trust. And that’s why we’ve integrated with Facebook. We know that many of the people you trust are already there, in your social network.

We use Facebook to make sign up and login easy, NOT to grab a bunch of your data. We collect your name, profile photo, email address, gender and location from Facebook. No more. And we NEVER collect, nor want, access to your login credentials.

Once you sign up, you will be asked to confirm your email address—this address is drawn direct from your Facebook profile. Later, if this address changes or you want to use an alternative, go to your Spotwag profile page, and select edit profile near the top of the page. You can update all contact details here.

On your profile page, select edit profile, and you will see options to update your notification preferences. We take particular care only to contact you with things we believe you’ll want to see, but we understand how daunting email can be, so absolutely customize to fit your tastes.

Awww... bummer. We know it’s not all kittens, puppies and bunny rabbits, but surely there’s something for everyone.

If not, we won’t hold it against you. Deactivating your account is simple. On your profile page, select edit profile, and you will see at the bottom of the page a button to deactivate your account. Once you confirm, a kitten loses its whiskers. Err... no, I mean we won’t contact you any more.

When someone is in need of help, they will create a request with details for what they need. All of these requests are visible from your Spotwag dashboard. You may offer help directly from your dashboard, or when viewing a particular request.

Funny but true, a pet is often more popular than its owner. Offers allow pet owners to weigh their options before settling on a plan that works best for them. Just because you’re willing to drive 50-miles one-way to hang with someone’s pet, that pet owner may feel bad putting you in that position.

Once you offer to help, the pet owner is given the option to ‘Accept’ or ‘Decline’ your offer. We’re not going to say it’s a popularity contest, but yeah... it’s kind of a popularity contest. Well, maybe more of a trust contest in this case—who has the right combination of trust, skill with pets and all-around winning attitude that I’m looking for, and who can I inconvenience the least?

If you’re not chosen to help, don’t sweat it! There are plenty of other fish in the fish bowl or puppies in the neighborhood or whatever cliche you want me to quote here. And you can always contact your pet owner friends about taking their pet for a weekend, no need to wait around for them to ask for help.

I like how you think. Short answer: Not yet. We want to make your social network stronger, and we know that your Facebook network and your everyday network are not always the same. So, while we only allow your Facebook friends to respond to your requests currently, we have big plans to expand this network so you can coordinate with friends of friends, your current dog walker, your neighbor lady and number of others you trust.

Every request page has a public comments section where anyone can comment or leave a note for the pet owner. When leaving a comment, you may also select the box for “Post to Facebook,” which will post your comment both to the request page, and also back to the original link shared on Facebook. This should make it easy to continue the conversation wherever it works for you.

As soon as you accept an offer for help, a private discussion section will be unlocked on your request page. Only those people you have accepted offers from will be able to view this private discussion, so you can share any last minute or personal details related to your request. For example, “the key is under the mat, I’ll leave a light on,” etc.

It’s almost like we’re the same person! We had this idea too. We know that finding a trusted professional that meets your needs is not always easy, nor fun. But it’s also necessary sometimes. We have a few unique ideas on how this could be way better, so stay tuned.

Aww shucks... The best way to show your love is to share our site with friends. And if you want to go the extra mile, drop us an email, Tweet us, or leave a comment on our Facebook page. We also like high-fives if you catch us in person!

Send us an email! fetch@spotwag.com