One of the most important tools BROOD uses in finding homes for our dogs is the BROOD website - the dog pages. It is up to the foster home to see that the information on the website is accurate, truthful, and brings the dog "alive" to the reader. It is through the website that prospective owners first get to meet the dog. So to help your foster dog find the perfect home, we need you to do the following:
1. Fill in the foster dog report (or ORD form). Be accurate and complete, and do this as soon as you have a chance to evaluate the dog (Usually 2 weeks). The dog will not be listed on the website until you have had them for 2 weeks. ORD's can go up as soon as the paperwork is in.
2. Submit updated foster dog reports if anything from an earlier report needs to be changed or you wish to add more information.
3. If you feel that you can write a good "colorful" story about your dog, write it in the last section of the foster dog report - "Other Comments".
4. Send GOOD pictures of the dogs. It is no big surprise that a prospective owner wants to see what the dog looks like. See the section below on sending dog pictures.
5. Check the website every few weeks, to see if you are still happy with the pictures, and what is being said about your dog.
How to take a good picture (Please check out the examples).
1. Put yourself on the same level as the dog. The only exception should be if you want to show something special about the dog, such as showing the dog's "figure", whether it be overly thin, or obesity. NEVER stand over the dog and take a picture looking down at the dog. You get red eye and a horrible picture.
2. Take 3 or 4 different poses.
3. Make sure you have good lighting, or take the dog outside. If using a Polaroid camera, go outside, the quality of most indoor Polaroids is very poor.
4. Get help if the dog will not hold still, hold the camera still. An out of focus picture draws attention to the poor quality of the picture, rather than to the attributes of the dog.
5. Do not have other dogs in the picture, unless it is a "duo" that is to be placed together.
6. Try to eliminate "red eye", by having the flash point slightly away from the dog's eyes.
7. If you are sending me the photo, via snail mail be sure to enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope if you want the pictures back. For my address, contact me.
1. Check the size of the file you are sending, try to crop it to under 50K. If at all possible. The picture coming directly out of your camera is very large, try to crop it prior to sending.
2. Give the file a meaningful name, such as fido999-1.jpg. Do NOT use the camera generated name, example: DCP00123.jpg. Do a "rename" on all camera generated names. If you know the dog's ID number, use it in the file name. We frequently have dogs with the same name at the same time on the web page. Use lower case when naming files.
3. Crop the picture, so that only the dog is in the picture. This helps to further reduce the size of the file
4. Send only as an attachment, do NOT embed in the email message.
5. If unsure that you are doing it right, send a test message with a single file attached. My email is: 12dogpictures@brood-va.org.
6. Save the file in .jpg format. Most digital cameras do this automatically.
7. You may compress the files into one zip file, and send it as an attachment.
8. You may send me more than one attachment at a time.
9. You pick out the best photos. Do not send me a dozen photos and tell me to use the best.
1. Scan the picture at 72 dpi.
2. Format of the web is jpg. Save the image as a jpg file.
3. Scan just the dog, not the whole picture.
4. Remember to give the scanned file a meaningful name, try to use Dog ID number in file name, if you know it.
Please look at the examples I have included.
Updated 02/14/07