This is the preferred format when submitting profile information (text) and pictures for posting a dog on Petfinder or the All Border Collie Rescue website:

 

Please remember we are promoting the dog. The quality and quantity of information that you provide will be the determining factor in finding them a good, loving home.

 

The profile should be a .doc (Microsoft Word), .docx (Microsoft Word) file attached to the email. The profile should not be copied (cut and pasted) to the body text of an email. The profile should not be written on a smart phone where it is forwarded from person to person (this adds extra characters and carriage returns to the text that must be removed). The main problem we would like to avoid is lack of formatting (especially word-wrap) with text that is copied in the body of an email; written on a smart phone; or created on software like Notepad.

 

Information required for the dog’s profile:

 

• Name

• Sex (male or female)

• Approximate age

• Approximate weight

• Description of coat (color and length)

• Activity level (i.e. companion, active companion, sports competitor, active puppy, etc.)

 

Information that should/could be included in the profile (use as a guide when writing the profile):

 

• Do we have any information on the dog’s history? Where did the dog come from geographically? Was the dog an owner surrender, stray, or puppy mill dog? If the dog was an owner surrender, do we know the reason for surrender? Is the dog pure bred with papers? If there is something interesting in the “shelter story”, by all means write about it. (There is nothing wrong with tugging at the old heart strings went advocating for a dog.)

• Information on the health status of the dog. Is the dog up to date on all require vaccinations? Medications being taken and for what ailments.  Current on what preventative medications (i.e. heartworm , flea & tick, etc.) Any known deformities or defects. Conditions the dog had that have been treated and the extent of treatment and any lasting effects the dog may have. Is the dog on a diet or a weight gaining regimen?

• Mention the interaction the dog has with other dogs, children, adults, cats, etc. Be specific if the dog has problems with men or tends to chase after (herd) children. Is the dog Alpha? Does it need to be an only dog? Would the dog be trustworthy with only a certain age group of children?

• What training has the dog had (if any)? Is the dog house broken, crate trained, etc? Has the dog any basic obedience, agility, flyball training or experience? What commands does the dog know and respond to? (i.e. sit, stay, come, kennel, potty, etc.)

• What activities does the dog enjoy participating in? Does he have ball drive, play fetch? Does he know how to swim and like swimming with other dogs in pond or pool? Is the dog a couch potato? Does the dog have an off switch?

• Include contact information. Include any links to Shutterfly or Facebook pages created for the dog. Include links to videos of the dog (see requirements below).

• A clever and charming first person biography story telling is not necessary. Some applicants actually don’t like or appreciate this and, if done, should not detract from the importance of the preceding six items in this guideline. 

 

About Pictures:

 

We need a minimum of two good pictures of the dog, a head shot and a full body shot. More pictures are always better, but 6 would be the max we could or would use. Please consider the following when submitting pictures:

 

• Pictures need to be in .jpg format.

• Picture’s file size should be between approximately 80k and 200k (We can reduce larger sizes but we can’t make small pictures bigger). If you don’t know how to reduce the size of a picture, it’s OK we can easily take care of it.

• Pictures should be in focus and for best results taken outdoors with the sun behind the photographer. The best lighting for outdoor pictures is generally an hour or two after sunrise or before sunset (the golden time). Whether taking pictures indoors or outdoors pay attention to the white balance setting on the camera (used to color correct pictures taken in fluorescent lighting, incandescent lighting, cloudy skies or bright sunlight). If using a flash check to see if the camera has a red eye reduction feature and use it. We can and do Photoshop pictures but this is time consuming and the results are still very dependent on the original we have to work with.

• If you have a digital camera, please use it. If a cell phone is all you have, it will have to be OK. we realize the camera in a cell phone is a convenience but the picture quality is poor and the flash capabilities horrible. The cell phone pictures we get are generally out of focus and, if taken indoors with a flash, dark and colorless. So, if you must use a cell phone, at least take the pictures outdoors.

• Do not submit pictures with watermarks or copyright notices. We don’t want to get into legal squabbles so, unless we have the photographer’s written permission, we will not use them.

 

Videos of the dog should be downloaded to a third party website like Youtube, Vimeo, etc. Provide the links to the video in the profile and we will verify and link to them. 

 

Please note that we reserve the right to edit the profile and pictures as necessary for the promotion of the dog on our website.

 

Examples of Profiles may be found under our Available Dogs section of the website Here.

 

Submittals may be made to abcr.webmaster@gmail.com