You may have heard about or will soon hear about the new app for FINDING LOST DOGS. Below is the most comprehensive report on the "Finding Rover app" that I was able to find on the Internet. It includes a video that explains how to take the photos and how the app works, etc.
Finding Rover app tracks lost dogs using facial recognitionhttp://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57598576-94/finding-rover-app-tracks-lost-dogs-using-facial-recognition/
POSITIVES ARE:
1. Currently the app is free
2. The app is expected to be available for Android and Web versions in a few months.
3. The app is expected to be useful for cats in the future in the "Finding Kitty" version
4. If the photo is good enough there is supposed to be a 98% accuracy rate for facial recognition. There is a bark button to help get the dogs attention.
5. The owners of the app John Polimeno and his wife Kristie are traveling the country now to inform people of the new app in the hope that the numbers of users will be significant enough to make this app useful.
DRAWBACKS ARE:
1. This app is currently available only for use with an iPhone so that cuts down significantly on the number of pet owners that will be using the system.
2. This app is currently useful only for dogs
3. Facial Recognition is the mechanism used for identification that is expected to differentiate one dog from all others through eye shape and fur color but the dog has to look straight at the camera for a close up and the photo has to be very well lit. Once a dog's photo is displayed on the screen of the iPhone the owner can focus circles around the eyes and a triangle around the nose to enhance facial recognition. This process may be especially difficult for people who have found dogs that may not be willing to sit still for a good, clear, well lit, close up photo, however the video on the link above says a photo from a distance can be used too.
4. This system is only effective if there are enough subscribers in all areas where is it being used that will be on the lookout for a lost dog. The app is applied to 10 mile radius areas and neighboring areas are said to also be available.
The only Customer Reviews we found so far said this: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/finding-rover/id669691504?mt=8
Finding Rover
by Beachy1c1
The app wouldn't be bad, but after I used my email to log in I started getting all this spam email !! Then my email got hacked and I had to change my password ! Nice going idiots ! I'm deleting it ! Would have been a great idea !
Please fix it!
by Nanceapotamus
This is a great idea, but just freezes every time I open it. Please fix it.
ADD PITBULL
by READ MINE!!!!!
Why the heck is pitbull not a breed option
More about the app and it's inventors at:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/east-county-times/ci_23763535/discovery-bay-couple-invent-app-that-helps-pet
The FINDING ROVER web site to download the app is http://findingrover.com/
Our opinion is this app appears to be very well intentioned and although too "exclusive" to be really useful to date appears to have potential for being more "inclusive" in the future related to a future application for cats and for android and web versions. We suggest that since it is free, if you are an iPhone user, give it a try to see what you think and maybe help get any bugs out, because building an huge audience for this is the only way it can become truly useful. If you try it let us know what you think.
Until use of this app becomes wide spread the very best way to get your lost dog back quickly is:
1. THE BEST MECHANISM right now and the easiest for the return of a Lost Dog is one of those little metal ID tags sold in pet stores that is engraved with your dogs name and your phone # attached securely to your dog's collar. If you don't have a tag like this on your dog, or if the tag you do have contains outdated information, run out today and make sure you have a tag with current information on your dog by tonight because This Actually Works Right Away.
2. The 2nd Best Mechanism is the microchip ID that can be scanned by any Veterinarian or Animal Control Officer, but keep the paper work for the chip handy because the information on these chips must be kept updated if you change your address or phone number. This can't be seen by your neighbors to enable immediate return of your dog but is necessary for Animal Shelter returns and provides information if the ID tag on your pet's collar becomes detached.
3. The 3rd Best Mechanism is to have a central source in your area, such as a person at your HOA or a person in your City Government or a Volunteer Group in your community such as The South County Animal Shelter Coalition in Laguna Hills that will widely circulate Lost and Found Pet e-mails in your community. All you need to do for this system to work is provide your name and e-mail address and notify the central person by e-mail of any Lost or Found pets of any kind including a description of the pet, where it was found and your name and a phone # where you can be reached. Be sure to tell all your friends with pets about this as well because this is another system that needs wide-spread circulation to be effective.
*** Please be aware that no ID system will take the place of a good animal shelter which is something that Laguna Hills does not have. Laguna Hills shares the 72 year old, high kill, overcrowded Orange County Shelter, 20 miles away. We have been promised for many years that a new Orange County Shelter would be built but we were also told the high kill mentality would not change and with the growth of the population and the overpopulation of unwanted pets a new larger shelter would soon be overcrowded as well. In 2005 our city council refused to allow us to share the Mission Viejo Animal Shelter claiming that it was too expensive but since that time we have learned that the residents of Mission Viejo, Laguna Niguel and Aliso Viejo are paying less at the Mission Viejo shelter than we are paying at the Orange County Shelter. See details at Laguna Hills Watch Dog lhwatchdog.blogspot.com/ in the April 23, 2013 blog under Presentations and Proclamations and August 27, 2013 under Items Pulled from the Warrant Register. Contact Laguna Hills City Council Members at - ccouncil@ci.laguna-hills.ca.us for better Animal Shelter services for Laguna Hills.
Jean Bland, South County Animal Shelter Coalition - http://scasc1.blogspot.com/
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