Last summer we adopted a companion for our dog, Soul. He’s very social, but at home he was just existing between walks.
Finding the right dog for our family took us about 2 years.
We first checked Finnish associations that rescue abroad since Finland has no street dogs, and this is where we live. We were mostly rejected or ghosted, probably because cats plus a dog made us a “difficult case”. The two that said yes shared little to no health information and asked for €800 to fly the dog in cargo or ship them for 5 days in a truck with 30 other dogs, with no breaks outside.
Cargo or a 5-day truck kennel. No. There was no way we were going to say yes to that.
So I searched myself: months of research, an Excel tracker and AI as a copilot, shelter visits around Barcelona (where I’m from), and meetings with Soul. The first match failed at the first meeting. In the end, the right fit wasn’t the black middle-aged dog I fell in love with, but a puppy who was totally fine around cats and wanted to be besties with Ona (my parents’ dog) and Soul.
Today I read about Patitas&Co, a new Tinder-style adoption app from Spain. The idea isn’t new: BarkBuddy from BARK pioneered it in 2014, and Petfinader (US), GetPet (LIT), Empethy (IT), Paaw (FR) and Only Rescues (UK) have tried since. And there are probably many more.
Spain also has Bambú Difusión, a directory of shelters across the country. Still, the research and contact work was all on me.
Apps can only be as good as their data, and the data was the hardest part.
Was the dog tested with cats?
With male and female dogs?
With children?
What’s their energy level?
Health history?
How they might handle travel?
Are we eligible to adopt from abroad?
(Many shelters rejected us as too risky if the adoption failed)
Often that information was missing or outdated, and the most accurate source was each shelter’s social media.
So can a swipe find the right match?
A swipe also rewards a good photo, not a good fit. The dogs who wait longest, often black, older, or shy, rarely win that game.
Apps solve visibility. Matching still needs people, and shelters with the time to keep that information current 🧡
Pic: Nord and Soul post-dog-park and fully off duty in the van
LinkedIn original post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/angels-bosch
