Frequently Asked Questions

Who's Ya Doggy? Lost & Found Dogs Web Site

1.  How do I post a Lost Dog or Found Dog notice?

Step 1 - Choose your Country/Region:  America / Canada  or  Australia / New Zealand

Step 2 - Click the Register link.  Fill in the fields and submit your information. 

Step 3 - Wait to receive the Activation Email in your inbox (usually instant). Click the Activation link in the email.

Step 4 - Log in to Who's Ya Doggy. Click the Submit ad link. Fill in the fields to create your notice and click Submit.

Step 5 - Your notice will then be approved by Who's Ya Doggy staff before it goes live. This process is usually very fast, but because our staff are volunteers it may (rarely) take up to a few days. You will receive an email confirming that your notice has been approved.

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2.  My dog / the dog's owner has been found - how do I update or remove my ad?

When your dog has been found, or when you have successfully located the owner of a dog you have rescued, please update your notice to tell people so.  Whilst you can remove the notice altogether, this can be confusing for people who have been looking for the dog so it's better to initially just update it with the new information to let them know. 

For example, add a new first line of text such as "UPDATE: Daisy has been FOUND! Thanks to everyone who helped."

To do this:

1. Log in.

2. Click My ads.  A list of your Active ads will display.

3. Click the orange EDIT button for the ad you want to update. Make your changes.

After a couple of weeks you can delete the notice altogether, or our Admin team will do it for you eventually during a cleanup.

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3.  I'm trying to choose a username, but it tells me it's invalid...

The Lost & Found board only accepts one-word usernames. E.g. "Sheps Dad" will not work, but these will work: "ShepsDad", "sheps-dad" and "sheps_dad".

Your username must also begin with a letter, and must not include punctuation-type characters. So these will not work: "Shep'sDad", "Sheps.Dad" or "3ShepsDad".

Keep it simple and you'll be fine.

4.  Where's my Registration/Activation email?

After you have submitted your Registration details, an email containing an 'Activation link' is sent to you almost instantly. If you have not yet received this email...

1. Make sure that you have clicked 'Receive' to refresh your inbox.

2. Wait a while. Delays in delivery of email happen from time to time.

3. If you have more than one email address, remember to look in the correct inbox.

4. Check your spam folder in case it got filtered into there.

5. Check the spam settings on your server/host - if they are too high you may be losing legitimate email.

6. Consider your spelling.  An error made when entering your email address will send it astray.  In this case just re-register using the correct spelling.  However, if you are certain that your email address was correct, email us with the details and we can activate your account for you from behind the scenes. (Use the 'Contact Us' link in the Lost & Found area.)

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5.  The 'validation string' - I keep getting it wrong!

The validation string can be tricky.  Just remember that...

- Letters must all be CAPITALS - i.e. UPPER CASE.

- If you see "0" it's a numerical "zero" - not a letter "O".

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6.  I can't log in - it says username/password 'invalid'

1. If you have just registered, make sure that you have clicked the link in the Activation Email that was sent to you after submitting your details, because this completes your registration and allows you to log-in. (See above if you have not yet received your Activation Email.)

2. Check the spelling of your username and password. You can find these in your Activation Email.

It's almost always one of these things, but if not then please wave a paw for help from Admin. (Use the 'Contact Us' link in the Lost & Found area.)

7.  My photos are too big, or the wrong file type

The Lost & Found listings will automatically reduce the size of your images to 500KB, unless they are so large that it rejects them altogether.  In this case you will need to reduce them yourself before submitting, which is easy when you know how...

The 'file size' of a digital photo is different from its 'visual size', or how it appears. Simply adjusting the edges of a photo may make very little difference to the 'file size'. You will need to do a proper photo edit to reduce the file size / number of pixels.  Most photo management software and digital cameras have a function which allows you to alter the file size of images, so begin by looking for that.

Also be aware of the file type.  Only use JPG or JPEG images.  If you try to submit GIFs or other image types you might get error messages.  These messages are disconcerting but harmless, so please just try again with a JPEG image.

If you have further trouble with submitting your photos, please contact Admin and we will lend a paw from behind the scenes.

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8.  I've tried submitting a lost/found notice but it doesn't show up

Check these things:

1. Have you used "speech marks" or 'inverted commas' in your description text?  These may cause the ad to fail to submit properly.  Remove all " and ' and any other symbols, and try again using only plain text.

2. Type your ad rather than copying and pasting text from elsewhere, because sometimes when text is pasted it brings with it invisible code or characters from the source document that can cause your ad to be rejected.

3. Do your photos have an unusual file extension?  Only use .JPG and .JPEG.

4. Are your photo files very large?  The system will automatically re-size your images for you up to a point.  If they are huge it may reject them altogether, so try re-sizing your photos to under 500KB and you will have no problem. (See above for more details.)

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9.  Oops, I posted my lost/found notice in the wrong category...

It's free to post notices (or by voluntary donation) so just...

1. Log in.

2. Click Submit ad. This time select the correct catergory. Create a new notice and submit it.

3. Click My Ads. You will see your previous notice listed. Select it and delete it.

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