Dog Walking App Extravaganza #DogWalkingWeek

10/3/2014

Walking for a cause.

Typist: Bethany
Since the day I got my first iPhone, I have been a connoisseur of walking apps. I used to try them all, from simple pedometers to GPS trackers, with my best walking partner, friend and most loyal fit dog, Tynan, by my side. Friends, students and co-workers all I knew I was the go-to person for which apps were best for each individual's cardio, sports and fitness goals. I weeded out the inferior apps and settled on my favorites so it has been many years since I shopped for and tried out any new walking apps. Yet the recent release of another dog walking app that donates money to animal charities for each mile walked, caught my attention.

There are now several dog walking apps available that donate money to animal rescues and charities either per use, mile or through the app purchase price. I tried out three dog walking apps for review.* Below are comparisons of the Woof Trax Walk For A Dog, ResQWalk and SlimDoggy apps. Perhaps knowing a little more about the ways the apps donate to pet charities, the screenshots and my pros and cons lists could help you find an app that might work for you and your dog walks. For me, any and all inspiration to get out walking, rain or shine, is welcome. If my dog walks go beyond benefiting me, Wilhelm, Brychwyn and Huxley and can help animals in need, what could be better than that?

WalkForADog

The WoofTrax Walk For A Dog app donates to rescues and shelters around three times a year through advertising and sponsors. WoofTrax chooses app beneficiaries and users can select the charity their dog walk will help or allow the app to choose based on location. No amounts or percentages of donations are listed on the WoofTrax website so it is unclear how much money Walk For A Dog walks actually make.

WoofTrax begin walk screen

WoofTrax walk map

WoofTrax walk history

WoofTrax Walk For A Dog App Pros:

Free app

Auto pause
Choose separate dog profiles for walks

WoofTrax Walk For A Dog App Cons:

E-mail log-in required

Auto pause and GPS issues- pause often didn't restart and GPS was horribly inaccurate
Lots of advertisements
Amount donated is unclear

ResQWalk

The ResQWalk app announces a donation pool each week and divides that pool among animal shelters and rescues based in the miles walked by users for each organization. App users can scroll or search the list of pet charities in the ResQWalk database then walk for their favorites. Walkers are offered sponsored rewards after walks.

ResQWalk profile screen

ResQWalk map

ResQWalk history

ResQWalk Pros:

Free app
Easy charity choices from favorites
Pet non-profits listed help more than just dogs and cats- I can walk for parrots, rabbits, etc.
Clear weekly, monthly and yearly tracking of dog walks and money made
Instantly know amount made for your chosen charity

ReQWalk Cons:

Facebook or Twitter log-in needed to use all of the apps features
Restart and finish walk button confused me- I often accidentally finished paused walks

SlimDoggy

The SlimDoggy app gives approved partner animal shelters and rescues a unique rescue code for supporters to use when purchasing the app. SlimDoggy then donates a portion of the sale to that animal charity. At the time of this review, SlimDoggy was offering a limited time 25% of their net app fee to participating animal shelter and rescue partners.

SlimDoggy activity choices

SlimDoggy walk map

SlimDoggy dog dashboard

SlimDoggy Pros:

Choose from a variety of activities
Choose separate dog profiles for each activity
Manually add activities
Shows Kcals burned for each dog

SlimDoggy Cons:

E-mail, Facebook or Twitter log-in required
Without a promo code, user cannot choose specific charity
Donation for rescue is one time only

*Cascadian Nomads was not asked or paid to review or link to any of these apps. We are just sharing useful and hopefully inspirational information.

Fit dogs black and tan dapple miniature long-haired dachshund, Blue Merle Cardigan Welsh corgi and harlequin blue merle rough collie Walking to help dogs and other animals in need: Dog walking apps that inspire dog walks and donate to animal rescues, shelters and charities

Three fit dogs walking to help dogs and other animals in need.

Have you used the Walk For A Dog, ResQWalk, SlimDoggy or any other dog walking apps? What are your favorite features?
If you have never tried a dog walking app, do you think one of these apps might inspire you to get out and walk your dog more often?

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Every week SlimDoggy, My GBGV Life & To Dog With Love host the FitDog Friday blog hop. By clicking around the blogs below this and every week you will learn and be inspired to get out and get fit with your dog.

22 Comments

Molly The Wally link

10/2/2014 06:49:06 pm

We only have a dumb phone so we would have to pass on those apps. Have a fabulous Friday.
Best wishes Molly

Bethany

10/2/2014 07:37:03 pm

I have to admit to being a bit envious of your dumb phone, Molly. While I think it is awesome that my smart phone can track how far I walk and donate money to pet charities, every time I try to simply talk on the phone, I get frustrated because it's just not a very good phone.

Miley's Daily Scoop link

10/2/2014 10:51:49 pm

Mom has been meaning to look up some dog walking apps. These look like a lot of fun, we are going to check them out now! Thanks for sharing!

Bethany

10/3/2014 05:00:58 am

I am not only more motivated to consistently walk when i use an app but I also walk farther. I don't like that "is that all?" feeling when I look at my mileage. I hope you find one that inspires!

SlimDoggy link

10/2/2014 11:13:31 pm

Well, we of course use the SlimDoggy app ;)
Thanks for the shout out - it's nice to see the comparison to other apps from the users perspective. Happy FitDog Friday!

Bethany

10/3/2014 05:12:12 am

Thanks for the great app! Perhaps someday the SlimDoggy app will have a donate per mile feature? I would use nothing but SlimDoggy if it did!

Emma link

10/3/2014 12:06:19 am

Mom hates using her phone, so we don't use many apps. She has a couple she uses for work stuff, but using the phone is just too difficult and since she is usually walking with 2+ dogs, it is too difficult to find a hand to use the phone. Most people love their smartphones, but so far, we haven't been able to love ours. Maybe some day. We thought instagram would win us over, but it isn't happening either. If apps do motivate folks to walk or workout that is awesome and the shelter donation is a great side effect to that.

Bethany

10/3/2014 05:15:11 am

I was doing marathon walking before smart phone walking apps got good (the old pedometer ones were pretty useless.) But once I found fitness tracking apps that worked, it really helped motivate me to get more miles in and to speed up! It was much easier to have an app talk to me from my pocket than to frequently check my stopwatch. Especially while walking a slew of dogs. :)

houndstooth link

10/3/2014 12:28:51 am

I'm using the WoofTrax app right now and it makes me want to throw my phone out a window or against a tree. It absolutely, positively will not stay working for me. I guess it's easy to say that you'll donate money to a shelter for each mile walked when you never record anybody's mileage! Gah! I feel my blood pressure rising just talking about it. Again. I'll have to investigate the others. I have MapMyDogWalk, but that doesn't donate to charity. It records my walks with much greater accuracy, though.

Bethany

10/3/2014 05:18:23 am

I had actually already deleted the WoofTrax app before finishing this review. It frustrated me as well. The autopause is a nice idea but if it doesn't work and you lose all your walks, it's useless! I ran all three dog walking apps and my reliable Runtastic app (better that the WalkMy_ apps but more expensive) and WoofTrax was completely lost. ResQWalk is much, much better. Not as fancy but sometimes simple works best! Give it a try and tell me what you think.

Reilly & Denny link

10/3/2014 02:00:31 am

those do sound interesting but we kind of like our walks to be free from all the mod cons of society - it is our downtown from technology - except for the camera of coarse.

Bethany

10/3/2014 05:19:22 am

Making a walk unplugged time it very smart! I would do that except my camera is my phone. :)

Talent Hounds link

10/3/2014 02:41:15 am

I love my FitBit, SlimDoggys App is great to for staying motivated and tracking progress.

Bethany

10/3/2014 05:05:38 am

I had never seen FitBit before. Thanks for sharing. Like I said, I settled on my favorite app (Runtastic) and hadn't looked back in a very long time. The more products and features that are available to motivate health and fitness for humans and pets the better!

Mark at DBDT link

10/3/2014 04:59:31 am

We use the Wooftraxs app daily. It is a little slow to respond and I has "lost" miles on a couple of walks. I think it has something to do with phone service and not just GPS service. With that said, last quarters donation to our shelter, North Country Animal League, was decent. I don't recall exactly the amount but I remember being surprised at the amount in comparison to the total miles walked for the organization. I'll post information about the next donation amount when it comes in.

Bethany

10/3/2014 05:24:08 am

Thanks so much for letting me know about that, Mark, I guess I didn't use the WoofTrax app long enough to receive the donation amount report from them. I deleted the WoofTrax app because there was no service excuse for it losing miles on the walks I took- I was in the city with super coverage. I had three other walking apps running at the same time and they recorded my walk perfectly. You might give the ResQWalk app a try and see if you can make even more money for your shelter!

Lauren Miller link

10/3/2014 05:48:21 am

Thanks for posting this! I am in need of a new walking app. It's a shame the SlimDoggy app is only available on iphone, though!

Tenacious Little Terrier link

10/3/2014 06:16:33 am

I've been meaning to look into these, you did it for me! I think I'm probably going to download the ResQWalk one.

Jan K link

10/3/2014 06:29:41 am

I just started using WoofTrax for #DogWalkingWeek, on my whole two walks I tracked so far it has worked fine. It's another motivation that I know will help me get out more. Before that I just used MapMyWalk for keeping track of my walks which I like to do. I have Android so I know I can't get SlimDoggy (yet) and I couldn't find ResQWalk either.

Jen Gabbard link

10/3/2014 09:34:14 am

I don't have a smart phone; I don't actually plan on getting one any time soon but I have to say apps like ResQWalk really make me temped - to think I could be helping out by walking - which is something we do anyways. Darn dumb phone of mine.

KB link

10/3/2014 02:10:48 pm

I am the last person on Earth who doesn't own a smart phone! So, no, I don't use any apps for dog walking. But, when I mountain bike with my dogs, I use a GPS that logs our time, distance, speed, elevation change, etc etc. I like it, mainly because it prevents me from pushing the dogs too hard :)

Tiffany's Diamond Dogs link

10/8/2014 01:27:54 am

We've never used any walking apps before, but are going to give the WoofTrax a try and see how we like it

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Cascadian Nomads adventurous dogs and parrot with pet and travel blogger, Bethany Clochard.

Cascadian Nomads canines and psittacine on a road trip with blogger Bethany Clochard.

Pet travel blogger Bethany Clochard shares a lifetime of budget travel experience, camping, and enjoying outdoors & Pacific NW adventures with pets. She currently hits the road with three dogs, a cockatoo & a cat.

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