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Knowledge Base - Pet Adoption Portal
Pet Adoption Portal
Although we don't have a demo service for you to use, we'd be happy to walk you through a demo at your convenience. Please contact us through our web site to schedule a demo.
We do provide a 3-month trial for our Data Management and Web Site services. The Pet Adoption Portal is completely free. Our other services, including Voice Mail, Email and Domain Name services do not include a free trial.
Your trial will begin when your account is created. You can cancel at any time during the trial.
Question: How long does the entire Portal setup process take?
It can take as little as a few hours; on the average it takes a few days. Getting set up on the Portal is an interactive process with you, the rescue. The Setup Wizard makes setup fast and easy, so you can be up and running the same day. Doing so does require that you respond in a timely manner to our email requests, such as when we ask you to verify that your pet list looks correct on the Portal. We cannot enable your automatic updates until you verify your pet list.
Question: In the Setup Wizard you ask from where to add my animals to the Portal pet list. What does this mean?
You can add your pets to the Portal yourself if you wish, and let us know when you finish. Or, we are happy to add your pets to the Portal for you, from some existing pet list anywhere on the internet. This is for the initial setup of your account only. Please note that once your account is set up on the Portal, you are responsible for updating your Portal pet list. In turn, the Portal updates the pet adoption web sites for you.
Question: Do I need to already have accounts with the adoption listing websites when I start using the Portal?
The only adoption listing websites that currently require you to sign-up with them directly are Adopt-a-Pet.com and Petfinder. Please register your organization directly with those two websites. All of the other adoption listing websites will be configured for you without any additional action on your part.
Question: I already have accounts on the other sites -- will I now have two accounts?
No, when we set up your automatic updates, we will match up your Portal account and your existing account on the other sites.
Question: Will you be asking me for any additional information to set up accounts with PETS911.com or Adopt-a-Pet.com?
No. We do not need any additional information from you to set up the automatic updates. Even if you already have accounts with them, you do not need to give us your existing account information.
Question: How long does it take after I verify my Portal pet list for the pet adoption web sites to have my listings from the Portal?
It generally takes about 2-3 business days for all the accounts to get completely set up and running. There is nothing additional you need to do to make this happen.
Question: What sites do you update, and can I choose from those?
Here is a link to the sites we update: https://www.rescuegroups.org/adoptionwebsites And yes, you can absolutely opt-out of any sites you wish.
Question: When I make a change to my pet list after my account is completely set up, is there anything extra I need to do to update the other sites?
No, the other sites will be updated automatically after you make a change to your pet list (once everything is setup). All you need to do is update the Portal pet list!
Question: When you enable the automatic updates, will my pets change on the other sites?
That depends upon if your existing pet lists on the other sites are complete and up to date. When we enable your automatic updates, the pet lists on the pet adoption web sites will match what you have on the Portal (within the restrictions of what data each web site accepts). Assuming your Portal pet list is the same as the other sites, the public won't notice a difference in your pet list. However, since the animal ID numbers will change on the other sites, any links to those animals will no longer work.
Question: Will my pets appear the same to the public after my automatic updates are enabled?
The public will not be able to tell that your animals have been updated by the Portal instead of being added manually. However, there are a couple things that may work a little differently than expected, including: The pet list may appear to the public in a different order, and currently, Pets911.com lists only one photo from each adoptable pet listed on the Portal.
We will ask during the Setup Wizard for the specific information we need to enable all of your adoption listing web site uploads.
If you do not already have an account with Petfinder or Adopt-a-Pet.com, you need to sign-up with them before we can start to upload to them, and before you can start to use the Petfinder Sync App.
We do NOT need your Adopt-a-Pet.com account information and we would prefer if you did not send us any auto-upload information from Adopt-a-Pet.com because it may cause confusion.
If you already have an account with them we will find it and configure it correctly. A duplicate account will not be created.
Before we will enable the uploads for Petfinder, Adopt-a-Pet.com or Pets 911 you must first verify that your pet list on the Pet Adoption Portal is accurate and correct. We do this so that you will not lose any information. When we enable the uploads to the other sites there is a possibility that the pet listings on the other sites will be removed and replaced with the listings from the Pet Adoption Portal. That's why it's critical that the most accurate and complete information be on the Portal.
To verify your pet list, click Pet List on the menu. Change the list to view All animals (Active and Adopted) and visually review each animal to be sure it is accurate. If ALL of the information is correct, all animals are listed, and the descriptions were added correctly, go to the Setup page and click the link to Verify your pet list.
No, you don't need to do anything to cause your animals to be updated on the adoption listing web sites. When you add or edit a pet the update will happen automatically.
From the Management Interface
Click My Settings in the upper right corner.
Click Username & Password at the top of the User Options page.
Enter your new username if you would like to change it.
Enter your current password and new password to change your password.
Click Save Settings.
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From the Pet Adoption Portal
Click on User Account Info on the menu.
To change your username, enter a new username.
Click Change Username.
To change your password, enter your current password and a new password.
Click Save New Password.
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From the Website Interface
Go to the My Rescue page. (You should be taken there when you log in. If already logged in and there is no My Rescue link in your site's menu, go to <<your website>>/myrescue/).
To change your username, click Username at the top of the page.
Enter you new username.
Click Change Username.
To change your password, click Password at the top of the page.
Enter your current password and new password.
Click Change Password.
Be sure that you are entering the user name and password exactly as they appear in your password email. The password is case sensitive, which means you need to enter it using the same capitalization as is used in the email you received. If you recently reset your password make sure you are using the correct password to login. Once you reset your password you previous password will no longer work.
If you have a new volunteer or staff member you might want to give them access to your RescueGroups.org service.
If you are using the new Management Interface:
If a Contact Record doesn't exist for the volunteer, Go to Contacts > Add a Contact
Enter the person's basic contact information including email address
Click Save Contact.
Once a Contact exists, go to Contacts > Contacts Home.
In your list of contacts, click the Contact's name to go to view their details.
On the Contact's page, click the User Login Accounts link at the top of the page.
Click the Add icon on the list of User Login Accounts for that contact.
On the user registration page, verify that the contact information is correct.
Enter a Username.
Select Volunteer for Registration Type.
Click Register User.
Once complete, the contact will receive an email notification of their registration with their username and a temporary password.
You will be taken to the User Login Account page for that user.
Click the Roles link at the top of the page to add the appropriate security roles for that user.
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If you are using the Pet Adoption Portal:
Go to Volunteers
Click Add a Volunteer
Enter the person's information
Select Grant Access to the Portal
Enter a user name
Click Add Volunteer
The new staff/volunteer will receive an email with their user name and password, and when they login they will be able to manage your pet list on the Portal.
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If you are using the Website Service Interface:
If the contact doesn't exist, Go to Contacts > Add a Contact
Enter the person's basic contact information including email address
Click Save Contact
On the Contact's page, under Web Site Permissions, click the Register link.
On the user registration page, verify that the contact information is correct.
Enter a username.
Click Register User.
Once complete, the contact will receive an email notification of their registration with their user name and password
Then, on the Contact's page, add the appropriate roles under Web Site Permissions
If registering an existing contact, find the contact in your mail contact list.
Click on the contact's name to view their details.
On the Contact's page, under Web Site Permissions, click the Register link.
On the user registration page, verify that the contact information is correct.
Enter a username.
Click Register User.
Once complete, the contact will receive an email notification of their registration with their user name and password
Then, on the Contact's page, add the appropriate roles under Web Site Permissions
If you are using the new Management Interface:
To assign a role to an existing user login account go to:
Contacts >User Login Accounts
Find the contact/user login account in your list of users.
Click on their User Name to view the User Login Account.
Click the Roles link at the top of the page.
From there, you can add/remove security roles for that user.
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If you are using the Website Service or Data Management Service Interfaces:
Go to Contacts > Contacts Admin in the admin menu.
Find the contact in your list and click their name to go to the Contact's page.
On the Contact's page, under Web Site Permissions, you can add/remove security roles for that user.
If you need to remove a volunteer from your service you can do so yourself by going to the Volunteers link on the Portal or Contacts on the Data Management or Web Site service.
However, if you need to remove the only person with administrative permissions to your service, you will need to submit a Change of Authority letter.
Change of Authority is a simple letter to RescueGroups.org requesting that we make a change to the Responsible Party for your organization's account. The Responsible Party will initially be the person or persons who requested that the site be created (completed the Sign Up Form).
Please E-mail this letter to info@RescueGroups.org as an attachment to request this change AND you MUST send the letter via postal mail on organization letterhead for the change to be considered permanent.
Include the following:
Current Responsible Party
New Responsible Party
Reason for Change
Contact Information for the Organization and Responsible Party
Our address is:
RescueGroups.org
P.O. Box 1245
Bowie, MD 20718-1245
Locations and caregivers are two separate functions.
You can use the Locations link to set up the location. Then for each pet you want identified with that location, go to the pet's Portal listing and select the correct location from the dropdown menu for that field. Please note that Petfinder and Adoptapet.com DO NOT accept zip code/location data from us.
To get a contact person's info to show up above a pet's description: Make sure your foster caregiver is listed under Volunteers, with at least the first 2 boxes checked for that person's listing (Fosters Animals and Contact Info is Public). Then visit your Options page and pick which fields you want to be public for your contacts. Finally, edit the pets' listings on the Portal to reflect that Foster/Caretaker.
Each of the adoption listing web sites take different amounts of time to update. Here's what we have noticed:
Petfinder: 30-60 minutes average for the animals and pictures to appear in the admin pet list. Up to 24 hours for pictures to be visible to the public.*
Adopt-a-Pet.com: 2-3 hours average for animal data and picture updates
Pets 911: 1 hour average for animal data and picture updates
* Please note that the delays with Petfinder are equivalent to what you would experience when updating Petfinder manually. Also, at times Petfinder caches old information on the public web page which may appear to delay the updates. Be sure to refresh the pet list to view the latest pet information and pictures, and to use the pet list troubleshooter here on this support web site if you are experiencing any issues.
If you find that your drop downs are no longer working you should check to be sure that you haven't enable (or recently installed) any software that would block JavaScript. Programs like Norton or McAfee Internet Security can be configured to block JavaScript, and that would prevent the drop down boxes from populating correctly.
We don't add pets from Petfinder or from your web site. You must add animals directly on your RescueGroups.org web site in order for them to be added on the adoption listing web sites. We do offer to add your animals for you during your initial setup, however we do not add animals for you on an ongoing basis.
If you can't find a specific pet in your adoptable pet list on one of the adoption listing websites you may want to check the following:
- Is the animal marked as a courtesy listing? If so, have you disabled courtesy listing exports?
- If the pet is missing from Petfinder, Pets 911 or Adopt-a-Pet.com, is the account for that website selected for the animal?
Each pet can have up to 4 pictures on the Pet Adoption Portal. You can select pictures to upload when you are adding or editing a pet.
When uploading a picture, be sure it is in JPG format. You can tell if it is a JPG by looking at the file extension (the filename). It should end in “.JPG.” If it's not in JPG format our system will convert it to JPG for you.
Most digital cameras save the image as a JPG, although you may need to read your camera’s owner’s manual to be sure it is configured correctly.
If the picture is not a JPG (perhaps it’s a GIF or BMP), you can edit the image and save it as one of the formats we accept. Here are instructions on how to do this in Windows:
- Right click on the photo and choose Edit (the picture should open in Microsoft Paint).
- Under File, choose Save As.
- Change type to Jpeg or Jpg.
- Click Save.
- Upload the new Jpeg or Jpg image to the Portal.
How are videos handled by the Pet Adoption Portal service and the RescueGroups.org Web Site and Data Management services?
The RescueGroups.org services handle two methods of adding videos to your animals:
Option #1: Upload a video directly to RescueGroups.org
If you upload a video file directly to your RescueGroups.org service we are able to store the file and upload it to other services as necessary. We will upload the video for you to YouTube because some of the adoption listing web sites (Adopt-a-Pet.com specifically) supports only YouTube video URLs.
The following video formats are supported for upload to RescueGroups.org: .MPG/.MPEG, .3GP, .AVI, .MOV
Option #2: Add a video URL from YouTube to the animal
If you upload the video to YouTube and then add the video URL to the animal the YouTube URL will be uploaded to Adopt-a-Pet.com and embedded in the animal's description for all other adoption listing web sites. A YouTube URL will NOT trigger the pet's video icon on Petfinder.
See section 7.2 of the Pet Adoption Portal User Guide for more information on the Send to Accounts field.
The Send to Accounts section of an animal will list all of your export accounts. You can select which accounts should receive the current animal information. If you unselect one of the accounts, the animal will be removed from that account.
Often times, when pasting in your animal descriptions from outside sources, such as emails, Microsoft Word, or others, formatting can be pasted in along with the text of the descriptions. This can be frustrating to deal with or even cause unexpected results when viewing you animals on the pet adoption listing sites or even your own website.
There are a couple tools built into the Animal Description Editor that may prevent this or help "clean" you descriptions up for you.
If pasting in your descriptions from an outside source, such as an email or Microsoft Word, and you would like to preserve as much formatting as possible, you could try the "Paste in from Word" tool built into the description editor. The "Paste in from Word" button is on the editor's toolbar, and looks like a briefcase with a W on it.
That should remove most of the unwanted formatting or code while leaving the basic formatting in tact.
If that doesn't resolve your issues or if you do not want formatting at all, use the "Paste in as Plain Text" button the editor's toolbar to paste it in with NO formatting, (it looks like a brief case with a T on it).
If you have pets added that have unwanted formatting or code in their descriptions and want to get rid of it, follow the following steps:
Edit the pet.
In the description editor, click the Select All button on the editor's toolbar, (it looks like the letter "a" with lines behind it).
Right click the selected text and click Copy, or press CTRL-C to copy the selected text.
Click the Paste as Plain Text button on the editor's toolbar.
In the Paste as Plain Text dialog that pops up, paste in the copied text.
Click Insert at the bottom of the Paste as Plain Text dialog to overwrite the selected text with the plain text.
Save the pet.
If you still have problems with your animals' descriptions or need help, don't forget you can open a support ticket: http://www.rescuegroups.org/support
There is a new feature on the Management Interface, http://manage.rescuegroups.org, that you can use to export your data to a CSV file.
You can do this from any "datatable". In this example, we will reference your Animals List.
To do this, go to Animals > Animals List in the menu.
Then click on the datatable icon next to Views.
Name your view and select the fields you would like to appear in this view. You can use the up/down gray arrows to reorder the fields.
Save the view.
You can now bring up this view whenever you would like.
Once you load your view, in the Options drop down on the right, you can choose to export this view to CSV.
Here is some more information on views.
http://www.rescuegroups.org/userguide/views
Petfinder does not give us the capability to upload "contacts" for pets on Petfinder. Therefore, all pets on Petfinder will show the main contact information.
When you first start with your RescueGroups.org web site you must enable the species that you support. Go to the Animals > Options > General Options page and enable each of the species that you will be adding to your web site.
For some fields, like the animal description, you may want to perform a spell check.
The easiest way to do this is with a spell checker installed on your computer. There are several spell checkers that are available for free.
One example is ieSpell. You can read about ieSpell and download it here:
Once ieSpell is installed on your computer, you can click the spell check button (looks like "abc" with a checkmark) to spell check the description you have entered.
Some web browsers, like FireFox, support spell check right out of the box. We would recommend that you use FireFox. FireFox is completely supported by our services.
The first step to updating your organization's contact information is to update your information in your RescueGroups.org service.
If you are using the Pet Adoption Portal:
Go to Portal Setup and click Edit Contact Information
If you are using the RescueGroups.org Web Site or Data Management Service:
Go to Services > Organization Contact Info
Next, you'll need to update your organization's contact information on Pets 911, Adopt-a-Pet.com and/or Petfinder. To do that, login directly to those sites. If you do not have your login account information for those sites, you should contact them directly.
You can find Adopt-a-Pet.com's contact information here: http://www.adoptapet.com/public/contact_us/index.html
Pets 911's information can be found here: http://www.pets911.com/contact-pets-911
The other adoption listing web sites (DogTime.com, PetBond.com, etc) receive your contact information through either our API service, or through one of the other adoption listing web sites.
Depending on the Status of the animal (available, adopted, hold, pending, etc) you may need to change your pet list to include that status. By default, only your available pets are listed. You can change your pet list by selecting one of the statuses in the Show drop down and clicking Go!
Yes! Of course we are, because that's in the best interest of the adoptable animals. We are constantly contacting new organizations and web sites to see if they would like to accept animal data from us. If you know of a web site that would benefit from our adoptable pet listings, please contact us, and we'll contact them. It wouldn't hurt if you emailed them to let them know about us as well!