Canines in cyberspace

Growing success
One year after its launch, Dogster boasts more than 64,000 online pups who have struck up more than 900,000 dog-to-dog friendships via their owners, who keep an online dialogue going on behalf of their dogs. And in characteristic dog-loving fashion, Victoria owners have posted a formidable canine contingent of 44 "wanting" to be pals.

New and fast-growing sites such as Dogster -- virtual dog parks, blog spots and discussion forums -- are helping dogs (and the two- legged critters that love them) to find each other, both online and off. The sites are also valuable places to find adoptions.

Online adoption
Karen Rissling of Victoria, whose dogs Brighton and Cher are profiled on Dogster, loves browsing through the dog profiles and checking to see if any of her dogs' real-world pup pals are profiled online.

She also admits she has been lured in by the "Adopt Me" section, a listing of adoptable Dogster dogs around the world. "One time I was considering adopting this little dog that needed a home," she says. Although Pearl, from Houston, Texas, would have made the third canine member of the family, Rissling says she almost couldn't resist.

"I kept a check on him and he was adopted, but I now stay out of the Adopt Me part of the Web site."

Victoria organizations have also found that this need for an online puppy-fix can help to bring two- and four-legged communities together.

Peggy Stone, assistant-manager of the Victoria SPCA, says their online profiles of adaptable dogs, created four years ago, have made a world of difference for prospective adopters. "For us it's been phenomenal," she says. "Everyone comes in and says 'I was on your Web site and..."

Stone says the service is especially helpful to those living out of town, who can now track the new and notable pups from a distance.

"It's great, because people will look at the picture and they can have an idea about the dogs before they come down."

This January, Carol Broad, a volunteer at the CRD Animal Shelter, founded VictoriaAdoptables.com, an online meeting place for stray or rescued animals and prospective owners.

Broad says the site has been getting steadily busier and, even in its first months, has had many success stories.

One dog, a border collie sent from an Alberta shelter, was sent to two adopted homes, but was sent back as "unmanageable." At the CRD shelter, Zipper was found to have suffered a skull fracture and broken toes, injuries that had not been properly treated. Through the Web site, says Broad, "he was matched with a woman who has given him the love and confidence he so well needed."