Hey all, I've really grown to love how wonderful this community is, so I come to you today hoping that some of you might be willing to help my wife and me win a contest that will save us a bit of money.

Here's the backstory: my wife and I are both graduate students (so we tend to not have a lot of money). If we want to go out of town at all (e.g. visiting family on holidays, or visiting friends from college who we moved away from in order to attend grad school) we need to get someone to watch our dog (which my wife has had for the past 11 years). As you might expect, this can really add up (the dog walker we use is about $20 a visit).

We've been using a dog walking service called Fetch! for about a year now. They're a company that operates franchises throughout the US and provides a variety of pet care options. They recently started a contest where the winner will win a year's worth of pet care. Obviously, winning this would save us a bit of money, and so I have taken to the internets to hopefully boost our chances.

The contest is titled the “Best Pet Ever,” and basically, whichever entrant receives the most votes will win. It's all based in Facebook, which means that you'll have to “Like” Fetch Pet Care, and allow their app access, so I can completely understand anybody not wanting to vote.

The contest ends at 11:59 pm EST on August 5, 2011. If you enter a vote for Rex, and post back here saying you did, if we wind up winning the contest, I'll gift a $9.99 game (or the equivalent if any sales are going on at the time) to a random poster (one entry per person).


TL;DR
We want to win win free dog walks for when we go out of town, and so we need people to vote for our entry on Facebook. If we win, I'll gift a $9.99 game (or equivalent in sale games) to a random person if you help us out and post back here that you did.


The link to our entry is below, and another reminder that you need to "Like" Fetch Pet Care and allow the app before it lets you in to vote.

Our entry link

And voted (well, it was for *a* Rex, hope it was your Rex). Always glad to help out a fellow GOG'er... especially if there' s a possible prize involved ;D

Done, voted for Rex the retired gentleman. Hope this works out for you and Rex.

Voted too.
Hope that not for a wrong Rex =)

Done and done. I hope you win.

Voted for Rex the retired gentleman

Just voted. :)

I voted too. Hope you win!

Thanks to all who have voted so far!

The link should go directly to our entry, and judging from the comments here, it is (i.e. our Rex is the retired gentleman).

Voted but your a fair bit behind, top voted has 100 almost.

I do have a question though, Is hiring a dogwalker common in the US? I dont know anyone near me that uses these services, I suppose in Edinburgh or Glasgow there may be though.

Thanks! I know I'm a bit behind right now, but I just posted the entry today, and it hasn't really made it to any of our friends yet, so I'm hoping to get a bit more votes, plus the contest runs through August 5th, so that's a fair bit of time. All in all, I'm still hopeful.

As far as how common it is over here, I think it's relatively common. I know for us, our friends and family all live between 1.5 and 3 hours away (except my wife's twin sister, who lives 7 hours away), so it's a lot more convenient to get someone to walk Rex and simply spend the night, as opposed to driving a couple hours home after hanging out, and then once we finally get home, take him out.

Another option is boarding the pet, but Rex doesn't really like being in an enclosed space, so that kind of freaks him out a bit.

Voted for you but please do not enter me into the contest. Just wanted to help, thanks. :)

Any other way to help you that does not involve facebook for those of us who do not have an account or just hate facebook? :-)

Pity. Without the Like and App mess...

I'd be all in for an alternative as well :(

Voted for Rex.