posted June 17, 2004 10:11 PM         

Since its launch in mid-January 2004, Dogster has become the ultimate destination for dog lovers to click, averaging 10,000 visitors each day. "We're astounded by the response," said Dogster founder Ted Rheingold. "Make no bones about it, Dogster's serious technological commitment comes with big, tail-wagging love."

Dogster boasts photos and profiles of dogs from fire hydrants as far-flung as Finland and New Zealand. Currently, the top three most popular countries for Dogster pages are the United States, Canada and the Philippines. The most popular breeds are Labrador Retriever, Chihuahua and Golden Retriever. Check "Dogster Stats" for real-time head counts.

Dogster users view and save photos of dogs. Got a digital photo of your dog? Upload it to instantly create your dog's own page. Search by "Newest," "Site Favorites" or "Dog Of The Week." Check out the "Barking Dog Newswire" and the "Advanced Search" which allows users to do deep searches with several variables and view 20 thumbnails at a time.

Dogster's recent release of private messaging went live last week, allowing users to make a pup-2-pup connection. Registered users can save any dog to their "Corral" where they will sit and stay. Guardians can also make "Pup Pal" connections, which users approve or reject by email. More than 220,000 Pup Pals are connected.

"We are dog freaks and computer geeks," said Rosemary Pepper, Dogster's "I Like It Ruff" dog advice columnist. "Just looking at dogs makes you feel good, like getting a tummy rub."

Users are barking mad about Dogster. The flood of emails are overwhelmingly positive, showing that the site has got legs. One user said that he never cared about Social Networking Applications until he found Dogster to be a different breed.

Cat lovers look forward to this summer's launch of Catster. Catster.com will have the same look and feel as Dogster but appeal specifically to the feline community.

Dogster is a private production of onematchfire.com, makers of custom web applications. Company principal, Ted Rheingold, created, engineered and produced Dogster.com. His earlier projects include gayprom.com, a memory sharing site and fleetingimage.org, a cryptic user-submitted photo gallery of interesting images. Dogster was dubbed "Wired" in the magazine's March 2004 issue and has been featured in TimeOutNY, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The New York Post. Television coverage of Dogster includes Good Morning America, CNN Headline News and TechTV.

Dogster: For the Love of Dog.

Contact:
Ted Rheingold
Dogster.com
415.533.8855