The inventor of a textline for owners of lost pets has won an award for outstanding service to the community. Mandy Dorman from Wokingham created the Dog and Bone texting service, which alerts subscribed dog walkers if a certain dog from the area cannot be found. Dog walkers who subscribe to the service provide their name, mobile number and their address, and it is hoped those walkers alerted to a dog's absence via text will then be able to help find the pet in question.
Other elements of the scheme include a collection service for stray dogs, whereby the council, who are now responsible for stray dogs as opposed to the police, can pick up and drop off stray dogs from a collection point. Furthermore, the council's website has a section dedicated to lost dogs .
The mayor of Wokingham gives an award for outstanding service to the community once a month to a person or a group. Mrs Dorman won the award having been nominated by Peter Halkin, the council's environmental health manager, who felt the scheme used modern technology to help people. So successful has the scheme proved in Wokingham that other councils have shown an interest in adopting the scheme, which they hope will result in fewer dogs going missing.
