Tips to create a top pet profile
Creating a strong pet profile for your dog or cat with A-list Animals doesn’t take a lot of time, nor does it need to be too complicated.
It’s more about ensuring you put your pet’s best paw forward by highlighting some of their key attributes and abilities, as well as selecting photos that show off your pet’s personality and possibly even some of their skills to bring your pet profile to life.
Age
Your dog or cat will grow up quickly, so the age ranges specified below have a bit of flexibility depending on your individual pet.
Some breeds within the Junior age bracket for example may already look like a fully grown adult, or some may still look very puppy-like right up until they hit adulthood, so this is just to help us identify our talent for any kitten or puppy briefs in particular.
The key is to ensure that once your pet hits adulthood (12-18 month range), you get in touch with us to update your pet’s photos and age on our database via hello@alistanimals.com.au
Likewise, once your older dog starts to head into their Senior years and (much like we do) starts to go a little grey or white around the edges, carries a little more or a little less weight, or is slowing down, it’s important you email us to update their age category and photos as well.
As a guide, when filling out your pet profile, these are the general age ranges for our specifications.
Puppy /Kitten – 3 to 9 months old
Junior – 9 to 12 months
Adult – 1 year +
Senior Dogs – 8+ years for large breeds, 11+ years for small breeds
Senior Cats – 11+ years
Your pet’s colour
When filling out your pet profile and choosing the right colour, don’t be too anxious about getting the shade totally correct. Your photos will tell the full story, so this is just a guide. If your dog is primarily white or black, but has tan ears or little bits of another colour around their chin, ears or paws for example, then select their primary colour. If they are quite obviously a real mix of colours, or you really aren’t sure, then simply choose ‘other’.
Fur length
There are some dog and cat breeds that quite obviously have short haired coats (think Kelpie, staffy, pug, bulldogs and domestic cats, Burmese, Devon Rex, Siamese) but it can be a little tough to know if your dog or cat falls into the medium or long hair range.
Some examples of dogs that would be considered medium haired dogs are Border Collies, Australian Shepherds, many of the terriers. Their slightly longer hair is often softer and fluffier than the course or wiry coats of short-haired breeds.
The combination coat is a unique type of coat, commonly found on some spaniel and retriever breeds.
Then of course there are those dogs and cats that have distinctly long luscious coats, so just choose the one that best represents the usual hair style for your pet, or what their breed profile list them as.
There are also plenty of ‘oodles’ and other breeds that can go from being perfectly groomed, to looking long and unruly as their hair grows, so you might nominate medium if that tends to be their average look. It’s more important to let us know if they look different to their photos supplied, if you are contacted regarding a brief. Also make sure you don’t change your pets look in between submitting a video or photo for a job and the job day itself.
Training
When choosing the best training option for your pet, if you choose the higher obedience or special abilities options, we are going to assume that this also means your pet is house trained and has basic obedience.
When it comes to nominating that they are just house trained, your dog might not know all of the basics of training, but is generally an indoor pet that is toilet trained or, if it is an outside dog, it is also used to being inside the house at times and will be well-behaved in an indoor environment.
Basic obedience includes being able to perform most of the puppy school key commands such as sit and stay, come when called, drop, will walk on loose leash.
High obedience is when they are ‘proofed’ on all of these commands and can reliably sit, drop, come, heel and will stay in their position with people and other pets around, plus have some of the extra skills like ‘focus/look at me’, high fives, shake, place training, etc. and also respond to hand signals or verbal cues from a distance.
If you choose special abilities, again we will assume that your dog has at least basic to high obedience levels, but that they can do something that little bit extra special (think skateboarding, balancing treats or items on nose, assistance or complex skills training).
You could mention these in your pet’s biography, but before submitting your pet for a job that requires certain skills we will reach out to check what high obedience or specific skills your pet has, so don’t worry too much about having to list them all.
Describe your pet in their bio
This is the place to really let your pet shine and tell the world what makes your pet special.
Also make sure to mention your pet’s breed, or any mixes you think might be in there if you aren’t quite sure.
Describe their personality, things they love, their ability to get along with other dogs or cats, any special considerations, if they are high energy and sporty, or more of a laid back character, and example special skills and tricks your pet can perform.
Choosing the right photos
If your pet’s bio was the chance to sell your pet, then their photos will seal the deal. Upload 4-5 good quality, well-lit photos that best show your pet’s personality and look.
You might have one that is just a close up of their face, a bull body from the side, an action shot, a cute ‘aw factor’ one and even one of their special skills.
These photos will then get included with your pet’s biography on their industry ‘comp card’ which we use to identify your pet for a brief and send to potential clients for castings.
Tip: remember to press the upload button after each time you select or drag across a photo.
Don’t over-think filling out your pet profile when signing up. If anything doesn’t look quite right or match your photos, we will reach out and ask. However, do make sure you double check your spelling before you press ‘submit’ so your comp card doesn’t have any spelling errors on it.
