Dallas Animal Services now has something to bark about—it was selected as a finalist in the Petco Foundation’s 2019 Innovation Showdown, and now has the chance to compete for $450,000 in funding.

Dallas Animal Services is one of two finalists and seven wildcard contenders selected from hundreds of idea submissions nationwide. On April 17, DAS and two other groups will pitch their ideas live onstage in New Orleans to the innovation investors at the Humane Society of the United States Animal Care Expo.

Modeled after “Shark Tank,” Innovation Showdown is a collaborative project bringing together the nation’s top animal welfare organizations to invest in lifesaving innovation.

The City of Dallas’ DAS has the fourth largest dog and cat intake shelter in the nation. To enhance the customer service experience and access to its services, DAS developed the Dallas90 Shelter Service System as an application-based customer service program.

Here are some of its features:

a map to help navigate the shelter and find an animal’s kennel,
QR codes to retrieve information about the animals,
staff notifications for meet-and-greets,
adoption or lost pet reunion with the push of a button, and
sign-ups to foster or volunteer.

It also allows customers to utilize a Facebook portal integration to access face-to-face help in real time from the adoption team without ever leaving the kennel of the selected animal.

“We believe that the Dallas90 Shelter Service System will put us on the path to premiere customer service and sustaining the highest lifesaving possible, which means a safer and happier Dallas for both people and animals,” DAS Director Ed Jamison said.