MUSKEGON, Mich. — Imagine an app that takes real live dogs from shelters across the country, turns them into animated characters, and then delivers weekly products and funds to these shelters to benefit the dogs you see on your screens.
This app is real — and it's called TREAT.
"You press play, and you pick out a dog," Karly Anderson, head of social media at the Noah Project, said. "You can choose any dog that's in our shelter. Once you find the dog that you want, you click on it, and it tells you to play, collect, and send.”
As you play on the TREAT app, you collect kibble to earn points. Once you collect 320 pieces of kibble "…it equates to a bag of food or a vaccine," Anderson said.
Once or twice a week, dog treats, preventatives like heart worm and flea medications, vaccines, and funds for spay and neuter are sent to the Noah Project, the Muskegon shelter that has worked with TREAT for the last three years.
Mashele Arndt, Executive Director for the Noah Project, explains the number of supplies the shelter receives each week depends on how many people are actively playing on the app. “The more people we get to play, the more it will benefit the shelter," Arndt said.
The Noah Project currently receives anywhere from $4,000 to $5,000 in products and funds per month, with roughly 300 people playing on the app at a time.
TREAT was created to help rescues across the country, and to find them their forever homes. “It’s a group of developers from Israel that wanted to create an app for all the shelters and rescues in all 50 states,” Arndt said.
One of the TREAT players is a truck driver who often played with one of the dogs, Axel, on the app. When he drove his truck through Michigan, he stopped by the Noah Project to meet Axel — and the rest is history. “He spent time with him, and he decided to adopt him,” Arndt said.
Importantly, once a dog is adopted, they’re taken off the app. This is Sonia; she's a dog that is currently in the shelter, and therefore on the app.
Not only are dogs adopted, but players are invested. "They'll call the shelter and check on them weekly, sometimes," Arndt said. "And they're from all over the states.”
TREAT isn’t just an app — it’s a lifeline for dogs who need a home.
"The more they play the game, the more they can help take care of their animals to get them adaptable and to get them out socially, just so people can see them and give them access,” Arndt said.
If you want to download the TREAT app, it’s free on the App Store and Google Play.
For more information on the Noah Project, click here.
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