Doggy — A Social Network for Dogs

Doggy is a social network made for dog owners who want their pups to shine. Every dog gets its own profile, can share photos, post updates, send messages, and meet other friendly dogs in the community. It’s basically the place where dogs become local celebrities and humans just manage their accounts.

We built Doggy as a team of four using Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, PostgreSQL, Heroku, Cloudinary, and Mapbox.

Doggy — Réseau social pour les chiens

Doggy est un réseau social pensé pour les propriétaires de chiens qui veulent voir leurs compagnons briller. Chaque chien possède son propre profil, peut partager des photos, publier des petites mises à jour, envoyer des messages et rencontrer d’autres chiens de la communauté. C’est un endroit où les chiens deviennent les vraies stars, et où les humains se contentent de gérer leur compte.

Nous avons développé Doggy en équipe de quatre, en utilisant Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, PostgreSQL, Heroku, Cloudinary et Mapbox.

Technologies

• Ruby on Rails
• JavaScript
• PostgreSQL
• Cloudinary
• Mapbox
• Heroku
• Stimulus
• ActiveStorage

Features

Doggy comes with everything you’d expect from a fun social app for dogs

• Dog Profiles : Create a profile for your dog with photos and a short bio
• Community Feed : Share posts and images with other dog owners
• Wouffer : Like posts and leave comments
• Events : Create and edit dog‑friendly events
• Private Messages : Chat directly with other owners
• Nearby Dogs & Events : Use Mapbox to see what’s happening around you
• Image Uploads : Store and manage photos through Cloudinary
• Feed Browsing : Explore posts from the whole community
• Dog Matching : A fun matching feature inspired by Tinder (but for dogs)

The Process

We started by imagining a social network where dogs are the main characters. First came user accounts and dog profiles, then a feed where owners could share updates. After that, we added messaging so people could connect directly.

Cloudinary handled all the image uploads, and Mapbox made it possible to discover dogs and events nearby. We wanted the app to feel friendly and playful, so we built each feature step by step: profiles, posts, messaging, geolocation, events, and media uploads.

Working as a team of four, we split tasks, reviewed each other’s code, and deployed often to Heroku to test everything in real conditions.

What I Learned

This project helped me grow in several areas:

• Building full CRUD features in Rails
• Handling media uploads with ActiveStorage + Cloudinary
• Creating private messaging between users
• Integrating external APIs like Mapbox
• Organizing a multi‑feature Rails app with a team
• Deploying and maintaining a live app on Heroku
• Working efficiently with GitHub (branches, pull requests, CI)

What Could Be Improved

• Add friend or follow features
• Improve Mapbox with filters and routes
• Add notifications for messages or follows
• Create a “verified dog” badge (because why not)

Demo

DoggyDemo.mp4