7 Cool Wearables For Pets 2
New wearable devices let you track every second of your pet's life -- whether Fido and Fluffy like it or not. Is your best friend ready for FitBark?
![](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt69509c9116440be8/blt7916bf0fd877ec4d/64cb578235d26a98bc46d3db/1-Jack.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
You think you have no personal privacy in today's digital age? Imagine what your dog feels like.
A slew of wearable devices enable you to see where your pet roams and perhaps even forge a new connection with Fido. These gadgets fall into two main categories: health/wellness and location tracking, with some offering a pet's-eye view of the world.
While you may not consider location tracking a priority for your pet, let me tell you about Jack. He's a five-pound mini-pinscher who owns... umm, is owned by my friend Allison in Oakland, Calif. Jack is an escape artist who would put Houdini to shame. Allison has Jack-proofed her home multiple times, and yet Jack always finds a way to escape. Each day, while she's at work, Allison receives text messages like the one below from her neighbors reporting their latest sightings of Jack.
So far, none of the devices we've seen can actually enable Allison to remotely order Jack to "go home right this minute!" What they can do is tell her where he is at any given moment, offer her a view of what he is seeing, let her know what his heart rate is, and, with the help of sympathetic neighbors, help her capture him more quickly in the future.
Someday, with the help of gadgets like No More Woof, Allison may even be able to go all Doctor Doolittle and ask Jack why, exactly, he would want to give up the comforts of home to wander the streets. Here's a video to explain:
While dog-to-human language translation isn't quite market-ready yet, wearable devices for your pets aim to help you understand what your companion needs by monitoring every aspect of his physiological behavior. This is useful if you can't bear to glance up from your electronic device long enough to actually read your dog's or cat's body language. Because, apparently, when a dog stands at the door and barks, that isn't enough of a clue for most humans to figure out the dog needs a walk. We'd much rather figure it out by looking at a dashboard on our tablet that says he might be feeling restless because he didn't get enough play time today.
Click through the slides to learn more about No More Woof and six other pet wearables that aim to help you and your four-legged friends attain a higher level of understanding and wellbeing.
If you're not completely satisfied, you can always take the money you're thinking of investing in a pet wearable and donate it to a worthy animal charity instead. One option is Best Friends Animal Society, where feeding time never ends:
After you've flipped through the slides, tell us what you think. Would you put a wearable on your pet? If so, why? And, should canine-to-human translation ever become a reality, what is the first question you would ask your dog? Tell us all about it in the comments section below.
Voyce, created by i4C Innovations in Chantilly, Va., is not yet on the market. The dog collar, introduced at CES 2014, measures vitals, including heart rate and respiratory rate, as well as your dog's activity and rest levels, and the number of calories burned. It is designed to access up to 10 WiFi networks to communicate with your computer, smartphone, or tablet. Trends will be tracked, with recommendations provided on actions to take for your pet. As Voyce gets to know your dog, you'll receive customized tips from experts and relevant articles to help you understand your animal.
According to the company, "Voyce can help you identify common medical conditions such as heart disease and respiratory problems. When medical conditions are caught early, it may improve your dog's quality of life and reduce treatment costs."
Oh, and if you don't already post enough online about your beloved pooch, you'll be able to share anything you want to from Voyce on social media -- as well as with your veterinarian.
Tagg is the kind of pet tracking device that could help my friend Allison rein in her adventurous dog Jack. Originally developed in 2012 by Snaptracs, a division of Qualcomm, the company was sold to San Diego-based Karmel Capitol in June 2013. The $99 GPS device is available in more than 3,000 retail locations, including Apple and Verizon stores, as well as in veterinary clinics.
Tagg attaches to your pet's collar, while the accompanying iOS or Android app allows you to define a safe zone in or around your house. You're alerted via text message, email, or an in-app notification if your pet moves outside that zone. The service even provides driving directions so you can find your pet quickly. The device will also let you know when the battery is getting low so you can recharge it. Not to be outdone in the pet-fitness realm, Tagg has a built-in accelerometer that measures steps taken, distance walked, and overall activity duration and intensity every 30 seconds. The data is uploaded to the app, where you can monitor your pet's every move.
PetHub founder and CEO Tom Arnold left Microsoft to address the challenge of lost pets. The product, launched in 2013, uses an online community approach to help reunite lost pets with their owners. PetHub participants can sign up to receive missing-pet alerts. Users purchase an ID tag for their dog's or cat's collar. The tag is linked to the pet's online profile at PetHub.com. If a pet goes missing, the owner can forward its PetHub profile to veterinarians, pet shelters, pet stores, coffee shops, and individuals within a 25-mile radius of where the pet was last seen. Each pet tag contains a QR code that can be scanned by a smartphone, triggering an alert sent by PetHub to the owner. (The person who finds the animal can also log into the tag's Web address or call PetHub directly.)
A premium service includes a GPS map of the pet's whereabouts as well as $3,000 in emergency medical insurance for your pet. The basic service is free with the price of a pet tag, while the premium service -- which also includes access to a database of 13,000 pet shelters -- is available for a subscription rate of $3 per month plus a $10 activation fee, or $28 per year with no activation fee. Tags are available for $10 to $25 each.
No More Woof claims to be the first device to translate dog thoughts into human language. Still in the development phase, the doggie headset uses micro-computing and EEG to analyze an animal's thought patterns, turn them into human language, and spell them out using a loudspeaker. At the moment, the device speaks only English, although Mandarin, French, and Spanish versions are in the works.
You can pick from one of eight different voice profiles for your mutt. Prototype devices range from the $65 single-sensor model -- which claims to be able to translate two to three dog thoughts into English -- all the way up to the $1,200 NMW Superior.
According to the company, the NMW Superior is "a two-sensor version that is able to distinguish four or more thought patterns, and can be calibrated to function better with different dogs. It offers upgradeable software via micro-USB. It programs itself while in use, always learning more of how your dog thinks and reacts -- over time this option lets your dog speak short sentences [such as] 'I'm hungry -- but I don't like this!' "
The Eyenimal Petcam offers a pet's-eye view of the world. Versions are available for cats and dogs, featuring 2.5 hours of battery life, 4 GB of flash memory, USB video transfer, and battery recharge. Weighing 1.1 oz., the camera is designed to fit all standard dog and cat collars.
It features an autofocus CMOS sensor with automatic light adjustment, night vision up to 7 feet, built-in microphone, and 736 x 480 video resolution. While it's not waterproof, it can be used in damp, humid, and rainy conditions. Eyenimal is manufactured by French firm Num'Axes, which makes a range of pet training devices. The Eyenimal PetCam is available in the US from Clearwater, Fla.-based Dogtek.com for $129.
If you already wear a FitBit, chances are you'll want to get FitBark for your pup when it's available later this year. Created by the Kansas City, Mo.-based company of the same name, via a Kickstarter campaign, FitBark is a waterproof doggie activity monitor shaped like a dog bone that's worn on the collar and linked to a WiFi base station. It collects physical activity and rest levels 24/7, and data can be accessed via iOS or Android smartphone.
The mobile app can be used to track multiple mutts, and the app can be shared among a group of doggie caregivers. FitBark gives you breed-specific guidelines so you can see where your dog stands compared to other dogs. You can receive an alert if your pooch is far from reaching her activity goal for the day, or if a particular day's patterns look different from her baseline. The information will be shareable with your veterinarian and, of course, your social media feeds.
G-Paws is a GPS receiver created by UK-based IQ Cloud Computing. It weighs less than a half-ounce and is designed for dogs, cats, and other small animals. It can attach to any collar and monitor your pet's activities while it's out roaming. It records its position every five seconds to an accuracy of +/- 3m. The tracklogs are recorded as .gpx files that can be uploaded direct to G-Paws.com, and owners can see where their pets have gone with aerial-level mapping.
You create a pet profile on G-Paws.com, where you can download and store the data from the G-Paws device. The unit has an eight-hour battery with a motion detector, so if Fluffy decides to take a lengthy siesta, the gadget will power down until she moves again. If you want to download a daily map of your pet's activity, G-Paws will give you that, though it does not currently provide real-time wireless monitoring of your pet's whereabouts. It's currently available in the UK for £49.95.
What do you think about pet wearables? Are they the wave of the future, or just a passing fad? Which of these devices would you want to have for your four-legged pal? And what pet gadget would you love to see that hasn't been invented yet? Tell us all about it in the comments section below.
What do you think about pet wearables? Are they the wave of the future, or just a passing fad? Which of these devices would you want to have for your four-legged pal? And what pet gadget would you love to see that hasn't been invented yet? Tell us all about it in the comments section below.
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