Today’s guest post is written by Mike Hemstreet, founder of My Dog Is A Robot, a blog featuring the latest in pet tech industry news. Comment and share to show our guest author some love!
As a tech geek and pet lover, I couldn’t help but notice an influx of pet tech innovations coming up in the past few years.
There’s so many companies emerging and growing at an incredible rate. It’s hard to keep track of them. I realized that I could help dog lovers like you learn about all of them in one place. Subscribe to the My Dog Is A Robot pet tech newsletter to get weekly updates about new products as they are launched.
Read on to learn a little bit about how tech can help our dogs live longer, healthier lives.
Table of Contents
Track Your Dog’s Health With Smart Trackers
Though dogs can’t talk, smart trackers are the next best thing. They attach to your dog’s collar, and can tell you everything from their exact location via GPS, to how much exercise they have gotten in the past few weeks. You’ll want to do your research before making a purchase because every tracker is different. They vary greatly in battery life, features, and price, so you’ll need to make sure the one you choose meets your dog’s needs.
On My Dog Is A Robot, we have a page listing prices, battery life and features of 20 available pet trackers. One of the most popular is Whistle 3, which tracks your dog’s location via GPS, your dog’s activity and rest patterns and calories burned.
If you’re looking for more in-depth details about your dog’s health, you’d want to choose PetPace, a collar that uses sensors to track temperature, activity, pulse, respiration, calories consumed and heart rate.
These collars and collar attachments usually send updates to your smartphone and can send alerts through an app if your dog isn’t getting enough exercise or may have escaped your property. Some of these accessories are a bit bulky, but they’re getting smaller and more powerful with each new release. It wouldn’t be surprising if someday these smart trackers are as commonplace as microchips.
Even now, approximately 10 million pets are lost each year, and just 2% of animals that are admitted to shelters are ever reunited with their family. GPS trackers can tell you the moment your pet crosses your property line, and will tell you exactly where they are – no more driving around the neighborhood looking for your lost dog.
Fight Obesity With High Tech Smart Feeders
Over 50 percent of dogs are overweight, and the cause is often overfeeding. Irregular mealtimes, incorrect measurements and uncoordinated family members can all contribute to a dog getting too much food. Smart feeders can be programmed to dispense a precise serving size on a schedule. Some have controls on the unit itself, while others can be programmed through an app.
In multi-pet homes, smart feeders are a must-have. Serve Smart Feeder can be used with the Wagz collars to identify which pet is at the feeder – and only dispense food to the correct pet.
Some smart feeders can track your pet’s food and water consumption, which might not seem too important unless your pet has a health condition – in which case, changes in eating or drinking can indicate a decline in their health.
Get Your Dog Moving With Interactive Toys
Most dogs need more exercise than we can realistically provide. Those of us who may be too tired, busy, injured, disabled, or otherwise able to keep their pet challenged physically would love high tech, interactive dog toys.
For a mentally stimulated play session, try CleverPet. Your dog will have to press the light-up buttons in sequence, at increasingly challenging levels, to earn food rewards.
Many professional trainers and behaviorists are using Puppod and Pet Tutor to combat training challenges like separation anxiety. You can program and control the smart toy and treat dispenser from your phone.
GoBone races around the room, controlled by an app on your phone or in autoplay mode. It can be loaded up with treats to encourage your dog to chase it. Excellent for terriers and other dogs with a strong chase drive.
With a combination of interactive toys and a health tracker, you can set goals to increase your dog’s physical activity, and make lasting changes that will benefit their long-term health. Exercise helps control your dog’s weight and keeps senior dogs flexible, preventing immobility issues due to osteoarthritis.
Get Instant Help 24/7 With First Aid Apps
When your pet is hurt or sick, it can be difficult to know if you should just wait it out or rush to an emergency vet. These apps are free to download, available on iOS and Android. Don’t wait until you’re in the middle of a possible emergency; download these apps today so you can access instant assistance even when the vet’s office is closed.
Poison Control App from ASPCA – next time your dog eats something weird, you can instantly find out if you need to rush to the vet or if it would be safe to just monitor them at home. There’s even a chocolate toxicity calculator built into the app.
Pet First Aid from American Red Cross – this app is packed with information about common health problems, articles and videos so you can learn how to respond in an emergency, and how to do CPR on pets of any size – it could save your dog’s life.
PetDesk allows you to request vet appointments 24/7, sends reminders, and stores information about your pets’ medications. You can also use it to communicate with your groomer, boarding kennel and pet daycare.
PetCoach can connect you with a veterinarian to answer health-related questions (for free!) allowing you to sometimes avoid a vet appointment for a minor issue that you can manage at home. It also contains a database to help you find a new veterinarian, and you can use it to schedule appointments 24/7.
Being a pet parent is getting easier and more convenient – and there’s still more to come.
Learn about new pet tech companies and other industry news at MyDogIsARobot.com.
I’m not that into technology to be honest, at least not more than I need to be so most of these things are new to me. I like the idea of the smart feeder because every time I see a fat dog I want to cry, then yell at the owner who did it to them.
I love that technology has enhanced the lives of pets. The timed feeder is a great thing to prevent obesity and also to allow meal feeding for cats instead of the never ending kibble diet. The trackers are great too for people with wandering pets. The battery operated toys scare me with dogs that try to chew it up.
Interesting post! I’ve considered getting a pet tracker for my dogs but I haven’t done it yet. My dogs only go outside with me. The way our building is set up they’d have to escape from 4 separate doors before they’d be outside so I think it’s pretty unlikely they’d ever get out without me. Maybe after we move I’ll look into them again.
Technology is definitely amazing. Timed feeders would be great for my cats, especially since one needs to lose weight and her food intake needs to be monitored. I think the poison control app is a very good thing to have.
I am not a tech person and do not have a smart phone, I have seen a lot of people with the gps on their dog but Layla is like velcro so am not that concerned. As for her diet she has never been over weight as I monitor her food plus cook for her only. She is 11 years old and very healthy.
Technology is amazing and offers more and more benefits to dogs all the time.
Technology can be very beneficial in so many cases. Just this week I was explaining the difference between a microchip and a GPS tracker to a guy who has a puppy. I think my dogs would like a CleverPet toy, but I’m not sure since they mostly want to interact with people.
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It is amazing the technological advances in pet care. I have an automatic feeder for my girls that is controlled by my phone. I don’t have anything on their collars because they don’t wear them.
Technology is always moving forward in all industries. The dog market is no different. I have an automatic feeder but not an interactive one. I think my dog Jake would love one of these!
You are 110% right, modern technology is really helping dogs (and human as well) live longer.
Biotechnology is working hard to bring further improvements and give better lives to dogs or humans or any other living character.
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I wish I’d found this earlier in my dog’s life.
Interesting. I never considered these types of tech devices for pets. Yet, it makes sense that what works for humans works for pets. I only thought of the chips you put in dogs to keep track of them. I don’t even know how those work exactly, but I am thankful for them. Now, it looks like there may be even more tech to be thankful for.
I think this is what most dog owners should know at the early stages of their dog’s life. If I had know this earlier it would have helped me with my saint benard