Finding Fido with GPS and Other High Tech

It's hard to imagine anything worst than losing your best canine friend - unless it's the sight of your 12-year-old crying his/her eyes out because Fido ran off.

Fortunately, there are high-tech identification and tracking options ranging from computer-based Universal Serial Bus (USB) collar tags to satellite Global Positioning System (GPS) systems.

GPS is a satellite-based navigation system developed by the U.S. Department of Defense but now available 24/7 for civilian use.

Here's a quick summary of the three most popular high-tech products:
USB Tags, Assisted GPS and Traditional GPS.

Tags

KoogaTag Digital USB Pet ID Tag - cost about $30 for tag and $10 a year afterwards for registration.

What it is - USB tag that links to computer program with information about your dog. If someone finds your lost dog, they call the 800-number on the tag and the company notifies you.

What's good - Unlike microchips that depend on a finder having the ability to scan and read a microchip, these tags have the 800-number of the tag service on them. Anyone who can read and has access to a phone can use them.

Also, your personal information is never revealed to the stranger who finds your dog. The tag service notifies you.

What's not - This is a hope and pray system. You hope a decent person will find your lost dog and make the call.

Assisted GPS (AGPS)

Assisted GPS means the satellite contacts servers using cellular networks.

You can locate your dog even in a heavily wooded area or inside a garage. Traditional GPS does not work well in heavy cover or inside structures, such as homes and garages.

The good news means that your dog can be tracked in a wider area but the bad news is that, depending on the brand of GPS you use, your dog has to be within a particular cellular network coverage. You don't have to be a customer of the cell phone company however.

Two top brands are described below. Each costs around $100 and requires a service plan that runs $120-200 a year depending on options. Neither product has a collar that's designed for small dogs but either would work fine for medium to large dogs.

Both can track a dog anywhere in U.S. within their particular cellular network. You can even track your dog location when your on vacation and he's with a sitter. Just log on to a computer and see if Fido is where he's supposed to be.

Both offer customer service 24/7. Think of these as OnStar for dogs.

PetSafe GPS Pet Locator - You identify a safe home zone for your dog and the PetSafe monitoring company calls you if your dog goes outside the zone and gives you the location of where he is. This one works in the AT&T cellular network. Best of all, this one can find a dog indoors or outdoors.

The negative for this is that the collar is too big and heavy for most Toy or small breeds.

Zoombak Pet GPS Dog Locator - The product provides location alerts (via text for mobile phone or email) or you can log on to a computer and check on your own. You can continuously monitor your dog's location and get the history of the path he's followed. This one works in the T-Mobile network.

Although more expensive than PetSafe above, this company has extensive GPS expertise and should be very reliable.

The negatives for this is that you're only buying the locator and have to separately purchase a collar and it doesn't track a dog indoors.

GPS

Since AGPS works over a wider range of terrain and sometimes even indoors, you're probably wondering why anyone would choose traditional GPS (only works with satellite, not cellular, network).

The pluses are you aren't required to sign up for a service plan and you aren't relying on a third-party company to find your dog. You usually have a higher initial purchase price but then you just have to recharge/replace batteries.

The very bad news is these products have a limited range, usually a
half-mile to one and half miles.

RoamEO GPS Pet Location System, Small Collar - This is the class act of the GPS group and uses a handheld device that looks like a Blackberry. It's priced like one too at approximately $400.

The portable, handheld receiver displays real-time, continuous information received from your dog's collar. The LCD shows you the location and direction of your dog. This is nice - you don't have to log on to a computer or call a customer representative to see where your dog is.

Keep in mind the drawback of GPS; however, this device only works for a dog within 1.5 miles of the receiver.

Different RoamEO models of this come with larger collar sizes and offer capability to track up to three dogs.

Summary

So what's best for your dog? Is he a 12-year-old couch potato living in a Chicago high rise or a frisky Labrador with a forest in back of your home. You'll have to decide what works best for you.

If the odds of your dog getting loose are low, there's always the inexpensive, low tech but widely used microchip. Visit http://www.toybreeds.com/microchips.htm.

If you ever plan to take your dog outside the USA, you'll probably need a
microchip so might want to have one implanted now regardless of any other devices you use.