Photocopied “LOST DOG” flyers plastered across the city doesn’t give you great odds when it comes to finding a missing pet. Most of the time, though, it’s the only option you’ve got. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be if you’ve got your four-legged friend wearing a Tagg Pet Tracker.
A dog-tracking GPS system, it’s similar to those things they put around the ankles of criminal offenders under house arrest. It attaches to the dog’s collar (should work with most types, including the Supercollar and Bark4Beer) using a two-piece clip, making it easy to put on while adding no extra equipment to impede their movements.
The Tagg Pet Tracker measures 4.375 x 1.375 x 0.75 inches and weighs a light 1.15 ounces. Clad in watertight plastic construction, all electronics are shielded from your pet’s regular encounters with wetness (submersion up to 1m for 30 minutes is fine), so you can keep it on them until the onboard battery requires a recharge. A full charge lets you keep the collar on the mutt for up to 30 days at a time (it sends automatic notifications via email when the battery is low), so it’s a no-hassle monthly job.
Armed with GPS and cellular radios, the tracking system lets you see where your dog is directly from a map. You can also define a virtual fence (“tagg zone”) and be immediately warned (either via text or email) when your dog strays away from it (and into the neighbor’s backyard to do his dirty deeds in the pool).
The catch is, you’ll have to be subscribed to Tagg’s service, since all monitoring and communication goes through their servers. If you feel the extra annual cost to be a fair trade for never losing your pet, you can pre-order the Tagg Pet Tracker now, priced at $199.99 (includes a 12-month subscription).