My DSO’s dad is looking for info on GPS systems for dog collars…they have two dogs who have a habit of finding interesting trails to follow and forgetting where home is…this time, they were gone three days and two nights before they showed up on somebody’s porch. Personally I’d be either restricting them by leashing or penning or solo off-leash time (individually they normally don’t wander) but they do deter coyotes by their presence (they have a small herd of goats). They are surrounded by woodlands, with no other livestock in the general area, so there isn’t a concern about them harassing livestock (plus they are very livestock friendly).
So, with all that…what would be a good type of collar? He was also wondering about base units and how they work. I am wondering if the surrounding woodlands and ravine would make it harder to use - this is technology I am unfamiliar with!
Thanks,
Dee
Yesterday we had a helicopter flying below ceiling limit forever over my teeny tiny little town. I finally called city hall & asked what was up. Cross my heart, she said it was, “Like a doggie lojack.”
Nope, cannot tell you anything more than that, as I have not a clue. But obviously there must be something, somewhere, on the market for what you want.
A lot of the hunters in this area, mountains, use the garmin Astro 220 with the extended antenna. It does GPS so you can see where they are on a map.
This link to Gun Dog Supply will tell you all you need to know about tracking collars. They are fabulous people to work with.
GPS systems definitely can be effected mostly by terrain. The unit I use will track between 8-12 miles depending on line of site. In very hilly or mountainous terrain, the distance is cut because the structures block the signal. I use the Tracker system combined with the Marshall collars but if I were going to upgrade, I would probably go with the Garmin Astro 320.
I never take my beagles out anywhere unless they have their collars on.
Very cool.
I was just talking to my vet Monday while he was chipping Hattie. I want a GPS small enough to implant in my horses like the chips. They have made them smaller and smaller, so that they are in shoes for kids and for elderly people who wander off. My vet thinks that the implantable GPS devices are not too far off.
Hunters in the South have used the bulky GPS collars for years to track their favorite dogs. One hunter got tired of what he thought was someone stealing his deer dogs, so he bought GPS collars. He put one on his 5000$ dog. Dog disappeared. He went looking and found the dog’s collar inside a big gator.
I was at the National Field Trial Championships last week and Tri-tronics (owned by Garmin) was one of the title sponsors. The winner was given the Astro 320. So I’m guessing that’s the top of the line.
Try posting your question in the hunting forum, as I believe they are used on hounds occasionally.
TAGG the Pet Tracker
This sounds a lot like what you want. A real GPS system.
“Find your pet quickly and easily from your computer or mobile device.”
They have a cat model too.
I second Gun Dog Supply. The customer service is wonderful.
My employers got the TAGG system for their three dogs recently, and, I have to say, it is pretty phenomenal! There are certain pairings of the four dogs on the farm (my dog plus theirs) that will go on some big adventures (not quite as big as the OP’s, though!), and it has helped tremendously on pinning them down when they are gone an inappropriate amount of time. The first time I experienced how great it works, my boss (who was at work and tracking them from his computer) talked me right up on to the two wayward souls! It was incredible. I then downloaded the app on my phone, and have tracked them down myself a couple of times, right up on to them. It’s very cool, although sometimes a little gut wrenching to find out just how far (and FAST!) they can travel.
Yes. We could restrict them with leashes, etc, but they live on a 95 acre farm surrounded by friendly farms of hundreds of acres, so it seems a little unnecessary to keep them penned up or separated. This system helps find them when they wander a little farther astray than they really should :yes:
Marshall Radio
A friend of ours worked with these guys, and knows them personally, and thinks very highly of them (he’s a professional falconer):
I know someone who has a Garmin Astro, and although I think it’s really stupid that we spend so much time using the device to find her dog solely because she refuses to confine, leash, or train the dog to come to a whistle, we always do find the dog. One of these days we will find him dead (shot by an irate farmer or hit by a car) but we will find him.
You can string invisible fences around quite large swathes of land, and it’s not hard at all to train a dog to come to a whistle. A GPS unit should be used as a back-up system.
I train gundogs, and have the Garmin Astro 320. Love it!
Not only can I program each collar to the individual dog…when I look at the handheld, I can see a line…in a specific color for a specific dog…and the dog’s name…and the line traces the exact path the dog has taken. It will tell me when a dog is on point/has stopped moving, too.
Bumping this up to add a review (negative) of Whistle GPS, which I understand bought out Tagg, and to ask for more recent reviews.
Got a Whistle 2 1/2 months ago for my dog who’s gotten a little deaf and a little senile. It worked ok for about 2 months, then just died. From the other reviews I’ve read, this isn’t uncommon. On to the next, I guess. Thanks !
We use the Tagg/Whistle trackers on the goats while they browse, and when they work, they’re great.
The devices have a habit of poor battery life after a time, however, and ours delight in randomly turning themselves off.
But when they work, they are very very useful to me. Especially because I can track the goats’ movements through-out the day which is useful in various ways.
I’ve just been googling within the last few days. There are some waterproof GPS systems for dog collars. I’m thinking they might work on horse halters. Battery life is an issue. I want one like the ones put on wild animals or sharks, but as small as the ones now sold for dogs. The ones used on wild animals and sharks last a long time.
[QUOTE=Saskatoonian;8705898]
Bumping this up to add a review (negative) of Whistle GPS, which I understand bought out Tagg, and to ask for more recent reviews.
Got a Whistle 2 1/2 months ago for my dog who’s gotten a little deaf and a little senile. It worked ok for about 2 months, then just died. From the other reviews I’ve read, this isn’t uncommon. On to the next, I guess. Thanks ![/QUOTE]
I use Whistle (formerly Tagg) on both of my dogs and am still happy with it even after the acquisition. One dog has the old Tagg 2.0 and the other has the new Whistle version. They work the same but look different.
Sometimes it does take a few minutes for it to realize the dogs have left the house (and gone to the barn with me), but I use the system to track my dogs if they go exploring, not to alert me that they’ve left. I already know that and I then use the app to either track them down or watch where they are until they come back.
Call their Customer Service if your unit died. I’ve had the Whistle version since November 2015 and the Tagg version is significantly older than that.
Spent about an hour, all told, emailing back and forth with customer service, and trying everything but standing on my head, and when they got to asking for pictures of the thing in my house, just cancelled the service. Absolute nonsense. The problems I was having are consistent with problems others have had (see Epona142’s comment!). A tracker that turns itself off while my dog’s on walkabout is completely useless.
