GPS collars for dogs

[LadyBug]

[QUOTE=Saskatoonian;8706879]
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.[/QUOTE]

Well that’s certainly disappointing. Mine have never turned themselves off except when the battery died. In general it seems like this type of technology is in high demand, but so far no one has come up with a consistently reliable solution.

[Epona142]

[QUOTE=Saskatoonian;8706879]
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.[/QUOTE]

I admit our dealings with customer service have been similar. I will say that their web interface, map, and tracking system are massively improved since Whistle took over Tagg.

[Equibrit]

Useful article here; https://www.thepawtracker.com/blogs/the-pet-tracker-blog-by-the-paw-tracker/84621315-top-13-gps-pet-trackers-dog-and-cat-cell-phones-best-of-2016-reviewedhttps://www.thepawtracker.com/blogs/the-pet-tracker-blog-by-the-paw-tracker/84621315-top-13-gps-pet-trackers-dog-and-cat-cell-phones-best-of-2016-reviewed

This looks like it will be VG. http://hellonuzzle.com/nuzzle-products/

[frisky]

Thank you for the whistle/tagg idea! I took my dog to the barn today and he disappeared in the woods (which is fine) for five hours! He’s a treeing walker and a wonderful dog, but he loves to hunt and only comes back when he’s exhausted. He’s usually very close, but I can never find him unless he’s hot on a trail and barking.

[jawa]

The Garmin system is the one that I’ve seen most hunt clubs use. I’ve ridden in the hound truck following the hunt and was able to watch how the system works. The collars are put on and stay turned on for 6 plus hours. The system allows you to track up to 20 hounds. It only has issues if we have a joint meet with a mixed pack and more than 20 hounds are wearing collars, even though our unit is only tracking our 20 collared hounds. Some units also have a correction option, so you can shock the dog if you need to.

[LadyBug]

[QUOTE=frisky;8709779]
Thank you for the whistle/tagg idea! I took my dog to the barn today and he disappeared in the woods (which is fine) for five hours! He’s a treeing walker and a wonderful dog, but he loves to hunt and only comes back when he’s exhausted. He’s usually very close, but I can never find him unless he’s hot on a trail and barking.[/QUOTE]

5 hours?!? That would drive me crazy, although we are relatively close to some roads so I have that to be concerned about. This is exactly what I use the system for. I don’t mind that they wander off, but I want to know where they are and if I should be worried.

[Saskatoonian]

Exactly. I also need waterproof (live next to a river and the dog loves to swim). Might just have to spring for Garmin. Whistle worked ok at first - though it was slow to alert me to the dog leaving the zone - but it’s worse to think you have a tracker only to discover that it’s not working than not to have one at all.

Sheesh, geezer dogs are tricky.

[SouthernYankee]

I have a Garmin DC-50 collar and Astro 320 handheld. It works very well for my hunting dog and even if she gets out of range it will pick her back up when she gets back in range.

Our foxhunt uses the Astro 320 and DC-40 and DC-50 collars without any issues.

After using Garmin products I won’t use anything else. They are very rugged and waterproof. Battery life is excellent on the collars.

I’m not sure I really like the thought of relying on the collars to find the dogs. It’s always a little stressful when we turn ours loose as someone can pick them up and shut off the collar and we would never find dog or collar, and that’s $$$ that’s running through the woods. My hunting dog can also roam freely at home when I’m in the barn and knows where the property lines are and knows to not cross them. She has a very high prey drive (Catahoula) and uses her nose all the time, so it can be trained into them to not wander off.

[Saskatoonian]

Thanks, SY. She knows the boundaries and is generally very good about staying in them, but she’s getting old and a little senile, hard of hearing and isn’t seeing so well. In the past 13 years she’s gone on walkabout maybe 4-5 times - but as she’s aged I’ve gotten more uncomfortable with it.

[Classicgal]

How about those new “tiles” that track lost items. My friend uses one on her dog for walks. I don’t know how far the range is but enough for when her dog strays out of her sight. It makes a noise that the dog responds to as well as the location shows up on her phone. My husband got some, the brand is TrackR.bravo.