UKC

Is there such a thing as a small inexpensive tracking device for a dog?


I know of a Tile Trackers which uses Bluetooth for stuff but once you are out of their limited range then, tough.

Is there something GPS-ey, that I could attach to the pooch and be able to locate him if he buggers off when I lose sight of him?

No experience of using such a thing but have seen folk out hunting with their dogs using something like this

http://www.garmin.com/en-US/explore/onthetrail/sporting-dogs#tracking

In reply to Nordie_matt:

Thanks for that.

Looks expensive.


Has anybody actually used one of the Bluetooth Tiles?

Are they any good for general stuff like keys?

Cheers muchly

In reply to The Lemming:

My non technical solution is a pocket full of cheese and sausages.

On a serious note, I found it useful to train my pooch with reverse psychology. I'd let him off the lead in a safe area, and without warning as soon as he turned his back I would hide or run off. If you do this often enough with a collie type, they will decide they have to keep an eye on you or you will escape.

Doesn't prevent every bid for freedom, if there is something really interesting, but all other things being boring he stays with me.

In reply to marsbar:

All other things being boring...

Yeah but sheep and deer are so interesting!

In reply to The Lemming:

https://www.thetrackr.com/bravo/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=Bravo_Sea...

These came up in my fb feed today

In reply to marsbar:



Used to do the same with my collie, Ben. I miss him.


You ever tried the same thing with a small terrier?

They are not exactly what you would describe as obedient.

In reply to drgrange:


Same principle of the Tile. You have to be within a 30 meter range for it to be picked up and its a bit more expensive.

In reply to The Lemming:

If you have an old smartphone, such as one with a broken screen, which has GPS, you could put it in a doggy coat pocket. As well as being able to track him with an app whenever he has mobile phone signal, it would be fun to train him to do something - perhaps come and find you - whenever the phone rang! I would keep the volume down and try it round the house first, or he might freak out and run away further...

In reply to The Lemming:

Ah I didn't realise you had a different breed. I have never tried training a terrier, I imagine it's not the same.

In reply to Flinticus:

Exactly.

He is never off the lead near sheep or deer I don't trust him.

Would hate to end up on YouTube like the Fenton guy.

In reply to The Lemming:

Our pointer is terrible for chasing - really strong tracking / prey drive so we looked into the same. What we found was loads of options that use mobile phone signal - we had a "Tractive" device, but ditched it when they moved to a subscription service. Worked well in most coastal and woodland areas around us, but not so much in the hills. On the plus side, they have a serial number that links back to you if searched online and if your dog returns to an area with signal it'll flag up where they are (for worst case buggering off!).

From searching previously you also get FM transmitter type locators (again limited range, but not limited by phone signal etc.

If you want long range locating (above say 50-100m), outside of phone / data signal then you'll end up paying a lot unfortunately.

Cheers!

Stu

In reply to StuDoig:

Hmm. I can feel a project coming on. There are a number of low-cost (<$10), long-range (>km), low-power, unlicensed RF technologies (e.g., LoRaWAN) appearing specifically for the 'Internet of Things' market. A home-made Arduino-based Internet of Dogs may be on the cards. Watch this space...

In reply to The Lemming:

https://tractive.com/shop/en/pet-wearables/1-gps-pet-tracker-9120056450015....

Looks like a GPS&GSM based solution that will work outside of the urban wifi/bluetooth rich environment. Cheaper than you could make one at the reduced price too. No idea how good it is, your question just piqued my interest so I had a little look to see what's available.
jk

In reply to Gone:


Or run up a huge phone bill

In reply to The Lemming:

Hate to be the one to say it but......

If you don't have full control of your dog then it shouldn't be of the lead. Farmers are legally allowed to shoot your dog if it's found harassing livestock. Even if it just looks like it's out of control near some livestock. Do you really want to take that risk?

In reply to jac the lassie:

Way to go with putting two and two together and coming up with potato.

At what point did I mention livestock, farmers or little green men?

In reply to The Lemming:

"Is there something GPS-ey, that I could attach to the pooch and be able to locate him if he buggers off when I lose sight of him?"

Erm ^^^ here. If you don't know where he is, where is he?

In reply to jac the lassie:

Maybe happily running round the park/woods/arable land/other areas where there is no livestock? I had considered this sort of thing for my terrier, but when he goes missing he's often underground, so out of signal...

In reply to ceri:


The problem is that if you don't know where the dog is then you don't know that it is in an area with no livestock.

The majority of misplaced dogs will not be a problem but having inadvertently signed up to lost pet alerts when we registered our dogs microchips it's astounding to discover just how many dog owners are incapable of holding onto their pets

In reply to timjones:

Unless they open a farm with livestock on the beach or local wood near me, then its fair to say that my dog would have to go a long way to find a farm with sheep or cows.

I'd appreciate it if people would get off their high horses to point score just to sound superior on a website by spouting irrelevant or impertinent information.

In reply to The Lemming:

Did you even bother to read beyond the first sentence?

In reply to The Lemming:

My in laws' last terrier had a sense of humour and thought it was great fun to hide in the woods whenever we were dog sitting her. She would usually go into stealth mode when we headed back towards the car. ( I suspect she sniggered like Mutley as she did it). The best solution was to get a new collie and train it and make a game of rounding her up. If the collie then takes to hiding I suppose you have to get another collie .

GPS is sometimes at its worst heavily wooded areas. I'm not quite sure how well it would work for an ornery mutt playing hide and seek in undergrowth as fixes might well be intermittent so only give a general location by whatever means they got back to any receiver.

In reply to The Lemming:

Simple, attach a bloodhound on a short leash to your dog that is trained to scent back to you when the dog becomes lost.

In reply to jac the lassie:

There are vast areas of the U.K. without livestock.

In reply to ultrabumbly:

You have to be careful your ever increasing fleet of collies don't round up random dogs and other people's children.

In reply to marsbar:

Yip, but if you've got no clue where you're dogs ran of too. Then you've no idea if it's in such an area or not.

Countryside code states

"Keep dogs under effective control
When you take your dog into the outdoors, always ensure it does not disturb wildlife, farm animals, horses or other people by keeping it under effective control. This means that you:

keep your dog on a lead, or
keep it in sight at all times, be aware of what it’s doing and be confident it will return to you promptly on command
ensure it does not stray off the path or area where you have a right of access"

It's not points scoring. I simply responsible dog ownership.