Dog gps

[Origin Unknown]

(Couldn’t find a recent PH thread)

My Border Collie is an adventurous boy but does return, eventually. I’d like a bit of security so I know I can find him.

Any real world experiences to share?

[ctdctd]

I had a Tractive for a couple of years - I think I paid about £30 for the box (on offer) and £90 for two year subscription up front.

Used occasionally until I worked out dogs were reasonably safe off lead and also used for new routes and holidays.

For everyday use, I imagine keeping it charged would be a faff - needs it every couple of days so there is a bit left for live tracking if needed.

It needs a good mobile signal for decent tracking so probably not much good in the sticks - but that applies to all trackers that use the mobile network.

I had this one - there is a newer model now
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tractive-Lightweight-wate...

[NoTreadLeft]

Another Tractive user here. We use ours a lot and it’s been useful quite a few times, usually when our JRT gets a bit carried away chasing squirrels in the woods.

We’ve got through several of them over the last 3 years: we started with the old model (linked above). Our dog destroyed 2 of these before we moved on the the newer model which is tougher, but the collar clips can break. Frustrating if it happens in a large bramble patch (which it usually does) and you can’t get to it. We use a bit of velcro to keep it secure now.

Tractive have always been good about replacing anything that breaks and even the ones we “lost” were replaced for about £20 when we threatened to cancel our subscription.

One feature that we use even more than the tracker is the built-in beeper which you can set off remotely, It’s sufficiently annoying to our dog that she will quickly get bored of whatever she’s doing and come back to get it turned off.

Clearly you need a decent mobile & GPS signal for them to work (although the beeper also works with bluetooth) and they are not a substitute for keeping your dog under control.

But overall I”d recommend the Tractive - if your dog occasionally gets a bit carried away then they can be invaluable.

[ConnectionError]

I tried a tractive

The only time I needed it I was in the woods,

They don't work in woods.

It is now sat in the cupboard

A good idea, with flaws unfortunately.

[Origin Unknown]

Thanks all, the Amazon reviews certainly reflect your views above.

Looking at Findster Duo+ at the moment, if I understand it correctly, it uses a radio frequency to communicate GPS coordinates between dog and owner, which in turn connects to phone, thus no monthly subscription charges or mobile data dark spots.

Estimate range, up to 4.8km... estimated... up-to. Their quoted limitations are in dense urban environments meaning down to 0.8KM but nothing about wooded environments. Reviews suggest good connectivity in woods but who trusts posted reviews these days!

A 30-day money-back guarantee would give me enough time to try it out in dense woodland to see if it actually works. Out of stock currently.

[NoTreadLeft]

Origin Unknown said:

Looking at Findster Duo+ at the moment, if I understand it correctly, it uses a radio frequency to communicate GPS coordinates between dog and owner, which in turn connects to phone, thus no monthly subscription charges or mobile data dark spots

Looks like a reasonable solution - if you get one I'd be very interested to hear how you get on with it.

Do you know if it uses off-line maps? Or does the phone need enough of a signal to download those? Probably not too much of an issue in practice as it's usually the dog-end which loses the signal, but off-line maps would be a nice feature.

Incidentally in our local park I'm seeing quite a few dogs wearing Apple AirTags these days. Can't see them being much use in a rural environment but for urban use they might have a role.

[LotusMartin]

Origin Unknown said:

Looking at Findster Duo+ at the moment, if I understand it correctly, it uses a radio frequency to communicate GPS coordinates between dog and owner, which in turn connects to phone, thus no monthly subscription charges or mobile data dark spots.

Take a look at the Findster reviews on Amazon - they don’t paint a pretty picture!!

[rxe]

My parents adopted a Podenco, with an approach to recall that can be summarised as “run and don’t look back”. The dog would just bolt, then realise it had no idea where it was. A Tractive collar in this case was very useful - if we were walking it where it might bolt, then we had the reassurance of being able to have it off the lead, and be confident we could find it again.

Recharging is a PITA, but doable.

Overall it worked well enough for us to find the dog on a regular basis….

[benm3evo]

I've been using Tractive for a couple of months. Not overly impressed as it seems slow to update sometimes & turning on the Live Tracking can take ages but I guess it's mainly down to the signal strength.

I've never needed to use it in an emergency yet but I think it would be a help.

I am on my second tracker already, first one just stopped working even though it showed it had a signal etc. Logged a case through the website & was sent a replacement in just over a week so not too bad.

The battery is lasting just about 3 days, that's just general use, no live tracking. It does send notifications to your phone when the battery is getting low so that's useful.

[gatsanddogs]

I had a Tractive for exactly the same reason for our Border Collie. The original unit was virtually useless, but they did try to help out with updates. Eventually it was swapped for a newer one, but even then it was very hit and miss on what, or if, it was going to do.

I appreciate that in areas of poor signal, it might struggle, but tracking the normal daily walk showed that it either didn't track anything, worked okay for a while and then stopped, or randomly missed huge swathes of the route out altogether.

I came to the conclusion that it just couldn't be relied on if it was actually needed, so it's been in drawer somewhere for months.

[ColdoRS]

I use Tractive but on my cat.
It’s been great - tracked her down to the meter twice now after she hadn’t returned home from her adventures. Both times lost and scared, hiding below cars in driveways a bit far from home.

Would definitely recommend.

[Emmett33]

You can keep track of your dog or cat thanks to Tractive. It's a very good idea, I like it. I'll have to get one for mine.

[edthedead]

Anyone got one of the Vodafone tracker things that they use for a dog? Any thoughts? Looks good at 20 or 30 quid to buy then £2 a month subs

[Origin Unknown]

Yep, tried that, I could not get the app to reliably find the GPS device which made it pointless when I needed to find where the dog has run off to.