Technology tools are everywhere these days, and your beloved pets are no exception. Whether you need to find your pup, train your pup, or constrain your pup, there’s technology that’s ready to help.
Finding Your Pup
Are you dreaming of the perfect puppy to fit in with your family? Start by making sure you’re looking for the right breed for you and your living situation.
The American Kennel Club site has a Best Dog Breed quiz to help you identify the right breed based on size, energy, trainability, and many other factors. Once you find the winning breed(s), the site can also match you with breeders in your area. But even if you’re not looking for a purebred dog, this tool can help you identify some of your own preferences and priorities.
Another great tool that can help you identify the right pup is your AI tool of choice. Drop in your priorities and let the AI do the work of finding some recommendations. Don’t forget to consider the age of the dog, which can deeply influence parameters like energy and temperament.
Training Your Pup
If training is your challenge, check out the Puppr app.
Puppr is an Apple and Android Editors Choice app with a great, user-friendly interface. It offers small, step-by-step instructions for improving your pets behavior or for learning new tricks. The app also fosters community in the form of challenges and celebrations when you and your pet achieve your goals. In fact, the best part may be the ability to follow other pets’ journeys: It’s a smorgasbord of cute pet pics.
If you wanna go a little more bougie with your pet, you can get your very own pet fitness tracker. There are several options in this market, including, the FitBark and Tractive (which require subscriptions) and PitPat (no subscription required). These tools are just what they imply: They can monitor your pet’s fitness activity, sleeping, and eating habits. In addition to helping break bad habits, these tools can help keep assess your pet’s health, and may be particularly useful for monitoring older or overweight pets.
Constraining Your Pup
Most of the time, constraining your pup can be handled with a strong leash or a decent fence — both decidedly low tech. However, in some circumstances, you need a little help from some more advanced tools.
If you have the resources and the space, you may want to look at the Halo Collar. This device lets you create digital boundaries using GPS, and then monitors your dog up to 20 times per second to track where they are. Fence boundaries are enforced with sound, vibration, and static feedback. Because of the flexibility, this tool can move with you, allowing you to set up boundaries on the go when camping or traveling.
For those of us with more slippery breeds prone to escape, one solution is the use of AirTags. Apple AirTags can be attached to your doggo‘s collar to help track them in case of an escape. Microchips are useful, but can involve expensive subscriptions and may be difficult to track accurately; in contrast, AirTags are a one-time cost and only a click away on your phone. AirTags can be an investment, however, the prices have come down and are now in the range of $29 each, or as low as 4 for $70, making them a bargain for the peace of mind they provide.
