Never lose your pet again!
By Efren Martinez
Every 4th of July 1 out of every 4 dogs get lost and on a yearly average 10 million pets are lost. Chances are that if you’re reading this and you are a pet owner, you’ve experienced the shocking feeling of a lost pet at least once in your life. Having a microchip works well but it just isn’t enough. All too often during my fitness runs I come across a lost dog. This year it happened to me once again on the morning after the 4th of July Holiday.
I found this little Chihuahua dog on Briggsmore Ave. Fearing that he’d get hit by a passing car I chased him into the closest residential homes. I ended up shadowing him for about 20 minutes till I wore him down while at the same time I kept the cars at bay so they wouldn’t run over the little guy. Once he ran out of gas, I captured him for his own safety with the hopes I’d be able to call his owner to come pick him up.
Sadly, he didn’t have an ID collar on him so being miles away from my home a nice man in the neighborhood offered to take custody of this little dog with a promise to get him to the shelter the next day. Having an ID collar on your pet will help your pet get back home all that much quicker and quite possibly save your pets life as well as saving you time, money and additional heartache. Springing your pet from the shelter can be costly.
Just recently I discovered a pet product that can ease the worry as well as help bring your pet back home in the event they should get out from your backyard. In early April I invested in a pet GPS system for my 2 dogs. I actually purchased 4 by the same company. Two were their original models and the other 2 were for their new and improved pet GPS “Plus” tracking system that were scheduled to come out in mid June. After using the pet tracker for about a day or so I was totally impressed.
This it how it works, the GPS unit attaches to the collar, once you activate it through the website you are able to set a home perimeter zone for each one of your pets. I have mine set with a very tight circle of my property. If either one of my dogs were to get outside of my home zone/property, I will instantly receive a text message as well as an email to let me know.
The system works off a cellular and GPS tracking system. Once they leave your safety home zone you will continually get updates via text messages and emails on your dog’s whereabouts every 3 minutes. I’ve taken this tracking system through various test over the last 2 months and the accuracy is nearly perfect, in fact it was only off about 20 feet from their exact location. But that’s understandable because if your pet gets out chances are they will stay on the move till you or someone else finds them. The tracking system is easy to use and you can launch it through your Android or Iphone. Once you launch the pet tracker application you will get their location via a map and you can even enable the tracking to start. You can also get your lost dog notifications emailed or texts sent to other family members or in our case our pet and house sitters.
But wait! It gets better and so does their new and improved GPS “Plus” tracker. As I mentioned before, I purchased 2 of the first model as well as 2 of their new improved models that I received later in June. Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend purchasing the first model and here’s why. Sure, I was impressed by how accurate the tracking system and software work, but after only 2 weeks of use the attachment clasp broke off on it as I was re-attaching it to my dog’s collar. But no worries, the company stood by it’s one year warranty so they sent me another. Well after doing some research I found out that this was an on going problem for their original Tagg pet tracking unit. I’m thinking this is why the company decided to re-invent the unit to not only have a redesigned and stronger clasp, but they also made it waterproof with a longer lasting rechargeable lithium battery. The new and improved Tagg “Plus” pet GPS tracker is just that. It also weights a bit less and has the ability to track your dogs or cats fitness level with in a 24 hour period every day. By late summer of 2015 the company will activate it’s added software into it’s Tagg Plus tracker units that will include a thermometer in it so you can get updates on your pets temperature through the application or via their website. I’m really happy with my Tagg Plus GPS units and would recommend that every pet owner get one.
Below is some more information on the pet tracker as well as a few photos of what both the original Tagg unit look like and the new and improved Tagg Plus. Again, stay away from the original pet tracker that’s only available on Amazon and buy the Tagg Pet Tracker “Plus” directly from the company’s website.
The cost per unit is $79.00 for the pet tracker plus. There is also a monthly service plan that cost $9.95/month with discounted rates for plans paid annually $7.95/month over 12 months and every 2-years $6.95/month over 24 months. If you have multiple pets like I do, they also offer family discounts per tracker per your account.
Some may think that it’s too expensive, but my wife and I don’t. In fact we see all of our pets as if they are our children and even though we don’t have any biological children of our own. Actually I’d say if we did I’m sure we wouldn’t have a problem with buying our child a cell phone that also includes a monthly service plan, so then we shouldn’t have a problem with buying our 4 legged family member a Tagg Plus GPS unit for their safety. After all they’re family. (Buy it here http://tinyurl.com/o3g4gno )
Battery Life depends on your dogs activity, it can go without recharging from 2 weeks to a month.
Dog Summer Safety Tips.
Never leave your dog without a shady area for them to chill in as well as with fresh water on a hot summer day.
Never leave your dog unattended in the car on a hot day, even if your windows are rolled down.
Never take your dogs for a walk during the hottest part of the day. Please remember, just like your bare feet can burn on a sizzling sidewalk, so can their paws. To test if the ground is to hot for them to walk on, place your hand on the sidewalk and leave there for about minute or so, if you can’t tolerate the hot sidewalk with your hand, neither can your dogs paws.
Like your children, always supervise them when they are swimming in the family pool or at a lake. If they need help getting out, help them.
Always rinse your dog with fresh water after swimming in a pool or lake. Dogs groom themselves regularly by licking their bodies, rinsing them with fresh water will help get any microbes or chlorine off their fur so when they do groom themselves with their tongues, they won’t ingest any chlorine or harmful microbes that may get them sick.
Please be kind to all animals and each other.
Efren Martinez
(Buy your Pet GPS here http://tinyurl.com/o3g4gno )
