A new type of collar incorporates a Skype compatible cell phone so the owners of wandering dogs can be contacted by the person who finds the dog.  The collar also includes GPS features that allow owners to follow their dogs when away from home.  The collars are not available yet but should be by Fall 2008.

PetsCell, by PetsMobility,  has come up with what amounts to a “modular” collar.  The collar incorporates the GPS function into the collar itself.  Along with the detachable phone (hard to call with a dog attached), the collar also has an ambient temperature gauge and will have “a variety of other attachable devices” as yet undisclosed.

The GPS function of the collar allows “remote geo fencing”.  This is a programmable feature that allows the owner to designate the boundaries that her beloved canine is to stay within.    The program allows owners to have updates on Fido’s whereabouts at set intervals ranging from one minute to 15 minutes.  Should Fido  stray outside the designated area, the owner is notified by email and SMS and updates are automatically stepped up to one minute until the dog returns to the designated area.  Should Fido’s owner want to monitor Fido’s activities during the day, the collar will track the dog’s movements.

The Skype compatible phone allows 2 way communication.  If  wandering Fido is taken in by a compassionate neighbor (or stranger), the cell phone allows them to call Fido’s owner.  Since this phone only allows calls to the owner, stealing the phone is rather worthless.  Why is that an issue?  If these collars become popular in cities, the cell phones might initially look attractive, until it becomes apparent that “dial out” is non existent. 

The pricing for this collar is unknown.  The collar could be sold as a stand-alone GPS collar or combined with the cell phone feature.  Since the collar incorporates some rather sophisticated technology, it probably will not be cheap.  Also, the geo fence tracking and Skype features will possibly include monthly charges for the services.

Having had a chocolate Labrador that liked to go exploring, this would have been a wonderful collar for him.  The local “dog catcher” would have appreciated the convenience of being able to call me when she found him rather than having to drag him back home herself. 

Now if they could only come up with a similar collar for cats…..

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Entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 5:54 pm under Ecommerce, Technology.

Read more entries by Susan Wilson.
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