For many of us a dog is like a child. Dogs are excellent friends and can be used as a pet by any person once necessary actions have been taken. So you buy a dog, get all necessary vaccinations, make friends with it and be happy: this is all fine! Unless, there is a mishap like say your dog goes missing. What to do then? File a complaint, look at all possible places, notify the appropriate authority blah blah blah. Now say there is a solution that you can apply beforehand, which means you can make sure that your dog will never get lost. Interested? Read on…

Types of Pet Tracking

There are two main principles that are being used to pet identification and prevent missing. There are many different devices and each of them works differently but the main principle is either one of these two. The first method, although known as Dog RFID tracking, does not use GPS (global positioning system) technology at all.

Rather they work by radio frequency identification. The other method, the real GPS dog tracking, uses GPS technology over small ranges such as small cities, rural area etc. The former can only help to identify a pet dog while a GPS helps not to lose one.

RFID Technology

Here a radio wave generator chip is injected into a dog’s body (by an experienced vet). The chip is of the size less than a grain of rice and is harmless and painless. Now whenever they are lost or there is a dispute over the ownership of the said pet, a sensor picks up a unique number that is being generated by the chip and the number is then matched with the papers of the owner and that is how a pet is identified.

The only way RFID can stop missing is that if a dog is missing, the vet offices, all equipped with a sensor, will scan all the pets that were captured while missing and return them to their owners accordingly.

GPS

Dog GPS system generally comes with a collar to be tied around the neck. And the GPS transmitter transmits constant signal, which can be read by another device, a laptop or even a smart phone, depicting the real time position of the dog on the map. It’s also possible to set up a virtual boundary, which if crossed by the pet will set off an audible alarm; thus keeping it within safe parameters.

There are pros and cons on whether or not to buy a tracker or which one to buy. Some units are very expensive yet do not have good traceability. Some units will not work inside a house or even under a bridge. Some units are very large therefore cannot fit small pets.

Although a good GPS dog tracking system can be a worthwhile investment because it can identify and locate your pet in under a few minutes. Also some dog GPS units (love my pets GPS) come with a free GPS dog collar that reflects and glow in the dark.