GPS Tracker for Dogs

[House Cat]

Do any of you have or use a GPS tracker of any kind for your dogs? My little dog disappeared on us yesterday. We searched for her for HOURS and low and behold...she was hiding under our shed. Little stink!! But while we were searching for her in the neighborhood, I felt so overwhelmed. The feeling of "she could be anywhere" was overpowering. I think a GPS collar might be smart. Our neighborhood is a suburb but it is rather rural. The lots are large and kind of wooded. This makes finding a little dog really difficult.


If you do have a GPS collar, has it helped? Which one do you use?


Do you have any other recommendations for a product that might help in the instance of a lost dog?

 

[redwood66]

So glad you found her! I am sure it was terrifying looking for her.

I had not heard of these. Does she get out often? I might use one if I had a dog that took off all the time. One of my dogs does have a chip but he hates to be outside of the yard so I know he will never go anywhere.

 

[House Cat]

So glad you found her! I am sure it was terrifying looking for her.

I had not heard of these. Does she get out often? I might use one if I had a dog that took off all the time. One of my dogs does have a chip but he hates to be outside of the yard so I know he will never go anywhere.

No, she never gets out. She didn't even get out this one time but my heart!!! People have been reporting coyotes in the neighborhood. If she were to get out, I would just like to find her very quickly.

She's chipped too. I went to the website for her chip to see if I could register her as "lost" but it didn't have that option.

 

[redwood66]

Oh coyotes are bad to have in your neighborhood. We have a pack that lives along the abandoned railroad behind our property. I think they have gotten a couple of my neighbors chickens that were out overnight. Coyotes generally don't come near houses during the day though.

 

[Calliecake]

I'm so glad she you found her and she is safe. My husband and I were talking about getting a GPS tracker for our dog and she is pretty much an inside dog. Like you, I panic at the thought of her getting out and lost. I'm interested to hear if anyone has one they are happy with.

We also have a problem with Coyotes and it's talked about in the news often during the winter months. They are seen in neighborhoods frequently here and have been known to walk right up and look into people's homes thru their French or sliding doors. I have seen them in our neighborhood. There have been numerous reports of them hanging around where they know a small dog lives. One of my brothers was convinced one had been stalking his dog for months.

 

[redwood66]

That is terrible CC. In winter it stands to reason that they might be hungry. I hope no one is feeding them. Deer are a problem in town here because people feed them.

 

[Arcadian]

Thankfully I have a greyhound trained to race, so I do have a squawker which is what they're trained on at race school (and boy does it work!!!)

She is a bit of a scardy cat will not run off on her own. Stays close to momma unless I pull a trick on her and hide behind a tree...lol

otherwise she's exceptionally good with recall as we work on it daily.

 

[TooPatient]

Woman in our area had a coyote jump into her fenced back yard and take her small dog. She is sure he had been watching to learn the routine so when she let the dog out to potty before bed, the coyote was ready to jump.

I know one woman who has used a GPS collar and loves it. The problem is that the service is now gone and she does not know the others.

I would love to hear more about what anyone here might have. I am so afraid of losing one of ours. We have bears, coyotes, and cougar nearby. (plus cars!)

 

[december-fire]

House Cat,

I'm so glad you found your dog! What a scary experience.

I just googled 'gps tracker for dogs' and a number of sites came up.

Here's one, just as an example. I have no experience with gps devices for animals (although I've teased my guy about having implanted one into him), but you might want to check with local Pet Stores to find out what they have to say or offer. Or maybe Kennel clubs?

Of course, a gps tracker won't help with coyote threats. A few motion-activated lights might alert you if a coyote came near the house, but I suspect you probably have other visitors (raccoons, deer, etc.) so the lights might be activated a lot.

https://tractive.com/en/

 

[Scandinavian]

We have a bird dog (English setter), so yes, we use a GPS tracker for her. Keeps me from worrying too much, lol. The ones from Garmin are really good, but might be a bit of an investment if you don't really need it..

http://www.garmin.com/en-US/explore/onthetrail/sporting-dogs#tracking

 

[House Cat]

We have a bird dog (English setter), so yes, we use a GPS tracker for her. Keeps me from worrying too much, lol. The ones from Garmin are really good, but might be a bit of an investment if you don't really need it..

http://www.garmin.com/en-US/explore/onthetrail/sporting-dogs#tracking

Thank you, I am going to check that one out. And mostly, thank you for jogging my brain! I am friends with a huge group of waterfowl hunters, I will ask them what they use on their dogs too!



My dog is still acting weird. She gets really afraid and shaky, asks to go outside, and then hides under the shed and won't come out. I cannot, for the life of me, find what she's afraid of. I bought her a thunder shirt yesterday (an anxiety shirt.). I can't say it is working. I've also started giving her treats each time she comes inside on her own. She isn't interested. I bought her a new, very inticing bone for her crate to make that a better safe place than under the shed. We will be blocking the shed with something (hopefully) this weekend.

I wonder if my neighbor is running some sort of ultrasonic device for rodents or something.

What I do know is that my dog isn't herself.

 

[Scandinavian]

We have a bird dog (English setter), so yes, we use a GPS tracker for her. Keeps me from worrying too much, lol. The ones from Garmin are really good, but might be a bit of an investment if you don't really need it..

http://www.garmin.com/en-US/explore/onthetrail/sporting-dogs#tracking

Thank you, I am going to check that one out. And mostly, thank you for jogging my brain! I am friends with a huge group of waterfowl hunters, I will ask them what they use on their dogs too!



My dog is still acting weird. She gets really afraid and shaky, asks to go outside, and then hides under the shed and won't come out. I cannot, for the life of me, find what she's afraid of. I bought her a thunder shirt yesterday (an anxiety shirt.). I can't say it is working. I've also started giving her treats each time she comes inside on her own. She isn't interested. I bought her a new, very inticing bone for her crate to make that a better safe place than under the shed. We will be blocking the shed with something (hopefully) this weekend.

I wonder if my neighbor is running some sort of ultrasonic device for rodents or something.

What I do know is that my dog isn't herself.

Have you taken her to the vet? Perhaps she thinks (imagines) that she is going to have puppies...? They get very weird then.. If you are sure she is physically well, perhaps try to take her for a *very* long walk to tire her out. That can sometimes help if their hormones are acting up a little. And try to take her to a different location, visit friends or something, to see if she acts the same way there or if it might be something to do with your neighbours after all.

 

[House Cat]

We have a bird dog (English setter), so yes, we use a GPS tracker for her. Keeps me from worrying too much, lol. The ones from Garmin are really good, but might be a bit of an investment if you don't really need it..

http://www.garmin.com/en-US/explore/onthetrail/sporting-dogs#tracking

Thank you, I am going to check that one out. And mostly, thank you for jogging my brain! I am friends with a huge group of waterfowl hunters, I will ask them what they use on their dogs too!



My dog is still acting weird. She gets really afraid and shaky, asks to go outside, and then hides under the shed and won't come out. I cannot, for the life of me, find what she's afraid of. I bought her a thunder shirt yesterday (an anxiety shirt.). I can't say it is working. I've also started giving her treats each time she comes inside on her own. She isn't interested. I bought her a new, very inticing bone for her crate to make that a better safe place than under the shed. We will be blocking the shed with something (hopefully) this weekend.

I wonder if my neighbor is running some sort of ultrasonic device for rodents or something.

What I do know is that my dog isn't herself.

Have you taken her to the vet? Perhaps she thinks (imagines) that she is going to have puppies...? They get very weird then.. If you are sure she is physically well, perhaps try to take her for a *very* long walk to tire her out. That can sometimes help if their hormones are acting up a little. And try to take her to a different location, visit friends or something, to see if she acts the same way there or if it might be something to do with your neighbours after all.

Wow, that is a great suggestion! I am going to take her to a different location to see how she behaves.

Do you think that she would feel like she were having puppies even though she is spayed?

I was reading up on Chihuahua fears. Apparently, they can develop a fear of just about anything.

 

[Scandinavian]

We have a bird dog (English setter), so yes, we use a GPS tracker for her. Keeps me from worrying too much, lol. The ones from Garmin are really good, but might be a bit of an investment if you don't really need it..

http://www.garmin.com/en-US/explore/onthetrail/sporting-dogs#tracking

Thank you, I am going to check that one out. And mostly, thank you for jogging my brain! I am friends with a huge group of waterfowl hunters, I will ask them what they use on their dogs too!



My dog is still acting weird. She gets really afraid and shaky, asks to go outside, and then hides under the shed and won't come out. I cannot, for the life of me, find what she's afraid of. I bought her a thunder shirt yesterday (an anxiety shirt.). I can't say it is working. I've also started giving her treats each time she comes inside on her own. She isn't interested. I bought her a new, very inticing bone for her crate to make that a better safe place than under the shed. We will be blocking the shed with something (hopefully) this weekend.

I wonder if my neighbor is running some sort of ultrasonic device for rodents or something.

What I do know is that my dog isn't herself.

Have you taken her to the vet? Perhaps she thinks (imagines) that she is going to have puppies...? They get very weird then.. If you are sure she is physically well, perhaps try to take her for a *very* long walk to tire her out. That can sometimes help if their hormones are acting up a little. And try to take her to a different location, visit friends or something, to see if she acts the same way there or if it might be something to do with your neighbours after all.

Wow, that is a great suggestion! I am going to take her to a different location to see how she behaves.

Do you think that she would feel like she were having puppies even though she is spayed?

I was reading up on Chihuahua fears. Apparently, they can develop a fear of just about anything.

I'm afraid that I don't know anything about spayed dogs - we don't generally do that here. But are you sure that she is scared..? Dogs can be a bit evil.. I had a golden retriever once that convinced us that she had injured her neck.. because my mother would hand feed her when she pretended that she could not bend her neck anymore... lol. I do know a lot of dogs that are super scared of gun shots, all kinds of bang and booms, fireworks etc. Perhaps someone has started to prepare for New Years Eve already? If she is scared of anything like that, make sure that you do not feed her fear. Apparently (I know a dog behavioural expert...) you will feed their fear if you comfort them. So better to just say "its fine" and go about your day, try to engage the dog in play time activities etc. Oh, and perhaps look under the shed to make sure she doesn’t have a "toy" there, like a dead rat or something..

Oh I do hope you figure it out soon, I hate when my "baby" is scared, really hurts my heart.