I don’t know about this particular one, but I know some who uses one on her German Shepherd dog. You have to replace batteries often because without a fresh battery it doesn’t work.

My friend was visiting her grandfathers business when criminals came and attacked them, stole money and left her grandfather in a coma. Her GSD attacked the criminals and the dog chased them as they left, didn’t come back when called. Even though everyone at my dog club helped to find her dog, and she had tons of flyers up, and it was on the local news, the dog was never found. Extremely sad, similar to your situation. My friend is obsessed with not letting it happen to her new dog.

 

Since it is a collar it can be removed, so I am not sure one could rely on it to find a lost/stolen dog.


Skylar that is sad about your friend's GSD. I totally get how awful that would be, but if someone broke into my home and a person was badly injured those aspects seem like the worst part of the ordeal over losing the dog.

 

I would just make sure the dog is micro chipped and that the information is updated in the system. There's always a possibility if a dog gets lost or even stolen that the chip will be scanned.

 

That's incredibly sad...did the poor man come out of the coma? And to lose a dog that way is devastating too.

Yes, a collar can be removed. And microchips are only of use if the dog is finally found by someone other than a criminal/dog thief. It would be nice if someone came up with a chip like a microchip that is actually GPS and doesn't need batteries. Who wants batteries inserted under the skin, right? Maybe there is something or probably some day there will be.

 

@dogs4life

My Standard im talking about was microchipped. The thing about it is, you can only find your dog if your dog is brought in and scanned. Meaning- a person has good intentions.

I get that the collar is removable but was holding out in hopes that maybe just maybe folks wouldn’t be as familiar with a gps collar and leave it on for a bit?

I just know I drove myself crazy hoping one day my pup would be scanned and we’d be reunited. I would’ve given anything to have been instantly alerted he left my property. Or the ability to track him down [emoji17]


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My friend’s dog was competing in utility obedience and agility in the upper levels too. That long training develops such a strong bond between you and your dog. Her grandfather did recover. It was all over the news when it happened. And you never completely get over it.

The whole purpose of a GPS collar is you can trace the movement of your dog.... if it runs toward A street then you can get in your car and drive to A street to call your dog back and if the dog veered off to C street, you can follow too in real time. Yes you can remove the collar but in her case the dog ran off chasing the crooks, no one at the time was changing collars.

I would think even in a home invasion criminals wouldn’t realize the dog was wearing a tracking collar until they got the dog away to a safe location and hopefully you would have traced your dogs location.

This doesn’t duplicate a chip. This is in addition to and a valuable tool but you have to constantly change batteries. I had someone in my agility class who had this kind of collar on her dog but admitted she never changed the batteries which makes it useless for tracking.

 

I ordered one similar a while ago. When I got it, it was missing (something like, or really) a SIM card. Once you got that, you had to purchase service. The extra cost for the card and the monthly service weren’t worth it to me as my dogs are almost never outdoors alone, and are almost always on a leash. I bought it because, when I first had Dory, she was an escape artist, and Zeke would go right with her. But that became a thing of the past.

To be able to find a stolen dog, then it would be worth the monthly fees, but again, it is a collar and is easily removed. It’s a hard call.


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Criminals aren't always smart. I've heard stories of chips getting scanned by suspicious vets...dogs have to get medical treatment at some point. Or if a dog gets away and ends up at a shelter. Always safe to microchip dogs just in case (but everyone here probably already does).

 

I looked into GPS collars a bit, a while back. I don't remember much of what I read now, but the best info came from hunting forums since their dogs are often in the field. Maybe check with those breeders focusing on hunting poodles also?

I found a less expensive option, Tile trackers, to try. It uses bluetooth and the community network. Bluetooth range is obviously limited so what you're counting on there is other people being in range to get the notification hit. It might be worth looking at. Weak points are still having to have the collar with the Tile on and batteries (which are now replaceable).

 

It would be wonderful if there were a chip like device that also had a scanner implanted so we could always trace our spoos.

 

My aunt got her Yorkie stolen from her house the thief sold her dog to a friend so he could give the dog to his daughter for her birthday. The guy not knowing his friend stole the dog took him to the vet to be checked over the vet as was their standard for new pets scanned the dog and seen the chip came up as missing/stolen was able to hold the dog and the guy. My aunt was reunited with her dog she got to have 13 more yrs with him he just passed a couple months ago. I’m sure the thief would’ve removed a gps collar as he removed his collar and his tags when he stole her yorkie

 

That was great for your aunt that she got her dog back. Too bad more vets do not do this as standard procedure.

 

I second the Tile as a means for tracking a wandering (versus stolen) pet. It received excellent reviews from Wirecutter. I gave this as a gift to a family member.

We’ve used this at work for inanimate objects (expensive equipment).