GPS Dog Collar

[Jason F]

I recently lost, and six days later recovered, my dog. If I had a screen that showed where my dog was when lost that would have been helpful.

I have heard that a GPS dog collar might help. Anyone with experience in this area? If not experience, perhaps well-reasoned thoughts?

[Jason F]

I should add that I cannot count on being in cell-phone range.

[Matthew / BPL]

Lynq looks promising in this application if they ever actually start selling them.

I’m glad you were reunited with your dog.

[Greg Mihalik]

Google is your friend: GPS hunting dog tracker     (not “pet”)

https://www.gundogsupply.com/traditional-tracking-collars-and-beeper-collars-vs–the-garmin-astro-gps-dog-location-syste.html

 

[Manfred]

My son rescued an American Foxhound that would at first constantly dig under our backyard fence and disappear. So we put a Garmin Astro on her and were always able to get her back fast. The GPS unit would show where she has been and where she is. Over time she settled in and we don’t need to use it any longer, but I don’t know what we would have done without it the first couple of months. The advertised range of 9 miles is “line of sight”. In reality the range is less – based on the objects between the dog and the GPS unit. Once I had to chase her for 9 miles – she must have followed some scent – through the forest, before I caught up with her. For us it was useful to define a geofence around our property and get an alarm when the dog escaped once again. With a Garmin Alpha it would have potentially been possible to train her in those situation, but we managed to train her without and she stays put now.

[BlackHatGuy]

And those Garmin units will work with many Garmin watches, so you can track while on the move with your watch.

[Jeffs Eleven]

Yeah garmin bought Dogtra a few years ago (dogtra makes electric dog collars). The astro/ alpha are their ‘collabo’.

I haven’t seen them in four or so years but even back then they were amazon. You could control like 24 dogs. See their individual names on screen. Group em. Build an electronic ‘fence’ by drawing a line on the screen…

 

 

[Jason F]

Thank you, everyone. I will be going with the Inreach Mini. Good battery life, won’t need to carry another unit (I already carry the Inreach Explorer+), and I can get signals from my dog while in the field.

[Jason F]

I’m undoing my Inreach Mini, hopefully I can get my money back on the service. I bought the unit itself from REI and I know I can return that.

The Garmin page says: “Send and receive inReach messages through compatible Garmin devices, including connected wearables and handhelds”. Turns out my Inreach Explorer+ is not one of those things, so if my dog were to become lost I’d need to send a message from my Explorer to my family and have them use the Garmin website, find the coordinates, and send a message back to me.

The Spot Gen 3 will do that, too, for a lot less money.

[BlackHatGuy]

Not sure what you mean. You can certainly send messages between an inReach mini and an Explorer+, or are you talking about the tracking function?

[Jason F]

Yes, I can probably send messages between an Explorer+ and a Mini, but my dog does not have thumbs :)

And maybe I won’t go with the Spot device after … terrible reviews on rei.com: https://www.rei.com/product/860469/spot-gen3-satellite-gps-messenger

[Mike H]

What were you hoping the Mini would do while on your dog that you’ve discovered it won’t in regards to communicating with your Explorer +?

[Jason F]

The tracking information generated by the Mini is not sent to my Explorer. It is sent to the satellite and from there Garmin, where I can view it via a browser.

[Jason F]

Ok, I think I’ve found my solution:

• Transmitter
• Receiver

The website does not even list the weight of the receiver, I’m guessing it’s heavy. I’ll probably leave it in the car most of the time.

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