(Newswire.net — February 20, 2018) — We are a nation of dog lovers. Pet owners in 2018 are going high tech with their dogs’ collars. We now have smart collars that have GPS, Wi-Fi and even ‘FitBit’ health monitoring.

Smart Dog Collars and Dog Trackers

You can track your dog’s location at all times, and the distance it has traveled. You can help to make sure your dog is fit and healthy with modern dog collars, a perfect companion for regular veterinarian check-ups and dog insurance.

You Can Check if Your Dog Has a Healthy Lifestyle

For example, with the FitBark Dog Activity Monitor, you can monitor what your dog is up to on a daily basis. You can compare your dog’s health and progress with other similar dogs. You can get precise information about your dog’s health and sleep behavior and you can export a log to use when reporting changes to your vet. The battery life is a useful 14 days and the FitBark is both Android and iOS compatible.

Get Notified if Your Dog Strays From Home

GPS monitors like Whistle GPS allow you to create a virtual zone your pooch should stay within and it lets you know if your dog tries to fly the coop when you’re doing the washing up. It uses shortwave radio when your precious pooch is in range to preserve battery life. When the naughty doggie leaves the area the system can switch to a wireless network and notify you through SMS or a push notification. Some of these features can have a monthly charge – in Whistle GPS’s case, the price is $6.95 a month.

Simpler pet GPS trackers fitted into the dog collar can help you find your dog if it ever goes missing, so you don’t have to traipse all around your neighborhood putting up ‘LOST DOG’ posters. They can tell you where the dog is at via email, SMS or through a smartphone app. Batteries typically last up to seven days. The Find My Pet GPS system is a popular example of such a GPS system, though there are hundreds on the market.

Modern Dog Training Collars

Training collars are a favorite because they help teach a naughty dog to behave. They can help dogs with barking issues, help them to remember to stay in the yard, and can be used for other such behavioral issues. Cheap training collars use a radio transmitter you need to carry around, but now with Bluetooth dog collars, you can correct your dog’s behavior on your smartphone. It’s very convenient.

Such collars from suppliers like PetSafe are effective up to around 75 yards – that’s not that much if you have a boisterous dog, so you’ll need to keep your dog under control and near you. If your dog goes beyond 75 yards you’re out of luck unless you’re a fast jogger. However, if you’re with your dog inside the house or you have a really solid fence it could still be a good solution for training your dog.

Training collars, particularly shock collars, are somewhat controversial despite still being in widespread use in the U.S. Depending on your stance on the issue, with most modern dog training you have the choice of teaching your dog to behave with beep alerts, static stimulation, or variable levels of shock stimulation to teach your naughty doggie to stay in line.

Teaching Your Dog to Stay Away

Sometimes instead of teaching your dog to stay within a region, you want to deter them from entering one. Pet barrier collars like PetSafe Pawz Away Pet Barrier helps train your dog (or cat) to stay away from where you don’t want them.

This is great for when you get that new black suede couch of your dreams and Fluffy wants to shed hair all over it.

You place a device the size of a smoke detector so you can train your pet where you don’t want them to go. They learn not to go where they are unwanted through static or shock correction. The closer they get to where they are not wanted, the higher the shock. The length of time varies between 3-15 seconds. The device shuts off after too much stimulation so it does not injure your beloved pet. Most pets stop right on the 1st level.

With behavioral reinforcement over a very short time, your precious dog or cat will stay away from where they are unwanted. It is a great option to preserve your sanity and still love your pet.

Dog collars, like everything else in our lives, are getting smarter and can offer us a closer relationship with our beloved pets.