Nobody wants to lose their dog, and when you’ve got Beagles this is a constant worry. We’ve been looking for some kind reliable tracking technology for a while, so that if our two ever get too far away from us we can hunt them down. After a lot of research we decided to go for the Retrieva system. We got a tracking collar for Biggles and a compatible mobile phone (more on that later) and this morning we took them out for a quick test drive. As we’ve only just got all the kit, please consider this as a quick brain dump of my first impressions – I’ll do a thorough review later on.
OK, so first a bit of background on the Retrieva system. Obviously you can get full details from the Retrieva website, but here are the basics.Your dog wears a tracking device either in the form of a special collar or a harness. This device is waterproof, tamper resistant and principally uses GPS (satnav) and GSM (mobile phone) technology to send information about your dog’s location to a compatible mobile phone. When your dog goes missing you text the collar to put it into “red alert” mode (Star Trek analogy) and use special software on your phone to track the naughty article down.
Here’s Biggles modelling the collar. He seemed perfectly happy to wear it and it didn’t diminish his ability to jump up and grab a tea towel from the kitchen table, so no problems there.
We loaded him and Beanie into the car and headed off to the park this morning. Very shortly after our departure my phone received a text from “Biggles” informing me that he was no longer at home! It was a very thoughtful gesture by our little boy. Like all youngsters he clearly has a natural ability to use SMS!
I had a quick try of the collar’s locator functions in the park, and they worked well so things are looking good. As I said I’ll give the collar a more thorough trial over the next few days and write a detailed review.
Finally, here are a few shots of what Beanie and Biggles got up to after their walk:
What is it about Biggles that incites this behavior? Lynx for Beagles?
I’ve got tears in my eyes i can hardly type laughing at that – poor Biggles he’s obviously irresistable (no idea how to spell that – can you add spell check to the comments section please)
It must be the new GPS collar that makes him irresistible. Does the GPS have that annoying voice? Turn right, turn left, sniff tree…SQUIRREL! I imagine it would be difficult for even GPS to track a beagle but we’ll try not to be skeptic. It sounds pretty cool.
Poor Biggles, clearly he is just too irresistable and Beanie seems a little confused about the male/female role.
The GPS collar is a fantastic idea. I’m very fortunate with William, he’s brilliant off lead, and always comes back when called or if I tell him to ‘wait’ and ‘sit’ he will until I’ve caught up with him.
However, the GPS collar still sounds like a fantastic idea as always good to be prepared.
Shall have to look into this myself, once I’ve heard more from you and if you think it’s a worthwhile investment.
Interesting. I have been looking for something like this for my two. Will await your review with interest.