Track your lost pet with mobile tech

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You’ve lost your dog. Forget running up and down the street calling for Spot, or sadly plastering the neighbourhood with lost puppy posters. Just whip out your mobile, and instantly get a map of your wayward pooch’s location.

That’s the idea behind the Retrieva Tracking and Anti-theft collar. The device features an Orange SIM and uses GPS, GSM and radio frequency tech to track the collar – and your lost Lassie. Some 2,500 go missing each week, according to the Missing Pets Bureau.

Should Fido disappear, he can be tracked and his location plotted on a map on your phone using ViewRanger’s off-road mapping system. For handsets with GPS, the map is relative to the phone. For other handsets, your missing hound’s location is mapped relative the portable ICyou base station.

That base station also alerts owners as soon as your cantankerous collie escapes the yard and wanders too far from home.

“As dog owners and dog lovers, we understand how upsetting it can be when you lose your dog, no matter what length of time,” said Jon Bryan, co-founder of Retrieva. The company also makes general tracking devices, which they recommend for boats, trailers, motorbikes and even vulnerable people.

Bryan added: “We knew there had to be an easier way to find your dog than the current solutions available and so decided to develop the collar system... We wanted to put answers straight into owners' hands and that is what we have done.”

But not all dogs leave willingly, and the system can also prevent pilfered poodles. The collar features cut-proof technology and a lock. So if any thief tries to steal your beloved pet, and tries cut off the collar or tamper with the lock, the Retrieva system will automatically send a text alert.

The system also features a panic alarm, but for owners and walkers, not dogs. Pressing a button in the collar sends an alert to all phone numbers programmed into the system, and puts the device into track mode so the calvary can find you.

The collar has a battery life of about 10 days and can be recharged via the base station.

But such safety for your beloved pooch doesn’t come cheap. The collar, ICyou unit and ViewRanger starter package costs £250, plus a monthly £9.99 operating fee. The system is not yet available, but is set to be launched in the next few weeks before Christmas.

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