Any effective dog trackers?

[Steve Carlton]

I'm wondering if there's a good dog tracker that is discreet. I've had my dogs get loose a couple of times and it's a nightmare finding them. I got lucky, but it very easily could have worked out differently if someone wanted to steal a dog. I'm not optimistic there is such a thing, but I bet it would be a viable business idea. I did a search for a good tracker and found this, on a trustworthy site:

https://avasreview.com/best-5-dog-gps-us-2025-new-t/?gc_id=19928958399&h_ad_id=731733001673&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjws-S-BhD2ARIsALssG0YYnFXft6SknoQGHubfWXOSPnPlCJ8KHLf6eQ pbYKY3t6EYKwdyQKwaAh7zEALw_wcB

The NordPaw looks good, except for its looks. Any suggestions?

[dad911]

I have an Apple airtag on our dog's collar. Haven't needed it, but i can follow her when my son takes her for a walk. Put them in my luggage and carry-ons too.

These do need to be within range of an iPhone for it to ping.

[herr_oberst]

Sorry.

[targa911S]

I use whistle II. Tracks real time. Pairs with your smart phone. Used it for 6 years now.

[cabmandone]

I can see if my friend is going to part with any of his Garmin Drive Track systems. That's what we use to track the dogs that run the Coyote for us.

[varmint]

we've tried apple air tags on one of the cats. if you live in the boonies where routers are few and far between they're pretty useless.

[id10t]

Them boys that run deer/hogs around here seem to swear by the Garmin Alpha TT units - they are the only ones that show up in wtb or for sale posts

[MBAtarga]

Air tag in use on our dog as well, and another in the MIL's Buick (of course) to keep track of her.

[Alansglide]

My English Setter rescue uses FI global tracking collars. I have one on my dog and the app works well.
https://tryfi.com

[jcwade]

We use Tractive for our dog. It is GPS and requires a subscription. It is also quite large. But up in the mountains or forest we can't rely on there being a phone or router nearby.

[mtnrat]

Tractive GPS. Easy and works pretty much flawlessly anywhere.

[Steve Carlton]

Leaning towards a fi. The NordPaw is hideous and looks like a toy HAL9000. The Tractive is very large and that defeats the stealthy purpose I would like it to have. If my dog gets stolen, a fi might not give itself away as a tracker. And fi offers a ton of third party collars. I wish the unit could be clipped to an existing collar, as I just bought one that looks great and has Mia's name and my phone number on the buckle.

https://shop.tryfi.com/accessories

[Steve Carlton]

Getting the Fi series 3. GPS is the best and this is smaller and more discreet than the others, with good ratings:

https://shop.tryfi.com/products/smart-collar-v3?collarType=standard&color=pink&size=medium&srsltid=AfmBOooUwRZBjrRS4LD6cca-YWKsu6rgXAt5BeivlXCQsRiQHlaolTqc

Putting it on an Atlas Lifetime Pro collar with my phone number stitched on like it says "ATLAS" in this pic:



Unfortunately the stitching isn't compatable with the buckles in the above photo, so getting the Fi snap to clip the buckles around the collar:






An apple Airtag would be a lot cheaper without a subscription fee, and there's a lot of collars that will carry them (some discreet), but it has to be in 75' or so of an Apple device to report its location.

[Steve Carlton]

I got the device that snaps together with the GPS unit and goes around a 1" collar so I can use it on her current collar. The tracking on the phone app is remarkable. When I take the dog with me a message pops up "Mia heading out with Steven." It tracks her footsteps, walks, naps, and sleep. This was a brief visit to a dog park. It was cold and windy, and I had to be somewhere else. She got 7,500 steps in yesterday at the same place.



Dog is my co-pilot





There were a total of 17 dogs there including mine. There was pizza and this Boston Terrier stared at me for 5 minutes straight while I ate my piece.

[ErrorMargin]

Originally Posted by varmint

we've tried apple air tags on one of the cats. if you live in the boonies where routers are few and far between they're pretty useless.

If you are in a city or suburb, AirTags are the way to go: cheap, easy and works reasonably well.

In the boonies, you need something better