If you have a dog that is an escape artist with cross country travel on its mind, you might want to consider a GPS pet tracking device. The same technology that enables rangers to follow tagged animals will allow an owner track straying or lost pets. You can choose either a SIM GPS tracker or the new technology SIGFOX GPS tracker.

The SIM tracker as the name suggests uses a SIM card to communicate with your mobile phone whereas the SIGFOX tracker does not need a SIM card as it uses the newly established SIGFOX network which has 140 transmitters dotted around ireland.

There are various ways of accessing the information that your Tracker sends. These include via mobile phone SMS and Internet web portal on your computer. 

Both systems allow you to define your pet's boundaries. If your pet goes beyond its boundaries then an alarm will sound and you can quickly locate where the animal has gone. If you are traveling with your pet beyond its boundaries you can disable the alarm, or if you are visiting another area you can upload new boundaries. Most systems allow you have more than one area entered.

If your animal is a water lover make sure that the unit is waterproof.

There is a difference between dog tracker collars and GPS pet tracking devices. The former are usually limited in range to about half a mile and are ineffective if your animal has been stolen and removed from the boundary area.

Whereas the GPS Pet tracking device does not have a distance limitation. If you invest the money, make sure that your pet wears his/hers all the time. Yes, animal snatchers will sometimes remove collars, but a surprising number don't think about doing so. Combined with micro chipping and registration, pet tracking GPS devices will go a long way to ensure that your lost pet will be located.

The SMS tracker is the most affordable. There are no monthly subscriptions as it allows you to purchase and use your own prepaid SIM card. This Technology has been around for quite awhile now. It is small enough to attach to your dogs collar. There is a hole in the corner of the tracker that allows you to slide a key ring or chain through.

The tracker comes with a full instruction manual but also comes with a one page step-by-step quick instruction guide put together by Munster GPS. Once the Sim card is in the tracker you can call the tracker any time using your own Mobile phone and the tracker will reply with a text. The text will have the time, date, speed and latitude, longitude co ordinates. If you click on the co-ordinates it will take you to Google maps showing exactly where the dog is. The tracker has other features. You can set it up to alert your phone automatically if it moves outside a predefined radius (virtual fence) or if it goes over a predefined speed. You can also set the tracker to perform live tracking using a phone app.

For more information on this click on the following link.
www.munstergps.ie/dog.htm

The SIGFOX tracker is new technology developed in 2016. It doesn't require a Sim card and the battery life lasts for several months before replacing.
There is a small subscription charge of €3.60 per month.

The tracker is virtually plug and play. You download an app on your iPhone or android phone. The tracker updates its position every 10 minutes as long as it is moving and has a SigFox/GPS signal.

You can also set up an alert on the app that notifies you whenever the tracker moves outside a pre-defined radius. There is an SOS button on the tracker which alerts a phone of your choosing once pressed.
www.munstergps.ie/tifiz.htm