GPS for the Dog: Our Way of Staying Connected

Our Mrok walks loose most of the time. Although he is young, he does not stray away, but it happened that he ran after a deer, for example.

How to track the successful tracking of a dog that has disappeared from our sight?

How to find a dog that has had an accident and cannot return on its own?

To begin with, we checked 2 systems for tracking animals, working on the basis of the cell phone network.

They were the cheapest and worked where a strong signal from local BTS was available. (look at the small yellow device attached to Mrok vest)

PROBLEMS about the system based on GSM telephony.

1. moving in areas where there is no phone signal

2. traveling abroad

In the first case, the system simply stops working.

Sometimes it's a matter of entering rougher terrain, or a forest.

In the second case, we found that the SIM cards used in the device the dog was carrying did not always log into the system abroad.

Of course, after logging in, we could hit the situation from point 1.

SOLUTION

I checked what hunters use

Their dogs often move in difficult terrain, away from the phone network.

They rely for a significant amount on the system proposed by Garmin. 

It is a GPS combined with an UKF radio.

PROS:

- it works where GPS works, regardless of cell phones

- it allows to locate the dog with high accuracy from a distance of several kilometers (the manufacturer states 10km in open terrain). The effective range we have tested so far is more than 4 kilometers in mountainous wooded terrain.

-has the ability to signal with a “beep” or vibration (like a phone) the command to the dog

-has the ability to turn on lights, light built into the dog's collar, to locate the dog (they come in different colors and can light up or flash

-can be used for multiple dogs

-can be searched for the dog(s) by any user of the system

-very high quality and durability

-system works without any problems in water

CONS:

-substantially high price -need to have Garmin GPS with you

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The dog has a special collar equipped with a high-sensitivity GPS system, an UKF radio along with a soft and durable antenna, and a battery in the size of your choice.

When turned on, the system communicates with the GPS held by the handler, who can track, among other things, the direction in which the dog or dogs is moving, its speed, its location on the map and much more

Technically: information from the dog's collar and commands sent to the dog's collar are transmitted via UKF radio communication in the 2 meter band. WHERE DID WE TEST THE SYSTEM?

-in the Austrian Alps -in Poland (forests, mountains, cities)

-in France

-in Spain

-on the beaches and in the mountains of Portugal

-in Germany

-in the Czech Republic

-in Slovakia

and every day, on all of Mrok's walks. 

PRODUCT EVALUATION by Paws to Peaks 9/10 WHAT IS IT CALLED?

Garmin offers many systems for training and tracking dogs.

We chose a collar for tracking only, without a so-called “trainer” using electric teasing.

As a device that we carry with us, we chose one that has a large screen and many additional systems that we use ourselves in our travels (we will write about it in another article)

The number of compatible devices is sizable, so you can choose the combination that suits you best.

Our kit consists of

collar: Garmin Alpha T 20 K

navigation: Garmin Alpha 300i What solution do you use?

Do you have experience with a system like the one Mrok uses?

Share your thoughts on the matter!