A new challenge

[ballast]

Since Fergus's escape, I have been thinking about ways to prevent this from happening again and happening to others. (Short of nailing their feet to the floor).

I seems to me that the wireless fence device could be adapted to a different use. If instead of the collar providing a shock or spray, it could transmit a signal which sets off an alarm (loud) so that you would instantly be aware your dog has escaped. You would still have to track him down, but you would know immediately that he was out. You would still use conventional fences and barriers, but locate the wireless fence outside that boundary, so it was only set off if the dog escapes.

Of course, even better would be some sort of collar device that responds to a transmitter with some sort of audible signal. Then you could drive up and down the streets when a pet (or child) was missing and hear where your dog was when you get close. It would need to be coded somehow (maybe like garage door openers) so you didn't set off all the dogs wearing one of these, just your own dog.

And best of all would be a GPS locator system (kind of like the "on Star" system) where you could call a service and they could activate a locator and tell you approximately where to look.

Seems to me that any one of these could be a good money maker for the inventor as well as a benefit to pet owners everywhere.

John

[bubba]

A locairn!

[bradl]

Great ideas. This is getting pretty darn close and could probably be adapted to a collar or harness, and even stripped down a bit (or have the 911 feature programmable to call home instead): http://www.wherifywireless.com/prod_watches.htm

[Anna_525]

I think in Japan, they have a smaller version of the GPS that they attach to the schoolchildren's knapsacks. The main use is to notify the parents that their children went to school and not elsewhere. An automated email message is sent that says their child arrived at ___ a.m. or something like that. Now if there is something like an electronic fence (without the shock) that will sense that the pet went out of bounds and then an email is sent to the pet owner, (or more ambitiously a call to the cell phone), plus the GPS to locate the pet, this product would really sell.

[ballast]

in the wherify product pages it says:

What other applications are you thinking of applying this technology to?

Because our mission is to enable people to locate loved-ones as well as any items of value, we are developing applications for vehicle tracking, asset tracking, personal electronics and pet care. (emphasis added)

There may be hope yet

[Greg]

All good ideas ....wouldn't be to hard to adapt a wireless home security system for this purpose also.

[toomanypaws]

I too was thinking along the line of what Brad showed. You said Ferus is chipped, but that doesn't do too much good if he's not taken to a vet. I was thinking that a chip could also be linked to your home computer or laptop. The chip would come w/ software to download and could be activated by the computer. It would show the pet as a red blinking dot on your computer screen map and could also be detected inside of buildings.

[Marmielin]

What great ideas you all have. I love the locairn name - Who's going to invent this?

Lindab

[Greg]

Ive been thinking alittle more about wireless home security system we have. The system will chime if a problem with a sensor is detected. The wireless range is also about 100ft......so if you took a sensor out out of range a problem would be detected and the control panel would chime.....see where Im going now....simply put a sensor on a dog collar and you would have a makeshift monitor.

Obviously GPS would be the best , but just thought I would throw that out there for those of you who allready have a wireless security system.

[ballast]

If you're willing to spend the money, it looks like something is available already. Wherifywireless is thinking about a pet related product, but they won't even be delivering their initial product till this fall - who knows how long till a pet version is available.

GlobalPetFinder is delivering now... pretty spendy though.

Global Pet Finder

GlobalPetFinder (www.globalpetfinder.com): Oh, where, oh where has your little dog gone?

GlobalPetFinder can send a text message to your phone, PDA or computer that tells you the exact location of your hairy Houdini.

GlobalPetFinder provides a wireless transmitter that fits on a dog's collar or harness.

That transmitter, which uses GPS technology, then sends a warning message each minute the dog is outside a "virtual fence"

[Tracy A.]

Here is an idea to bounce-

An implantable device much like the micro chipping might be the best answer. I know that medical devices like pacemakers are in development (or already do) of having the ability to 'call in' to the manufacture/doctor if they have an issue- My cousin works in the hi-tech industry and I