Dog tracking devices, a good way to keep track of your dog without a leash

A dog tracking device is one of the most efficient ways to let you know where your puppy is, every moment of the day. As I'm about to befriend myself an English Cocker Spaniel pup next week, I sat there thinking that these guys are a lively bunch. Because of this "my logic" I searched online if there was a way to know where he's hiding, in my rather large yard, or how to find him when we would go for a stroll into the nearby forest like park or even in that grouchy old forest growing out of town.

Well yeah, it'll be some time until I will actually have to strap a dog tracking device on him. He's just a tinny pup. However, I like to plan in advance. Keeping this in mind, I went out on a search for GPS dog collars, because if a GPS can get me and my car to my desired location, it surely will get me to my dog when he roams around. There was a dilemma though, which ones are good? How do you choose? After a week of reading reviews, mind you, a week that might have been better spent, I finally arrived at a conclusion, actually almost a conclusion. I found three suspects each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Mind you that I only searched for subscription-less and free of charge dog tracking devices. No fees attached. There are a bunch of other devices and manufacturers who require you to pay a monthly fee so that you are able to use these devices.

I accept the fact that the Garmin Astro is a little expensive, but it instantly became my favorite. It's advertised as a hunting accessory, but I see it as easily usable on a day to day basis. Unlike the RoamEO's, the Garmin Astro is waterproof, and has a radius of up to 7 miles. Well, I don't intend to let my dog stray 7 miles away from me, but the surface this thing covers, is amazing. You can easily track more than one dog. That's good to know, but you'll need for each one a collar. You can actually decide how long the battery will last by choosing the intervals at which Garmin updates your dogs location. 5, 10 or 30 seconds are the set intervals. An update every 10 seconds will give you around two days of battery life, while 30 seconds around 5 and half days. That's a lot more than what you get from other dog tracking devices.

The real thing that sold me where the accessories, I couldn't find any for the other dog tracking devices. However, for Garmin I found both handle bar mounts for my bicycle, and mounts for cars. I cycle almost daily and I want to get my dog with me every time I go, once he is old enough. I recently started hiking, so this tracking device might help me out a whole lot more when I'll let him of the leash in the mountains. It even has a built in card reader so that you can upload maps of where you live or where you plan to go on a trips. This helps you to plan ahead.

Well, this is the first one I stumbled upon. This device can track up to two dogs within a 3 miles radius. It comes with batteries fully charged so it's already set up for you to use and begin the "let's see how this works phase". The collars are adjustable from 12" to 24", so they should fit almost any dog. The tracking device uses a backlit LCD screen with high contrast, being sunlight readable. The batteries hold around 24 hours, meaning they should be charged every other day.

This one is the bigger brother of RoamEO Pup, it's bigger, bulkier, the battery lasts less, it doesn't cover up to 3 miles. However it tracks up to 3 dogs. Personally, I dislike this product. It has a lot of minus points compared to his little brother. I don't recommend it at all. Oh and did I mention that it costs almost twice as much as his little brother? For this price, you can get the Garmin, which is many times better.